Children practise for the show (Photo courtesy of ART SPACE)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - A one-day event featuringVietnamese customs for the Lunar New Year will be held on January 25 in SaintHerblain, France, by ART SPACE, a private centre run by Hoang Thu Trang.
Titled “The Quintessence of Vietnam”, the event will includea traditional market offering Vietnamese street food, folk games, and folk andmodern music.
The event will welcome Dris Said, deputy mayor of the town,and other officials and headmasters from schools in Nantes and Saint Herblain.
According to Trang, they were expecting to welcome 1,000people, and a further 600 people at the music concert.
The market will host 30 stalls with traditional food andgoods with registered trademarks including Nang ao dai (traditional long dressfashion brand) and Hoa Tram incense.
The market will also feature souvenir shops, folk games, facepainting and an exhibition of Vietnamese conical hats.
The concert will gather nearly 100 adults and children ofFrench and Vietnamese origins to perform folk dances, as well as martial arts.
"The highlight of the show will be an excerpt from anopera titled Giai Cuu Nu Than Mat Troi (Rescuing the Sun Goddess) performed by50 adults and children," Trang told Viet Nam News.
The opera incorporates folk melodies from the CentralHighlands and is inspired by the Sun Goddess, she said.
Trang wrote the scripts, while the martial arts performanceshave been directed by Aziz Abdouss.
Trang said one of the songs was a mixture of Vietnamese folkmelodies and French music. The excerpt also features folk and modern dances andMinh Long Vo Dao martial arts.
"This is the first-ever large-scale community eventhosted by Vietnamese living in the region," Trang said.
Virginie Fontaine, a French volunteer, said her family had noVietnamese connections, but a lot of Vietnamese friends.
“My ten-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter likeVietnamese shows hosted by composer Trang," she said. "They've learntsome Vietnamese songs by heart. It’s obvious that music brings people ofdifferent nationalities and colours together.”
Trang is the chairperson and initiator of ART SPACE – anassociation designed to develop and promote education, art and culturalexchanges for children in France
She has been invited to introduce Vietnamese culture innurseries, primary and junior secondary schools in Saint Herblain.
She is also marketing director of the Polaris Art & MusicSchool in Hanoi. She has published two music albums for children - Trong Khu Vuon(In the Garden) and The Joy of Christmas, as well as other work for adults.
Trang is also the founder of the band Music Rendez-vous,which gathers 70 Vietnamese students from all over France. They haveperformed 20 concerts in various cities like Nantes, Rennes and Lorient./.
VNA
