Monday Blogcrawl

Yesterday we celebrated the Moon Festival in Cabramatta. Sure, it was a little early, but it was lots of fun, and was just about the closest I was going to get to Vietnam without getting on a plane. Here are some items from the net that will help bring you that one step closer:

 The Friendship Village in Hanoi trains youth at risk

• An excellent video showing you how to make Pho at home
• PBS has a nice piece about Vietnamese priests serving in rural America
• It seems that the Vietnamese government is really cracking down on press freedom, and Committee to Protect Journalists investigates why
• Hanoi street food from the Medical Observer
• If you're in Australia, here is a handy list of suggestions of what wine to have with Vietnamese food
• Quinn Ryan Mattingly has a beautiful photo of backstage at the circus in Saigon
• There's a Luxe City Guide to Ho Chi Minh City. And while you're there, check out the beautiful Giac Lam Pagoda
• Some people seem to think taking the hard seat on the train to Hanoi is a romantic thing to do, and The Age brings us one such story
• MGM Grand is building a casino in Vietnam
• There was a gay-themed drama performed live in Ho Chi Minh City, according to Gay Star News

Monday Blogcrawl

Always yearning for Vietnam, with half my heart constantly there. Here are some things that caught my eye over the past week:

Vietnamese fishermen arrested for illegally fishing Thai waters

• I'm always mystified by the empty real-estate in Hanoi, and the trend continues. Nhan Dan tells us that some developers have been suspended over improper actions in Hanoi's Old Quarter
• Michael Jackson's dad is no longer building a tourist park in Vietnam
• Vietnam's ruling elite is still deeply troubled by any criticism, and Voice of America explains why three political blogs have been singled out for condemnation by Vietnam's Prime Minister
• Arts Expo Malaysia will feature some works from Vietnam this year - from Vietnam.net Bridge
• Thieu Tran is a Vietnamese-American who has created a one-man show about his experiences. Bring it to Australia, Thieu!
• Thanh Nhien tells us about a leather tanning firm that has been poisoning the Saigon River for years

Rosamund Burton's CASTLES, FOLLIES & FOUR-LEAF CLOVERS released in the UK

Just a brief note to tell you that my dear friend and wonderful publishing stablemate Rosamund Burton has had her book Castles, Follies & Four-Leaf Clovers released in the United Kingdom and Ireland this month.

It is available through Atlantic Books, and if you're in that part of the world, do go out and treat yourself with a copy.

Castles... is Rosamund's account of her journey along St. Declan's Way, a little-known pilgrim's path in Ireland.

Rosamund grew up in Ireland, and this book is an affectionate and fascinating look at the mystical and magical worlds that lie just underneath the surface normality of Ireland. You will read about fairy's shoes and leprechaun's hats, as well as the miraculous springs dedicated to St. Declan and to the Virgin Mary. It is a gentle, affectionate and illuminating book, and left me aching to visit Ireland.

Two Days In Hanoi

Vietnam blues in an East-West fusion

Dom Turner is a legendary Australian blues guitarist most famous for his work with the Backsliders.
In one of those wonderfully fortuitous accidents of history, he made the acquaintance of a master blind Vietnamese guitarist called Kim Sinh, and together they have produced Two Days in Hanoi, a wonderfully quirky and utterly original amalgamation of what can truly be called Delta Blues, with a heavy emphasis on the Mekong Delta, in this case.

For me it is probably Kim Sinh's sound that is the most immediately familiar. I have never been much of a follower of the Blues, but I have spent much of my life listening to the delicate, sliding and mournful guitar sounds of traditional Vietnamese music, and sometimes from the very first pluck the listener can be transported to a state of wistful nostalgia and sadness about the bad times. And that, I suppose, is what the Blues is about, no matter where it might come from.
The songs and sounds on this amazing CD alternate between Turner's solid folksy blues, traditional Vietnamese sounds and Kim Sinh's own fusions between traditional cai luong and the more Western forms that have influenced Vietnamese music for more than a century. It makes for wonderful listening, and has been on high rotation here ever since I received my copy. Interestingly, while it had played almost all  he way through, including the songs with English lyrics, my Vietnamese partner, who had only been half-listening, said: "Where did you get this nice Viet CD from?" A true vote for the authenticity of the sounds, but, if you are listening more closely, there is plenty of innovation here as well, and it is an album that will intrigue afficionados from both sides of the musicological fence.
I was won over most by Dom Turner's song, Vietnam People, on the album, a real love-letter that I recognised almost instantly, a folk song from someone who has been seduced by Vietnam and its people.


You can get Two Days in Hanoi on iTunes, or purchase a copy of the CD here.
Two Days in Hnaoi is produced by the Fuse Group.