Called Rock Storm Reload, tonight’s show is the opening performance of the second annual concert tour. After Ha Noi, the concert will travel to nine other cities and provinces nationwide, including Thai Nguyen, Hai Phong, Nghe An, Hue, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Can Tho, Dong Nai and HCM City.

According to the concert tour’s general director Tran Lap, who is also a veteran rocker, the concert targets young people. For this reason “the Rock Storm Reload will be staged in 10 cities and provinces instead of only the eight we hit during last year tour. We are trying to bring the concert to as many young audiences as possible.”

This year a female rock band will debut at Rock Storm Reload, another difference from last year which only saw male rockers. The all-female La Zee Dolls will perform in the shows that take place in southern cities.

At least 12 rock bands will merge forces to perform in rocks biggest event of the year. Famous Vietnamese singers including Anh Khoa and Phuong Thanh will also perform during the tour.

“We invited the participation of those stars to heat up the stage’s atmosphere and to rouse audiences. I myself will not hesitate to join other rockers on the stage,” said Lap, who is an ex-member of the band The Wall.

Ha Noi-based bands Ngu Cung and Cat (The Sand) will join with two HCM City bands, Da Vang (Yellow Skin) and Microwave, to perform in tonight’s show.

With their progressive-metal style, five-member Ngu Cung, who won first prize at last year’s national rock band contest, Rock Your Passion, is expected to surprise audiences: Vietnamese folk songs will be performed in a rock style.

Rocker Anh Khoa, who won the Best Singer title at the biennial singing contest Sao Mai- Rendezvous in 2006, will be the special guest singer at tonight’s show.

Sponsored by Mobifone, Rock Storm Reload will be organised every week nationwide through March.

Tonight’s concert in Ha Noi will start at 8pm at Hang Day Stadium. Audiences can get free tickets by exchanging ticket vouchers at the Mobifone agents located at 35 Quang Trung Street, 314 Ba Trieu Street, and 71 Nguyen Chi Thanh Street. Ticket vouchers are available in the Thanh Nien newpaper

The declaration followed four days of talks in Ha Noi between Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Dung, head of Viet Nam’s Governmental-level delegation on border and territory negotiations, and his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei.

The completion of land border demarcation and marker planting was an event of historic significance in Viet Nam-China relations, the declaration said.

Based on the Viet Nam-China land border delimitation treaty signed in 1999 as well as the basic interests of the two nations and the development of their traditional friendship, the negotiations took place in an amiable and frank atmosphere, taking into account mutual concerns and trying to mitigate negative impacts on the lives and production of residents living along the common border, said the declaration.

The two sides reached solutions acceptable to both sides on all remaining issues, thus completing the border demarcation and marker planting along the whole land border line between Viet Nam and China as agreed upon by their senior leaders, it said. These achievements were attributable to the attention and close guidance of the leaders, as well as the unceasing efforts of the two governmental-level delegations, experts and representatives from the relevant agencies and border provinces, of the two countries.

Viet Nam and China have for the first time defined a clear land border with a system of modern markers, opening up new opportunities for development in each country and creating favourable conditions for their border areas to expand co-operation, economic development and exchanges of friendship.

The successful settlement of the border issue was expected to form a firm foundation for building the shared borderline into an area of long-lasting peace, friendship and stability. It is a vivid evidence of the comprehensive strategic partnership of Viet Nam and China.

The two sides pledged to quickly complete and sign a protocol on border delimitation and marker planting, an agreement regarding land border management regulations and other related documents in order to realise the Viet Nam-China land border treaty and nurture the time-honoured friendship.

They also agreed to continue with close co-ordination and co-operation to maintain peace, stability and mutual development in their border areas.

But the dearth of quality guitars available in Viet Nam at that time inhibited his progress.

So Lan, who is known by the nickname Cuong Luthier, decided to make his own.

“I wanted a good guitar, but I couldn’t find one,” says the 53-year-old native of HCM City.

Fellow guitarist Phung Tuan Vu, whom Cuong met in the 80s at a coffee shop where other musicians were playing, was also looking for a better instrument, as were other classical guitarists.

It was Vu who began calling him Cuong Luthier, after the lute, a precursor of the guitar.

While still working at the State-owned company, Cuong began doing research in libraries and consulting friends on guitar-making techniques.

His experiments, however, were not always successful.

“That’s why my house was always full of guitars, because I would destroy those that didn’t meet the required standards,” says Cuong.

Over time, he perfected his technique and began selling guitars, but it was not until 1992-93 that his skills reached a professional level.

Today, Cuong is one of the few successful guitar-makers left in the country. His predecessors include Truong Huu Chau of Hue, who remains famous for his Tan Chau guitars, and the late Tam Art, reputed to be a virtuoso artisan.

Only Cuong and the lesser-known artisan Do Viet Dung of Ha Noi continue to make guitars on a made-to-order basis.

Cuong’s guitars, industry experts say, are unparalleled for their splendid shape and vibratory range.

“To make a classical guitar, which originated in Spain, you must be in a peaceful state to create the proper sounds,” Cuong explains. “That’s why I can’t make guitars in large quantities.”

Although he has a waiting list of 200 names, he makes no more than two guitars each month, which sell for US$500-1,000 each.

Cuong’s craftmanship involves precision and patience. “You can’t worry about time when making a guitar since you have to make multiple changes during the process.”

For the instrument to possess a full, deep, rich sound, he is meticulous about perfecting the sound of each musical note, each of which exists in a forest of complex chords.

Proud owners

Many of Viet Nam’s music conservatory students own one of his guitars, as do other professional guitarists and individuals from the US, Australia, Denmark, France and Austria.

Whether it’s Viet Nam’s best flamenco guitarist Tran Van Phu or any other performer, Cuong accepts orders on a first-come, first-serve basis only.

Some buyers will wait up to two years for the guitar, whose soundboard is made of either cedarwood or sprucewood and the other parts of rosewood, all imported from Indonesia, Malaysia and India.

“The wood to make a guitar must be more than 100 years old,” Cuong says, “and the more straight the vein the more expensive the guitar will be.”

For some Western clients, he makes the instrument in a climate-controlled room in HCM City to create sounds more suited for a temperate climate.

Cuong says the most difficult task is making the soundboard, gluing the bracing system beneath it, and adjusting the sound.

“A quality guitar must have a good tone, its volume must sound loud enough, and you should be able to play it in different ways,” he says. “The guitar-maker must know how to balance sonority and the degree of intensity or loudness.”

In the past, Cuong mass-produced guitars for export to Taiwan and Singapore, but later shifted to made-to-order manufacturing in an aim to build an international brandname for Vietnamese-made guitars.

Surviving in such a competitive market, however, is fraught with problems.

Dozens of guitar-making workshops across HCM City and in neighbouring Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces now make low-quality guitars sold at much cheaper prices.

Many artisans, he says, have reluctantly turned to mass production to earn a living.

Cuong earns an average of VND200,000 ($13) a day, after excluding 90 per cent of the cost to buy materials.

To survive, he says “you must be a professional, that is, extremely good at it.”

Cuong’s guitars are much less expensive than instruments of the same quality and continue to sell well in other countries, including the selective French market.

He is currently doing research on the latest generation of classical guitars, but believes the prices will be too high for the local market.

Respect from peers

Owning a Cuong Luthier guitar is a professional badge of honour, symbolising your superiority as a musician, many Vietnamese owners say.

However, an English friend of guitarist Huynh Huu Doan points out that despite the quality, Cuong’s guitars cannot sell for more than $1,000 because they are labelled made-in-Viet Nam.

Though he finds this a sad state of affairs, Cuong feels encouraged that local professional guitarists have been buying his instruments for more than a decade.

Guitarist Trung Nghia, who once played at a coffee shop on Hai Ba Trung Street, says of Cuong’s instruments: “I could not imagine that this was a locally made guitar. At first, I thought the sound was from a $2,000-$3,000 imported guitar!”

Musician Huynh Huu Doan, a former HCM City Conservatory of Music who now lives in the US, calls Cuong “a talent” and praises his expertise.

When words fail to convey a message, paintings can help. They’ve been working for French artist Claude Bouvier, who uses the medium to shows his love for Viet Nam.

He recently donated a giant painting of President Ho Chi Minh, which he made from seventy 20x20cm images of Vietnamese scenes space, to the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Ha Noi.

The vivid portrait was drawn with great love and respect by the French painter.

“I took great pleasure in painting this picture,” said the painter.

More than 50 years ago, Claude Bouvier took part in demonstrations against the war in Viet Nam. Now, he works to promote friendship between France and Viet Nam.

This week, the giant oil portrait of uncle Ho, measuring 1.4x2m, was given by Bouvier to the museum through Madam Pierrette Lamorlette, a member of the Soleils des Francophonies, a humanitarian association in Nha Trang City.

The portraits dominant colours are yellow, representing sunlight, and blue, symbolising peace. Seventy small squares were gathered to make up the painting. The images show peaceful landscapes and the nation’s original cultural traits.

On the top right of the painting, there is a small portrait of Ho Chi Minh. The other simple black and white squares represent other familiar images: women with conical hats rowing boats, men carrying fish, bicycles, cyclos, sailboats and Ha Long Bay. Together, they create the image of the great President.

Bouvier says he created the painting in a month, working “day and night”.

This is the second large painting of President Ho Chi Minh made by Bouvier. He dedicated the first one to Khanh Hoa province’s People’s Committee. It was acclaimed at the Sea Festival in Nha Trang in 2005.

“In 2005, Yvon Dupre, President of the association Soleils des Francophonies, asked me to paint something for the Sea Festival exhibition in Nha Trang. He gave me information about Nha Trang and Viet Nam. I wanted to pay homage to the Vietnamese nation for its struggle for liberation. That’s why I decided to make a portrait of Uncle Ho,” he said.

“Some months later, Dupre told me he had met authorities in Ha Noi who wanted the portrait of President Ho Chi Minh to go to the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Ha Noi.

“I accepted this proposition with pleasure and made another portrait. I offered it to the cadre of French-Vietnamese friendship.”

Lamorlette, who was given permission by Bouvier to offer the painting to the museum, said, “The two paintings are very similar, almost the same. He made it with deep love and profound respect for President Ho Chi Minh.”

Vu Thi Nhi, deputy director of the museum said, “The painting not only shows the love for uncle Ho by French and international friends, it also highlights the friendly co-operation between the two countries over recent years.”

The painting will soon be placed in the exhibition room beside photos of Jacques Duclos, former French communist party leader, a close friend of Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese people.

According to Nhi, “It will be preserved in the museum’s storehouse. It will be displayed often for special exhibitions at the museum,” she said.

The warning was made by Nguyen Quoc Anh from the General Office for Population, Family Planning at the ASEAN forum on ageing in Ha Noi yesterday.

Like other ASEAN countries, Viet Nam has a tradition of respect for older people and hope to give them adequate care, however, economic conditions are making that lofty goal difficult to ensure.

Anh said that providing adequate health care for the elderly was a big challenge, as the economic realities showed the nation could not afford to support them.

Ageing population

Viet Nam is on its way to becoming an ageing population. In 1989, 7.2 per cent of the total population were elderly, while last year the proportion of elderly rose to 9.45 per cent out of a total of 85 million people.

Nguyen Dinh Cu, director of the Institute of Population and Social Studies, said the nation was at the edge of becoming an ageing population as defined by a UN regulation stating that any country whose population of elderly is 10 per cent or more of the total population is an ageing population.

Anh’s office calculated that the proportion of older people would reach 11.4 per cent by 2020, while the UN calculated that it would be 26 per cent by 2050.

Data from the General Statistics Office say 70 per cent of the older people in Vietnam need healthcare services, but less than 20 per cent of them have a health insurance card for free health care.

The data also show that about 80 per cent of older people are living in rural areas without a health insurance card. Many hold out without insurance until they reach the age of 85, when they can get a free health insurance card.

In addition, according to Luong Ngoc Khue, deputy director of the Health Check and Service Department, among the 63 cities and provinces of Viet Nam, there are only 28 clinics with about 3,000 beds for elderly people.

Khue added: “Many elderly people don’t even consider going to hospitals as they think that diseases are an unavoidable result of old age.”

“Many elderly only come or are taken to a hospital if they are in a serious condition,” said Khue.

On the other hand, hospitals often lack staff and resources to treat elder people who often develop chronic diseases such as heart, diabetes and stroke conditions and need long-term treatment and lots of medicine.

The deputy director suggested the establishment of a healthcare fund for the elderly as well as a reduction on hospital fees to help older people.

At the two-day forum, representatives from Brunei shared their experiences in taking care of elderly people at home, considering that most of their diseases were not communicative and the fact that older people benefited from having their children and families close by when sick.

In Thailand, 1.7 million out of more than 7 million people aged 60 and over receive 500 baht (US$15) each per month as government support. All elderly people also have a health card that provides them with free health checks and treatment.

On Sunday, 33 years later, leaders at Mary Queen of Vietnam Church in east New Orleans introduced Cao (pronounced GOW), a Republican, as the first Vietnamese American elected to Congress. The congregation stood and applauded.

“Never in my life did I think I could be a future congressman,” Cao, 41, said at a victory party Saturday after he beat out nine-term Democratic incumbent William Jefferson. “The American dream is well and alive.”

Cao’s victory represents not only a stronger voice for Vietnamese in America but payoff for generations of hard work and sacrifice by Vietnamese immigrants, said Luke Nguyen Hungdung, a pastor at the main church in east New Orleans. “The older Vietnamese generation is especially proud to see a Vietnamese enter Congress,” he said.

Cao, a newcomer, won the 2nd Congressional District race, 50% to 47%. The win could be the final blow to the political career of Jefferson, who is charged in a 16-count federal bribery and money-laundering indictment. Prosecutors allege Jefferson took more than $500,000 in bribes, including $90,000 that investigators found in his freezer.

“People are innocent until proven guilty,” said Faye Leggins, 54, a Democrat who voted for Jefferson on Saturday.

Cao capitalized on low turnout in the mostly black and Democratic district. The election schedule was delayed because of Hurricane Gustav this summer. Only 66,846 people voted Saturday for the general election, compared with 164,000 for the Nov. 4 Democratic runoff, state figures show.

“I think people just ran out of gas a bit,” Jefferson said Saturday.

Cao was born in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), the fifth of eight children, as the country’s civil war was ramping up, according to his website. Shortly after Saigon was overrun by North Vietnamese troops, he came to the USA with two siblings. His father was in a North Vietnamese prison, and his mother stayed behind to raise five children.

Cao earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Baylor University in Texas. He also has a master’s degree in philosophy and a law degree. He and his wife, Hieu “Kate” Hoang, have two daughters, Sophia, 5, and Betsy, 3. His parents now live in New Orleans.

After Hurricane Katrina, Cao, an immigration lawyer, fought the utility companies and helped return power to and rebuild the Vietnamese community.

His victory is still sinking in, spokesman John Tobler said.

“It’s still a major adjustment to his life and what he represents not only to the Vietnamese community here but throughout the country,” Tobler said.

Herman Rosenblat did survive a German concentration camp, but he did not fall in love with a girl who threw him food over the fence, as stated in the book.

Instead, he met her on a blind date in New York and married her 50 years ago.

His book, Angel at the Fence, came under public scrutiny after a number of scholars questioned important details.

The fabricated story says that when Rosenblat moved to New York after the war he met Roma Radzicki by chance and discovered she was the girl who had thrown apples and bread to him.

They fell in love and married.

But some questioned Rosenblat’s descriptions of Schlieben – a sub-camp of Buchenwald – and said it was impossible to throw food over the fence there.

‘I wanted to bring happiness’

The book was due to be published by Berkley Books, part of the Penguin Group, in February.

Advance publicity had included a couple of appearances by Rosenblat on the chat show hosted by Oprah Winfrey.

In a statement, Rosenblat, 79, said: “I wanted to bring happiness to people.

“I brought hope to a lot of people. My motivation was to make good in this world.”

His agent Andrea Hurst told the Associated Press: “I question why I never questioned it. I believed it; it was an incredible, hope-filled story.”

A statement from Berkley said Rosenblat and his agent will be required to return “all money that they have received for this work,” Reuters news agency reported.

Historical records prove that Rosenblat was an inmate at Buchenwald and other camps.

But Rosenblat’s agent said the love story involving meeting his future wife through the fence when he was a teenage prisoner at Schlieben was invented.

Brought to book

The Angel at the Fence is the latest in a series of high-profile literary fabrications.

Earlier this year, a Belgian woman revealed she had invented her tale of survival as a Jewish girl searching for her parents with a pack of wolves in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Monique De Wael, who adopted the pseudonym Misha Defonseca, admitted she was not Jewish and had lived in Belgium.

And a memoir by a white woman that claimed she was raised in poverty by a black foster mother and sold drugs for a Los Angeles gang was also exposed as a lie after her sister contacted the publisher.

Margaret B Jones, the author of Love and Consequences, actually grew up in a well-off area of California’s San Fernando Valley.

Meanwhile James Frey, another author championed by Oprah Winfrey, admitted he “embellished” his bestselling memoir about his battle with drug addiction published in 2003.