A: We’d like to acknowledge entries from Anusi Isah Dankaba of Nigeria, Ms. Abeeha Fatima Jinnah of Pakistan, and Abu Sayed of Bangladesh. We appreciate your efforts to send in your entries to our contest despite the spreading COVID-19.
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A Cai Luong performance
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B: We’d like remind you that the deadline of the contest has been extended to August 31st due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to give listeners more time to participate in. In addition to the 3 top prizes which award the winners a free 5-day trip to Vietnam, the organizers will award a special prize for the most impressive story or an impressive slogan about Vietnam’s success in the COVID-19 fight. Details of the contest are available on our website at vovworld.vn. We wish you all good luck!
A: Now we would like to acknowledge an email from Nusrat Zahan of Bangladesh, who reported good reception of our program from 16:00 to 16:30 UTC on August 7 on the frequency of 7220 khz. He said he was interested in our Current Affairs segment with a story called ‘ASEAN- a success story of regional cooperation’.
B: This week, Tazrin Ahmed Toma of Bangladesh expressed his interest in our story on August 8 on the frequency of 7220 khz about a literature teacher who integrates cai luong reformed opera into her lessons.
A: Cai luong is a form of modern folk opera particularly popular in southern Vietnam. It is the convergence of southern Vietnamese folk songs, classical music, tuong classical opera, and modern spoken drama. It originated in southern Vietnam in the early 20th century and blossomed in the 1930s as a theatre of the middle class under French colonialism.
 A Cai Luong performance |
B: The lyrics of cai luong songs praise Vietnamese moral values. Cai luong has become a national theatrical form enjoyed by both Vietnamese people and foreign visitors.
A: There are two types of cai luong performance - independent song performance and play performance. A cai luong performance always includes dances, songs and music drawn from southern folk influences, but the music has been enriched with hundreds of new tunes.
B: A cai luong orchestra consists of guitars with scalloped fret boards. In a cai luong play, scene changes are frequent. In a typical play, the actors use a combination of regular spoken dialogue and “Vong Co” – a form of musical lament typical of cai luong - to express their thoughts and emotions.
A: The two main types of cai luong are ancient cai luong and modern cai luong . The latter consists of stories about contemporary Vietnamese society. Its plots involve romantic love stories and family or other social relationships. The stories explore cultural and social norms and other aspects of Vietnamese society. It’s been called ‘tragedy with a happy ending’.
B: A play in which the actors and actresses wear old-fashioned costumes is ancient cai luong. These plots are based on legends or historical tales of the feudal era filled with ancient kings and warriors. The dialogue is sometimes spoken and sometimes delivered as a sad song. Standard melodies are used in different plays with the words changed to fit the context.
 A Cai Luong performance |
A: Nowadays there are many cai luong clubs and festivals, particularly in the southern region, helping to preserve and promote the genre. Recently, a cai luong drama series was released on YouTube to attract a wider audience.
B: This week, many of our listeners asked about Vietnam’s production of COVID-19 vaccines.
A: According to Acting Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, Vietnam might be conducting vaccine trials on humans by the end of the year.
B: Mr. Long said that closer co-operation between the government, management agencies, vaccine manufacturers, researchers, and other stakeholders will be needed to ensure that an effective vaccine is available by early next year.
A: So far, there are 163 candidate vaccines in development around the world, of which 23 are ready for trials on humans, and 140 are in the pre-clinical stage.
B: The Institute of Vaccine and Medical Biologicals (IVAC) in Nha Trang has sent a vaccine to the US for testing on laboratory animals.
A: Since May, the Institute has been cooperating with US scientists to find a COVID-19 vaccine with good initial results. They hope to produce a vaccine in large quantities, at a reasonable price, using an existing vaccine factory in Khanh Hoa province. All research activities have complied with health and safety regulations. The vaccine will be tested on humans sometime in the next 2 months and a clinical trial will be conducted by the end of this year.
B: We’re happy to know that Russia has developed the first vaccine offering “sustainable immunity” against coronavirus.
A: We hope that with our joint efforts, we soon defeat coronavirus and resume our normal life.
B: Writing to VOV this week, Mr. Ashik Eqbal Tokon of Bangladesh told us “On August 2nd, we arranged an online meeting with our members and member Clubs. Our main discussion issue was how VOV Spectators' Association Bangladesh (VOV SAB) celebrates the 75th anniversary of Voice of Vietnam in the coming months along with how to expand our club activities and interact with our members more. After discussion in an open forum (35 were present there) we finally considered some activities that we VOV SAB are going to conduct.”
A: Thank you very much Mr. Mr. Ashik Eqbal Tokon of Bangladesh for your devotion to VOV. We appreciate your activities including promoting VOV 2020 Contest “What do you know about Vietnam?”, organizing a quiz on VOV, and increasing interactions between listeners to VOV. Please keep us informed of your activities and we are more than happy to take part in.
B: Next is an email from our regular listener Jayanta Chakrabarty of India. He wrote: “As a regular listener to your informative and highly rated programmers, I’m happy to send my appreciation to all members of VOV English Service for your useful information, news and current affairs which are updated, unbiased and reliable. I am grateful for the wonderful entertainment you are providing to my family and me, even during this grim period when the world is struggling with the menace of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
A: He continued: “I am also enjoying your programmers on the wonderful website. I would like to state that I enjoyed listening to two beautiful Vietnamese song : "Dong Nhi ft Ong Cao Thang" and "Huong Tram".
 Singer couple Ong Cao Thang-Dong Nhi |
A: In the last minutes of the program, we’d like to acknowledge letters and emails from Hayato Furukawa of Japan, Miss Maria Khanam Moure of Bangladesh, M Saleem Akhtar Chadhar of Pakistan, and Sanil Deep of India. We thank you all for sending us detailed reception reports. We’ll confirm them with e-QSL cards.
B: We welcome your feedback at: English Service, VOVworld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at our new email address: englishsection@vov.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs.
A : We look forward to your feedback on the mobile version of vovworld.vn. Once again, thank you all for listening.