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Chiang Mai Art and Cultural Hall closing before Royal Grand (Re-) Opening
Nuttanee Thaveephol
Chiang Mai Municipality will be closing the Art and
Culture Hall temporary during October 28 - November 5, preparing to welcome
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn who will be graciously
presiding over the Grand Opening of the Chiang Mai Art and Cultural Hall on
November 5.
The itinerary will commence at 9:45 a.m., when Her Royal
Highness will arrive at the Royal pavilion and will pay respects at the
Three Kings Monument. Her Royal Highness, after cutting the ribbon, will
visit all the rooms in the Art and Culture Hall before stopping at the Phra
Pok Klao room where she will sign the visitor’s book.
Chiang Mai Mayor Boonlert Buranupakorn will present Her
Royal Highness with a souvenir and Chiang Mai Governor Pisit Katephasuk will
present a report.
The official ceremonies will end with Thai folk dances
and a presentation of Ban Wua Lai silverware products before Her Royal
Highness’ departure.
Sri Nakorn Ping Cultural Market embraces One Tambon-One Product
Supatatt Dangkrueng
Wing 41 has built the Sri Nakorn Ping Cultural Market in
Lanna style buildings to provide venues for selling souvenirs, cultural
activities, a morning market, an evening market, and beer garden.
Sudchai Kankulsunthon, project’s organizer, said the
aim is to provide a central venue for all products from local traders in the
One Tambon-One Product project, where these can be displayed in an ancient
Lanna atmosphere. The market is also known as the Gad Gong Bin 41 (Wing 41)
Market.
In the main building, there are three sections which
cover Lanna heritage, Lanna foods and Lanna culture. The area around the
building is used every morning and evening for fresh food markets. In the
evening, the grounds are used for the beer garden, with a199 baht per person
beer garden buffet on offer.
A year was spent in the planning, leading up to the One
Tambon-One Product Fair, complete with exhibits of Lanna art and culture.
Lanna Wedding Fashions on show
Supatatt Dangkrueng and Nuttanee Thaveephol
The Lan Khantoke grounds will be the venue for the Lanna
wedding fashion show on Dec 14, with promotion from the Chiang Mai
provincial governor’s office and Khum Khantoke. The fashion show includes
ancient Lanna costumes and “Kin Khaek”, the original Lanna wedding
ceremony display.
The Lanna wedding dress contest has 20,000 baht for the
winner and 10,000 baht for the first runner-up and 5,000 baht for the second
runner-up. There will also be an exhibition of famous wedding couples in
Chiang Mai from the past and Lanna folk dances about legendary Northern Thai
couples, for example, Noi Jai Ya - Waen Kaew and Lord Suwat - Buakam.
Lanna clothes have an outstanding history, and remind
everyone about the past Lanna civilization. For over one hundred years,
traditional clothes were worn by our ancient peoples, in many tribes such as
Tai Yuan, Tai Lue, Tai Kern, Tai Yai, and other hill tribes.
Thai cuisine courses for foreigners planned by Chiang Mai University
Nuttanee Thaveephol
The Thai Culinary course project for foreigners will be
launched before the end of the year at Chiang Mai University. The
university’s Humanities Academic Center has planned the Thai Culinary
Center with the aim of imparting knowledge of Thai food, especially for
foreign tourists. Students will also receive Thai culinary certification
after finishing the course.
The manager of this project guarantees that all the Thai
dishes are authentic Thai food with the original taste. “Thai food is one
of the favorites in the world because of its varied tastes and healthy
ingredients but Thai food can be misunderstood by cooks who do not know
about its origin. This project is a way to inform foreigners who want to
know about the real Thai tastes and recipes,” he said.
The Thai culinary curriculum is divided into 4 courses.
In each course, there will be 5 main dishes and a dessert. The participants
will be expected to study and will receive a Thai cookbook. The recipes
include red curry with roasted duck (gaeng ped pet yang), hot and sour prawn
soup (tom yam kung), holy basil with chicken (kaprao kai), dumpling in
coconut cream (bua-loi) and sweet sticky rice and mango (khao neo mamuang).
The target groups are ex-pats living in Chiang Mai,
foreign students in Chiang Mai University, tourists and those who come to
Thailand specifically to learn about Thai food.
Students can get free transportation from their hotels or
residences to the Thai Culinary Center at Chiang Mai University.
For further information, please contact the project
manager of the Thai Culinary Center: 01 595 6245 or the Humanities Academic
Center, Chiang Mai University: 053 942 308 or 053 942 303.
Internationally acclaimed Kocian Quartet performs at the Amari
by Michael Vogt
Chiang Mai not necessarily renowned as a city for
high-flying concerts and musical events, but last Saturday evening’s
concert the Amari Rincome Hotel was thankfully received and warmly welcomed.
The hotel’s general manager, Marc Dumur organized an
evening for music enthusiasts by contracting the internationally acclaimed
“Kocian String Quartet” from the Czech Republic. Just under a hundred
guests enjoyed three lovely musical pieces, Schubert’s Quartetsatz,
Mozart’s String Quartet in C Major, and Dvorak’s String Quartet in F
Major.
Amari
Rincome GM Marc Dumur (right) handed out bouquets of flowers to the Kocian
Quartet as a show of appreciation for their performance.
The Quartet’s perfect unanimity, plenty of forthright
thrust, and clean musicianship satisfied both ears and senses.
The Kocian Quartet was founded in 1972 and trained by
Professor Antonin Kohout, cellist of the Smetana Quartet. In 1975 the group
took the name of the violin virtuoso and teacher Jaroslav Kocian [1883-
1950] who was, like Jan Kubelik, a world famous pupil of the violinist
Otakar Sevcik.
The Quartet has played a prominent role in Czech concert
life, in the programmes of the Prague Spring Festival, cycles of the Czech
Philharmonic and the Czech Society for Chamber Music. They have toured in 35
countries in Europe, USA and Japan, and are now en route back home.
Speaking with second violinist Milos Cerny after the
concert, Chiangmai Mail learned that the artists had enjoyed this
evening very much, and appreciated especially the many Thai nationals in the
audience.
Mr. Cerny also mentioned that they are looking forward to returning to
Thailand and Chiang Mai, provided that their busy schedule will allow it.
Chiang Mai Zoo introduces the Zoo Bus
Supatatt Dangkrueng
The Chiang Mai Zoo has introduced a new bus service to
get visitors around the zoo’s 500 rai in style and comfort. The service
comes complete with tour guides giving specific information on the animals.
Chiang
Mai Zoo’s new buses, decorated with animal cartoons, provide an easy way
to get around and see all the attractions.
There are five bus stops where passengers can hop off and
see the animals and the natural environment, before hopping back on the bus
to resume their bus journey.
Since the zoo covers an area of 500 rai, this service is providing an
easy and comfortable way to see everything in the zoo.
Mass Lanna Wedding ceremony scheduled for Valentine’s Day
I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do...
Supatatt Dangkrueng and Nuttanee Thaveephol
Khum Khantoke, through Watchara Tantranon, has announced
plans for a “Lanna Valentine’s Wedding” to promote Lanna wedding dress
styles and to introduce the Lanna style wedding ceremony on Valentines’
Day next year.
The Kin Khaek or Thai Lanna wedding ceremony will be held
for 50 couples who want to join this mass wedding. Khum Khantoke will
provide a free wedding celebration for one couple from each district. The
bridal couples can invite 10 guests and pay only 300 baht each for
additional guests.
The other 30 brides and grooms can join the ceremony by
paying 30,000 baht for 50 guests or 50,000 baht for 100 guests. All the
couples will be provided with the costumes and all the paraphernalia
necessary.
Traditional Lanna wedding celebrations in times past were
events of remarkable beauty and refined atmosphere, a stunning experience
both in terms of costume and ritual for the bridal couple.
On the Valentine’s Wedding Day the brides and grooms’
customary wedding parade will start from the front of Carrefour Department
Store at 7 a.m., led by two elephants, which are the symbol of Chiang Mai,
and followed by 48 tricycles, leading to the Singha grounds where the guests
will be waiting. The ceremony will proceed according to the Lanna ritual
until late at night.
Rafting and underwater diving competitions organized
for the Yipeng (Loy Krathong) Festival
Metinee Chaikuna
The Municipality will hold two local competitions during
the upcoming Yipeng Festival, according to Boonlert Buranupakorn, the mayor
of Chiang Mai.
The first is a bamboo rafting competition, which will be
held on November 19. Bamboo rafting is a local custom of Chiang Mai, and it
is felt that holding the competition is a way to conserve the local
tradition and increase its popularity, as it used to be in the past. In the
competition, 4 person teams will race rafts made of bamboo, 3 meters wide, 6
meters long and 2 stories high. The competition will start in front of Muang
Mai Market and go along the Ping River. There will be cash prizes and
trophies for the top finishers.
On the same day, the municipality will hold diving
championships around the Ping River in front of the municipality building.
The competition is open for males aged 18-45. The competitors are required
to wear the Sa-dor, northern style pants and loincloth. Competitors dive
into the Ping River and the diver who is able to stay under the water for
the longest period will be the winner. (Hopefully he will not have drowned!)
For more information, contact Chiang Mai Municipality,
tel. 053 252 478 ext 485, or fax 053 251 476.
Lanna Wedding Fashions on show
Supatatt Dangkrueng and Nuttanee Thaveephol
The Lan Khantoke grounds will be the venue for the Lanna
wedding fashion show on Dec 14, with promotion from the Chiang Mai
provincial governor’s office and Khum Khantoke. The fashion show will
include ancient Lanna costumes and “Kin Khaek” the original Lanna
wedding ceremony display.
The event will include a Lanna wedding dress contest,
with 20,000 baht up for grabs for the winner, 10,000 baht for the first
runner-up and 5,000 baht for the second runner-up. There will also be an
exhibition of famous wedding couples in Chiang Mai from the past, and Lanna
folk dances about legendary Northern Thai couples, including Noi Jai Ya -
Waen Kaew and Lord Suwat - Buakam.
Lanna clothes have an outstanding history, and remind
everyone about the past Lanna civilization. For over one hundred years,
traditional clothes were worn by our ancient peoples in many tribes such as
Tai Yuan, Tai Lue, Tai Kern, Tai Yai, and other hill tribes.
Chiang Mai to host International Christian Artists Conference
The Fourth International Arts Conference of the
Traditional Media Unit (TMU), a branch of the International Christian Media
Conference, will be held from November 16-24, in the northern resort city of
Chiang Mai. Approximately 40 Christian artists from around the world are
expected to attend the gathering.
 The conference will be held at Chiang Mai’s Wangtarn
Resort. Its goal is to share, explore and celebrate each other’s
creativity within the context of their faith. The theme of this year’s
conference is “Lighten Our Darkness.”
The conference logo was created by local Chiang Mai
artist, Sawai Chinnawong of McGilvary Seminary. It combines images from
Christianity and Buddhism, representing the lotus and the dove, beneath a
burning flame to symbolize the conference theme.
The conference will begin with a celebratory dinner and
performance by the drama troupe from the Christian Communication Institute
of Payap University. Seminars and workshops will be held during the week on
topics such as “marketing your artwork” and “bringing together
traditional and new media”. In the evening, artists will have the
opportunity to share with the group their artistic creativity and cultural
diversity through song, dance, painting, sculpture and poetry.
Participants will also be introduced to Thai culture and
art, through field trips and activities including the colorful Loi Krathong
festival. An art exhibition to be held at McGilvary Seminary will be open to
the public.
The International Christian Media Conference is an
organization dedicated to the creative use of media in furthering the
message of Christ in the 21st Century. Previous TMU art conferences have
been held in Bali, Indonesia, and Osijek, Croatia.
For more information contact Karen Thomson at (053) 262-940 or by email
at karenthomson@cmnet.co.th
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