After two decades of development in Vietnam, rap music has seen some achievements with one of the significant years being 2020, where rapping contests drew huge attention from mass audiences. Ten years of foundations and struggles Before 2002, rap was still something foreign in Vietnam until a group named Da Rap Club was formed in Hanoi. The club operated as a place to exchange and provide information about rap in the world, leading to the first underground rappers showing up in Vietnam. During the first three years, the club brought its name and rap knowledge to many young people in both northern and southern Vietnam. Next, the period of 2006 to 2008 was considered a blooming time for rap and hip-hop culture in Vietnam as youngsters started to group together and rap battles became more popular in the local underground world. While a few rappers were successful enough to play shows to large audiences and to be known by mass audiences such as LK and Tien Dat, the majority of the communities still decided to stay underground where they were freer to live the genre of music they loved. A supplied photo shows 2020 rapping contest King of Rap’s jury from left to right including BigDaddy, LK, Lil'Shady and Dat Maniac. “The biggest challenge for our generation was finding information to approach this kind of culture directly and properly,” Ha Le, who is considered one of the pioneers in hip-hop culture in Vietnam, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper. “This limited the development of hip-hop culture in Vietnam and made the genre somehow a taboo in the country at the time,” he added. “Previously, it was very hard to organize a rap show,” Wowy, one of the four coaches from the 2020 hit show Rap Viet, expressed. “In Vietnam, rappers often perform at nightclubs and some certain events and they are not recognized, while in some other countries, rappers perform at big music festivals,” he commented. From 2008 to 2010, rap music in …
Drew barrymores
ASEAN proves its centrality in a volatile 2020: Diplomat
PM: Việt Nam becomes strong, trustworthy mainstay in ASEAN VN’s steady leadership has reinforced ASEAN’s pivotal role in the region ASEAN-UN partnership grows stronger than ever: UN Chief World’s largest trade pact signed by ASEAN countries and five partners VN highlights importance of maintaining environment of peace and stability Nguyễn Quốc Dũng, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Việt Nam. — VNA/VNS Photo HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Quốc Dũng, Deputy Foreign Minister of Việt Nam and Head of Việt Nam’s ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), has penned an article reviewing the ASEAN centrality in the year 2020, when Việt Nam successfully fulfilled the chairmanship role. Below is the full text of his article. “2020 drew to a close with complex and multidimensional upheavals that have not been witnessed in the regional and global politics and economy in a long time. As Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc put it, the “ASEAN 2020 ship” has navigated through “rough sea and tumultuous storms of the COVID-19 pandemic, but rocked by economic recessions, disrupted trading activities, and growing strategic competition between major powers in the world that is playing out right within the region. Undaunted, the “ASEAN 2020 ship”, under the steering of Việt Nam and the cooperation from member countries and partners and friends, have strongly overcome the adversity, reaffirmed its central position in the region, and elevated its reputation and profile in the international arena.” ASEAN Centrality: the fruit of long, patient building process The notion of “ASEAN centrality” started to gain traction among the group’s member countries since around 2005-06 when ASEAN perceived a growing pressure and sway from outside partners. In that context, centrality is understood as that ASEAN always coordinates perspectives and actions in its cooperation relationship with partners so as to maintain the group’s ‘main driver’ role, as well …
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COVID-19 remains biggest challenge for Southeast Asia in 2021: survey
Vietnamese people wear face mask to prevent COVID-19. (Photo: VNA) Singapore (VNA) - The COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts remain the largest challenges for the Southeast Asian region in 2021, according to the State of Southeast Asia 2021 survey report announced by the ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute on February 10. A total 1,032 respondents from ten ASEAN member states participated in the online survey which drew from five categories of affiliation: academia/research, business/finance, government, civil-society/non-governmental/media and regional/international organisations. The Southeast Asia is preoccupied with the COVID-19 and recovery process. Seventy-six percent of the respondents believed that the threat to health from COVID-19 is currently the region’s most pressing concern. Meanwhile, unemployment and economic recession came second (63 percent), followed by the socio-economic gaps and income disparity (40.7 percent). The majority of Southeast Asians (60.7 percent) approve of their governments’ response to the pandemic. In terms of COVID-19 fight leadership, respondents vote almost equally for Singapore (32.7 percent) and Vietnam (31.1 percent) for providing best leadership to ASEAN. ASEAN continues to express concerns over the East Sea issue, and regional people said the issue should be settle based on respect of international law./. VNA …
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