The Ho Chi Minh City Music Street, all set to open across the Alexandre De Rhodes Street in district 1 at the end of April, is likely to to provide a new cultural space for local residents and visitors to the city.
During its pilot opening, the music street will be open to public every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is designed to feature performances of folk music and contemporary music as well as activities bringing together artists, instrumentalists and music lovers. It will also host tourism promotion activities as well as debut ceremonies for new artists, new songs and new musical products.
As planned, the street will be divided into two different spaces. Concerts and performances will take place on the section of road - from Pasteur to Pham Ngoc Thach - while the section between Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Pasteur on Alexandre De Rhodes will be a premise for ‘quiet’ activities, such as trading music books, CDs and instruments.
Seven different stages will be installed on the street, with performances permitted between 9:00 am to 10:00 pm. All these stages are portable and can be dismantled and removed once the activities are over. Also, there are six food courts and around 20 booths to provide tourist information and a daily programme schedule.
The city’s authorities are finalising plans to relocate parking lots across Alexandre De Rhodes Street, which currently hosts public offices. The organising board has also planned to retile the pavement and improve the street infrastructure, including the electronic system, fire prevention and control, and public toilets, which will be done under the city’s budget. The operating costs of concerts and programmes will be sourced from sponsors, businesses and other social sources.
According to Ngo Thanh Chung, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Students’ Cultural House (HSCH), from April to September, the performances and concerts will be delivered by the HSCH, the city’s cultural centre, and youth’s cultural house, home to many arts and music club troupes of the city’s youngsters.
Each week, their performances will focus on a specific theme, such as folk music of southern region, central region, and northern region. September onwards, the street will welcome popular singers on stage along with several other entertainment events.
The music street will be a new feather in the cap of the city, along with Nguyen Van Binh Book Street and the Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street, which have been functional earlier.
The opening of the music street has been warmly welcomed by youngsters and music lovers in Ho Chi Minh City since the city lacked an open out-door space and a platform for music lovers.