Film screening: The Blue Apple Tree

Date: Saturday 23rd October
Time: 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Venue: University of Malaya Art Gallery, Level 5, Chancellery Building, University of Malaya, KL.
Information: +603 2163 3444/45 (Embassy)
Free admission

An eleven-year old city boy is forced to spend a vacation in a small country house with his grandfather, who he hardly knows. In the midst of an environment he finds hostile; with no television, mobile phone, iPod, nor anything he is used to having; stuck in the country with his energetic grandfather and an odd blue apple tree, the boy has an experience that will stay with him for the rest of his life.

Also, Malaysian public can enjoy some of the latest Venezuelan films every day at the University of Malaya Art Gallery:

- Patas Arriba (Topsy Turvy)
- El chico que miente (The Kid who Lies)
- Samuel
- Tocar y luchar (To play and to fight)
- Tambores de agua (Water drums)

Exhibition: Faith and the Forgotten

Date: Tuesday 27th October till Monday 21st November
Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Venue: University of Malaya Art Gallery, Level 5, Chancellery Building, University of Malaya, KL.
Free admission

The Venezuelan Week in Malaysia consists of a little bit of music, ideas, good taste, dance, film, craft, football, academy, designs of traditional attires and images....

... Such as these, which you can appreciate here ... inspired and shaped in wood or canvas in Kuala Lumpur, by a Venezuelan artist.

2 proposals, 2 techniques, 2 ideas, 6 paintings, and 1 artist who expresses 100 things...

To express, for instance, that from the tip of a brush, one can reflect chaos, faith, the immense, the insignificant, life, shadows, light...

Sebastián Guzmán adds his strokes to the programme of the 10th Venezuelan Week.

Exhibition “Images of Venezuela”

Date: Tuesday 27 October till Monday 21st November
Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Venue: University of Malaya Art Gallery, Level 5, Chancellery Building, University of Malaya, KL.
Free admission

University of Malaya Art Gallery will be the venue of an art exhibition called “Images of the Venezuelan Territories”, which brings together representations of landscapes, homes and cities reproduced in lithographs of major artists such as Armando Reverón, Martin Tovar and Tovar, Manuel Cabré, Federico Brandt, Antonia Azuaje, among others.

Venezuelan visual arts started as a creative inspiration of European influence, but then in XIX Century began offering images and themes extolling heroes and episodes of independence, until reaching the social factor that involves the creation of diverse landscapes, giving meaning to the abundance in the most authentic and intense expression of the purest artistic movements that have been booming in Venezuela.

Today, many advances have been achieved on the path to the socialization of arts, path that poses many challenges for moving towards a revolution of the visual arts, in accordance with the guidelines set in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, that acknowledge Venezuela as a multi-ethnic and pluricultural country.

Simón Rodríguez (Samuel Robinson)

Simon Rodriguez (Caracas, Venezuela, October 28, 1771 / Paita, Peru, February 28, 1854) has been missing from Venezuelan official history for some time. He was named "Quirky Loco", who designed one of the most revolutionary and innovative educational plans of the nineteenth century. He was inspired by Samuel the prophet and Robinson the literary character, a pseudonym he used for some time. He felt like a castaway at that time, and at the end of his days, he was a candle maker. Why? they asked. “Because otherwise I cannot enlighten our Americas”, he said. The Bolivarian Venezuela of this time finds lights in his teachings. President Hugo Chavez, always quoted Rodriguez to support this new, revolutionary project of the XXI century: 'Either we invent or we err’, said that genius, master of Simon Bolivar in the same Bolivarian ideology in which the South Americans feel like a new human race. Simon Rodriguez, along with Francisco de Miranda, Ezequiel Zamora and the Liberator Simon Bolivar, are the four historical pillars on which the Bolivarian Revolution is founded.

10th Venezuelan Week in Malaysia Opening Ceremony

The 10th Venezuelan Week

Gastronomic Festival

Academic Seminars by Professor Josu Landa

Prof. Josu Landa Seminar

Josu Landa (Caracas, 1953) has been teaching as a full time professor in the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts in the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) since 1988.

Among his works in literary theory includes Beyond the Word (1996 and 1997), Poetic (2002), Canon City (2010), Scores (2009) and Assays (2014) and abstracts of various writings on the subject.

In the field of ethics, he has collaborated as coordinator for the book Human Values in Mexico (1998) and the authorship of short essays about the dead archives and Human Parks in the World of Insignificance (1999) and books such as The Idea Justo Sierra University (UNAM, 2005) and Ethical Crisis: Cynicism, Epicureanism, Stoicism (2012). His notable poems are Treno for Woman Who Went Away With the Time (1996), Estros (2006) and Extinctions (2012 and 2014). He has also translated literary works into Basque such as Octavio Paz’s Sunstone and Endless Death by José Gorostiza. He is also the author of the first endogenous novel of the Basque diaspora, Zarandona (1999) and experimental novel Y / O (Ensemble) (2004 and 2011) and the collection of the 'distorted fables' of Anafábulas (2013 and 2014).

He was a member of the Board of the International Committee of the Immanuel Kant Library (2002-2010). He also founded and directed the first seven issues of the journal of philosophy Íngrima.

For his creative work, he was awarded the Carlos Pellicer Poetry Prize in 1996 and the Order of Andrés Bello in 1997. He has been a fellow of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Germany. He belongs to the National System of Art Creators of Mexico.

Josu Landa will be in Malaysia for The 10th Venezuelan Week and we have the honor to announce that he will be giving a seminar on "Reinventing American and Latin American Integration" in the following dates:

- UKM University on 21st October 2015 from 9:00am to 1:00pm.
- UM University on the 27th October 2015 from 9:00am to 1:00pm.

Fashion Designer Maritza Gil

Maritza  Gil  is  a  Venezuelan  Fashion  designer  whose background  has  been  admired  by  many  around  the world.   Her  previous  studies  were  from  the  design school Monseñor de Talavera in Venezuela and also she completed  a  diploma  in  Fashion  Countenance  in Mexico. She  won several  prizes  such  as  the  ‘Best  Print  Design’ competition at the Fashion Feast and she participated in a  few  competitions in "Kingdom  of  Bahrain.  Also  she organized  many  different  fashion  shows  around the world in places such as Venezuela, Bahrain, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Mexico,  and Malaysia leaving a piece of her art work  throughout  her  journey  the  designer  has  also her  own  Fashion  Event  company where she teaches models of the principles in the fashion industry. Coming from a country where beauty queens are well-know, Maritza Gil has the expertise and  customs  of  the  Latin  Women,  and  on  the  10th Venezuelan  Week  we  will  have  the honour to experience her new collection of ‘Mantas Guajiras’ which is a traditional dress that has been modernized by her.

Michael Simon & Friends Concert in Malaysia

The son of a musician, Michael Simon grew up surrounded by music in Venezuela. His whole family, including his brothers, was immersed in it, and so it became an integral part of his daily life.

"Marlon and Edward started before me, experimenting with different instruments and leaving behind the ones that didn’t appeal to them. After Marlon left a trumpet in the closet, I started playing it, taking lessons from age ten."

After a few years of practicing, Michael gained early experience playing salsas, merengues and boleros with a local band. Inspired by the music of Irakere, Michael studied music at the Ignacio Cervantes Music School in Cuba and moved to the Netherlands to study at the jazz department of the Rotterdam Conservatory where he obtained a degree in arrangement and composition in 2002.

As a busy trumpeter and arranger-composer in Europe, Michael has collaborated with producer/percussionist Gerardo Rosales since 1994, has been a member of the world/jazz ensembles Fra Fra Sound and Fra Fra Big Band for 20 years, has worked with Lucas van Merwijk & The Cubop City Big Band, La India, and shared the stage with Lester Bowie, Larry Harlow, Paquito D’Rivera, David Murray and Giovanni Hidalgo. Another notable collaboration teamed him up with Samuel Torres: combining, and fusing the sounds of Colombian percussion with Venezuelan jazz. Their compilation, Michael Simon & Samuel Torres provides delightful and fresh poetry via music.

Michael leads his own Latin jazz septet named Roots United (with whom he recorded "Revelación"), and his MS-5, a group of passionate musicians from Rotterdam in The Netherlands. Close to Michael’s heart are his collaborations with his brothers, including being part of Marlon Simon’s sextet, The Nagual Spirits and the Simon, Simon & Simon Reunion Project.

New York Encounter (2009 Fresh Sound Records), a unique and stirring album, is filled with stirring and original music. It was a giant step forward for Michael, both as a writer and as a trumpeter, and shows that the Simon Brothers are one of the most talented families in jazz.

Dutch Caribbean Groove Orchestra (DCGO) is another project that Michael, along with Fra Fra sound, developed. Melting together the sounds of African, Latin, American, Caribbean and Jazz, this educational project is a platform for music lovers to come together, regardless of the level of expertise, and have fun, while spreading their message of love and unity.

“Our message, of course, is to celebrate and live deeply while igniting people through music. Music is blind; music transcends barriers of gender, age and creed and brings people together. Music in itself a language that touches all people; and DCGO is a platform to touch people's hearts all over the world while jamming out to some jazzy sounds.” ~ Michael Simon

We are thrilled to announce that this talented musician will be performing on the 19 October in Kompleks Kraf Malaysia.

The concert will be open to public and we hope to see you all there!

Chef Enrique Limardo

After achieving high recognition and coveted prizes such as "Best Cook of the year 2008" by The Venezuelan Gastronomic Academy, Limardo widened his horizons and career by being the co-author of "I love Aji Dulce" in 2009, Sazon "Kitchen and author of the current Venezuelan cuisine" 2010, and co-author of "Nuestra cocina a la manera de Caracas" (Remake of a Venezuelan bestseller) in 2013. Previously, Enrique was the executive chef at "Inverdt business advisors company". Currently, he is the executive Chef at "Alma Cocina Latina", in Baltimore, USA, where he enhances Venezuelan cuisine, worldwide.

Chef Federico Tischler

Chef Federico Tischler has had a long journey in his career. He’s completed several cooking courses and participated in many gastronomic festivals. Currently, he is the Co-Executive Chef of "Alma Cocina Latina", in Baltimore, USA. Since February 2012, he is the executive Chef and co-owner of the University Restaurant "La Barra Unimet" in Caracas, Venezuela. His passion is not solely in the kitchen, but in the authenticity of Latin cuisine. Tischler co-authored a book in homage to Don Armando Scannone, "Our Cooking Caracas style", and he was the co-producer/guest speaker in the radio programme, "AsandoCultura" (Baking Culture) with María Beatriz, in Ateneo’s radio 100.7FM. He has attained a diploma on "Philosophical Anthropology" at the Virtual Institute of Human Sciences in Spain. Considered well-known for his gastronomic feasts, he is a founding member of "Venezuela Gastronomica", founded in 2009, chairman of The Third Gastronomic meeting organised by FundacionBiggot, and participated in the III International Gourmet Festival.

The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Malaysia is pleased to announce that Chef Enrique Limardoand Federico Tischlerwill be taking part of the 10th Venezuelan Week in Malaysia with a Gastronomic Festival from 22nd till31stOctober at Eccucino Restaurant–Hotel Pullman Kuala Lumpur City Centre Hotel & Residences. 4, Jalan Conlay, Kuala Lumpur. Reservation: +603 2170 8888extn. 8119/ restaurants@pullman-klcc.com For more information follow the chefsoninstagram as @enriquelimardo, @fetischleror and visit their website http://almacocinalatina.com/

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10th Venezuelan Week Programme Introduction

The Importance of a Decade

The music of the 80s, the rebellion of the 60s, the crisis of the 40s… it may be because we have ten fingers on our hands, but counting by tens and having the number 10 signify a milestone is common worldwide, throughout the centuries.

When we at the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Malaysia took the decision to change the way we celebrated our National Day, instead of a reception we organised a Venezuelan Week. The truth is that we were betting our salary that we would not get to the third edition. However, if we reached the 3rd edition of the Venezuelan Week in Malaysia, we would be satisfied.

Perhaps due to that, come the opening of the 10th Venezuelan Week in Malaysia today, we can hardly believe it. We have undertaken this endeavour for a decade, to show our beloved friends in Malaysia this beautiful country, a significant slice of the best music, cuisine, photography, paintings, dancing, cinema, history and ideas that Venezuela has to offer.

The satisfaction we have at reaching this magic number is indeed greater because in this 2015 edition, we are able to present a unique fusion, for the first time in the history of our country, a great Venezuelanmusician recorded an album accompanied by prestigious Malaysian musicians. The 10th Venezuelan Week in Malaysia will be launched with the concert which presents Venezuelan and Malaysian talents revealing the inseparable relationship between both countries and their people.

This closeness will be reinforced through food, academic, sport, art and any other areas during this year’s events as shown in the programme.

I will not stop now to introduce each proposed activit, because after ten editions, the list of acknowledgements has become rather long, and I will need some additional lines.

Today, we thank the governments of Venezuela and Malaysia for all their support in giving us an opportunity to talk about the 10 magnificent editions of Venezuelan Week. We convey our thanks to Kompleks Kraf Kuala Lumpur, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Malaya, Pullman Hotel, No Black Tie, Air France KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Kemaman Bitumen Company and all institutions and individuals that have made this latest edition possible. To Michael Simon, Josu Landa, Enrique Limardo and Federico Tishler, all of whom have travelled from afar and have set aside some time from their busy schedules to be here, forming part of this event. To you, who are reading this now, for whom we have prepared this programme.

I’d like to, nonetheless, use this occasion to express my heartfelt gratitude to the people who, year after year, have pushed their limits and capacities, their sleepless nights, and their encouragement to allow you to get to know and enjoy a taste of the rich Venezuelan culture. To those who are here with us today, and those who now apply their talents elsewhere. Thank you Enrique, Mina and Morella, Jennifer, Christine, Kathy, Siva, Mohamad,Nadrawati, Lynn, Hariz, María and Samuel, Carlos, Mailyn, Zhaybel, Ana Carolina, Franklin, Luisa, Irene, Ruzita, Malina, Vanessa, Durbila, Su, Kalister… thank you also to those who are not part of the Embassy team, but have been there unconditionally: YK Wong, David, Zul, Naty , Hossein, Erick, Aracelis, Jimena and Sofía, Zaman Riera family,Norazah, Tamara, Carmen, Moe and those whom my bad memory has left out in my hurry to have these words ready. Thank you, ten, hundred, a thousand times, thank you forever...

H.E. Manuel Antonio Guzmán Hernández
Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Malaysia

10th Venezuelan Week in Malaysia

Guess what....? It's coming soon... Stay tuned!