Jazz concert «Âm nhạc cuối tuần» (Weekend Music)

   Sunday afternoons by Hoan Kiem Lake (Hồ Hoàn Kiếm) can end to a saxophone soundtrack: in an old octagonal pavilion on the shore, Meritorious Artist Quyen Van Minh (Quyền Văn Minh) and the musicians of Bình Minh Jazz Club play open-air jazz for anyone who stops to listen.

   «Âm nhạc cuối tuần», or «Weekend Music», is a project of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports (Sở Văn hóa và Thể thao Hà Nội), run on the instructions of the city People's Committee. The launch concert took place on Sunday, 30 November 2025, and the programme has run on Sundays since. Each programme opens with its signature tune, «Hà Nội – Niềm tin và hy vọng» («Hanoi – Faith and Hope») by composer Phan Nhan (Phan Nhân); after that every concert has its own theme and colour, with jazz standards alternating with songs about Hanoi dressed up in jazz arrangements.

   The regulars on stage:
— Meritorious Artist Quyen Van Minh (Quyền Văn Minh), saxophone
— the musicians of Bình Minh Jazz Club
— vocalists Thuy Bui (Thủy Bùi) and Minh Thu (Minh Thu), in the September and October programmes

   In September the set lists featured Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter and «Take Five», Antonio Carlos Jobim's bossa nova with «Desafinado» and «The Girl from Ipanema», alongside Hanoi songs: «Em ơi, Hà Nội phố» and «Hà Nội ngày trở về» by Phu Quang (Phú Quang), «Hà Nội mùa vắng những cơn mưa» by Truong Quy Hai (Trương Quý Hải), and pieces by Quyen Van Minh himself, such as «Vũ điệu Thăng Long».

   This is jazz you can walk into: locals strolling round the lake, Vietnamese and foreign visitors, listeners of all ages can stop, listen and talk to the musicians directly. You don't need a club or a concert hall to hear it, just be by the lake on a Sunday afternoon.

   Nha Bat Giac (Nhà Bát Giác), in Ly Thai To flower garden (Vườn hoa Lý Thái Tổ), is an old octagonal pavilion by Hoan Kiem Lake; the local press also calls it Nhà Kèn Bát Giác, the octagonal bandstand. At the project's launch, the department's director Bach Lien Huong (Bạch Liên Hương) said its core aim was to build «a familiar cultural meeting point every weekend».

   Hanoi's press sees «Âm nhạc cuối tuần» as one of the foundations for the city's plans for an annual international jazz event: the first Hanoi Jazztival ran on 17–19 September 2026, and its closing night was played on this same lakeside stage.

   Concerts start every Sunday at 17:00. From 19 April 2026 the department moved the start from 15:30 to 17:00 to suit the summer weather. Check the latest announcement before you go.

   If you want to see Hanoi the way it spends its day off, head to the lakeside pavilion and stay for at least a couple of tunes.