Great
news for the Phnom Penh music scene this weekend as The
Kampot Playboys
have reformed into a fantastic new
outfit.
They bring a
rare performance
of Khmer
Fusion Rock to the capital with a gig at Sharkys
on Saturday night. The band have a couple of new members including a totally smoking-hot
Tro
player
– a graduate from the Khmer Cultural Development Institute (click
here for more info). Also,
lead
vocalist, Cheat,
still belts out a
totally great
set
of originals and golden era classics. Not
to be missed.
![]() |
Kheltica - www.kenedgar.com |
Meanwhile,
a huge weekend of music is
taking place at Doors Phnom Penh
under the banner of Big Folk
– Phnom Penh's First Folk Music Festival.
Seven acts over two evenings include Holey
Bucket Union,
Kok Thlok and
Kheltica.
The event begins at 6pm on each day, with a cover charge of $5 for
one night
or $7 for both nights.
The
theme is Folk, Roots and Traditional music of
both Western and Cambodian origin. Jack is particularly looking
forward to the performance of last week's cover star Jimmy
Kiss,
who has reportedly acquired a special backing band for the occasion.
If you missed the Jimmy
Kiss
story, get up-to-date here.
An astonishing new promo
video was released by last week by Dub Addiction
– Cambodia's only
Raggamuffin-reggae
band. Check out the
super hard-hitting 'So Pea Set' -
an
ingenious
video
treatment
of
urban Phnom Penh directed
by Alexis Zeisler. Jack
is addicted!
Thousands
of miles from the gritty streets of the Penh,
a venue in Hollywood is getting ready for a huge summer festival of
Cambodian music. According to the organisers, the event at The Ford
Theatre 'is about
supporting and participating in a larger movement that is shaking up
Hollywood and moving through to its rightful place on the world
stage... Transcendence lies within the creation and sharing of these
new [Cambodian music] works, which humbly strive to replace what was
nearly destroyed.'
While
there are a few big names conspicuously absent from the line up (no
Dub Addiction? No newly reformed Drakkar Band?), headliners Dengue
Fever,
The Cambodian Space
Project
and Laura Mam
will all
be there on
the 4th
August 2014.
The
fourteen acts performing at
The Cambodian Music Festival
will
combine
to show
the great
provenance and the healthy current
state
of music of Cambodian origin. Check out the promo video below.
Cambodian Music
Festival performer
Bochan
contacted Leng Pleng
to let us know about her latest
music
release
entitled
'Hello
Hi'.
Bochan
writes,
'This
release
is very dear to me as it was an original song composed by my late
father here in the States in 1989. I stumbled upon the cassette tape
during an NPR interview on my father's legacy of keeping the music
alive among the refugee community. The song completely grabbed my
attention and became the inspiration for my new album.'
Cool!
Follow
the soundcloud links to listen to Hello
Hi
and remixes.
Savy is
another Cambodian-American star taking part in the August
festival. She recently released the
self-penned single About a Boy –
check out the video below.
One
leading Cambodian band who might be a little too hardcore for
mainstream audiences (and they wouldn't have it any other way) are
Sliten6ix.
The band got in touch to let us know that their newly-released EP
Nevermore
is
available for streaming and for download at sliten6ix.bandcamp.com.
To download the track you will need to put in your name and email
address, as
well as the price you would like to pay (you can enter zero if you
wish
but
Leng
Pleng
recommend you support
the band
with
more
than that).
Several
hot bands will be taking the stage at Oscar
51 over
the next few days. The tagline for The
Cambodian Space Project's
gig on Friday, 'Keep Oscar Flying', suggests that the venue could use
a little boost from it's patrons to continue to be able to promote
live music several nights a week. The
Foreign Passports
provide an opening act for CSP, and this great Funk/Blues band from
Sihanoukville are worth the $2 cover charge alone. Catch the full
Foreign Passports
experience at The
Groove
on Saturday night.
Also
on Saturday, Mispent
Yooth return
to Oscar 51.
The
band has an
ultra-strong and experienced line-up and purports some of the local scenes best musicians, including Lewis
Pragasam,
Chris
Kebeck,
'Smokin'
Kenny Smith
and Dave
Zdriluk.
In addition to these great gigs, Oscar is offering three (that's
three)
free beers to anyone willing to put in a set at Thursday's open mic.
Should be a good one, with the stage open to comedians as well as
musicians.
Stay safe and see you around the traps,
JACK
DIAMOND.
Latest Gigs
Thursday
27-Feb-2014
- 9:00 AM ~ Hear My Song 2014 Launch at The CJCC
- 8:00 PM ~ Open Mic Music & Comedy at Oscars 51
- 9:00 PM ~ The Tuk Tuk Sessions at Equinox
- 9:00 PM ~ Submarine Brass Band at The Groove
Friday
28-Feb-2014
- 8:00 PM ~ MWAUKA & The Gang at The Village
- 8:00 PM ~ DJ Proff at A Boat on the Mekong River
- 8:00 PM ~ The Cambodian Space Project and The Foreign Passports at Oscars 51
- 9:00 PM ~ DJ Illest , DJ Gang , DJ Rob Bianche and Mc Dolla at Pontoon
- 9:00 PM ~ Diego Dimarques trio at The Groove
- 9:00 PM ~ DJ Nicomatic and DJ Wah-Wah at Meta House
- 9:00 PM ~ The Fumes at Equinox
- 9:30 PM ~ Submarine Brass Band at The Slur Bar
- 10:00 PM ~ Tim Coates and Alan Ritchie at Code Red
- 11:00 PM ~ DJ Tech 12 and MC Hydro Phonics at Pontoon
- 11:00 PM ~ DJ BBoy Peanut and DJ Gigahurtz at The RiverHouse Lounge
Saturday
1-Mar-2014
- 1:00 AM ~ DJ Ewone * at Pontoon
- 6:00 PM ~ Holey Bucket Union , Miss Sarawan , Los Illustrados and Jimmy Kiss at The Doors
- 9:00 PM ~ DJ Edwardowski and DJ Island at The Laundry Music Bar in Siem Reap
- 9:00 PM ~ The Foreign Passports at The Groove
- 9:00 PM ~ Mispent Yooth at Oscars 51
- 9:00 PM ~ The Kampot Playboys at Sharky Bar
- 9:00 PM ~ Vibratone and DJ Rachid Baggasse at Equinox
- 9:30 PM ~ The Adobo Conspiracy at The Slur Bar
- 10:00 PM ~ DJ Phatt Controller , DJ Sequence and DJ Alan Ritchie at Dusk till Dawn
Sunday
2-Mar-2014
- 6:00 PM ~ Kheltica , Kok Thlok and Roxanne Dumont at The Doors
- 6:30 PM ~ James Whitehead at The Sundance Inn & Saloon
- 9:30 PM ~ Woody Dares at Oscars 51
Monday
3-Mar-2014
- 9:30 PM ~ Pavel at The Slur Bar
Wednesday
5-Mar-2014
- 9:00 PM ~ DJ Alan Ritchie at Dusk till Dawn
- 9:30 PM ~ Woody Dares at The Slur Bar
Coming Up
- Grass Snake Union at Equinox
- Jahzad at Equinox
- Dub Addiction at Equinox
- Pop Music Quiz Night at Equinox
- Bands of Cambodia Music Video Night at Equinox
- RJ Marshall at Equinox
- Submarine Brass Band at Equinox
- The Cambodian Space Project at Equinox
- The Adobo Conspiracy at Equinox
- SunBodia at Phnom Penh Passenger Port
- Marsyas at Equinox
- Vibratone at Equinox
- Tamaraka Trio at The Slur Bar
- Jahzad and Wat A Gwaan at The Slur Bar
- Rox & Friends at Slur Bar
- MWAUKA & The Gang at The Slur Bar
- Miss Sarawan at The Slur Bar
- Sonic Detergent at The Slur Bar
- Luna Negra at FCC - The Mansion
- The Klezbodians at The Slur Bar
- Punk & Rock Festival at Slur Bar
- Joshua Chiang at The Slur Bar
- DJ Tim Coates and DJ Mikus at The RiverHouse Lounge
- DJ Illest at Pontoon
- DJ R-Wan at Pontoon
- DJ Feraliskinky at Pontoon
- DJ Luke Coolhand and DJ Chantal at The Pontoon Pulse
- Mapro at The Pontoon Pulse
- DJ Bree, DJ Polaak and MC Kaztet D at The Slur Bar
- The Kampot Playboys at The Blissful Guesthouse in Kampot