= Live Music 
= DJs 
= Open Mic 
= Live Music & DJ * = International
"We borrowed
the name 'Galaxy Khmer' from a gay massage parlour then created a theatrical
take on the idea of Channthy being ‘a Khmer diva channelling the echoes of
Cambodia’s Golden Era singers of the 1960s'. First we rehearsed and presented a
premiere of the show at the Phare Circus in Battambang – sweltering hot at the
time – then, six months later, took the whole show off to Europe. We landed in
Berlin late on a bitterly cold winter’s night, kitted out in brand new snow
boots and ski jackets. We soon premiered ‘Galaxy’ to a full house at the
stunning 1920’s Hebbel Theatre... Following on from Berlin, we flew our
hullabaloo north to the even-frostier Bergen, Norway. Picture this: a dozen
Khmer and their tropically acclimatized Barang counterparts traipsing through
the thick snow of a European winter, in Norway of all places! Some of the
troupe had never before travelled out of Cambodia and had certainly never
experienced such freezing cold. Our dancers, aka 'The Spacettes' had more than
prepared; they’d even brought a rice cooker and smuggled Cambodian food into
Norway - dried fish, embryonic eggs, chillies and spices - and had quickly
adjusted the heating in each hotel room to feel like Cambodia."
Srey Channty
& Friends of The Cambodian Space Project
return home from their latest globe-traversing adventures to perform a show at Equinox
next Friday the 18th July. Spaceman Julien Poulson has been
detained in Australia on serious inter-planetary business but found time to
file the fascinating Musings From The Flight Deck: The Cambodian Space Project Tour Tales. Read Part One of his in-depth look at life within The
Project here. Note: the CSP show at Equinox was originally scheduled to
take place this Friday the 11th July. It has been moved due to a
Government Decree (the 11th of July 2014 is a public holiday in
Cambodia).
Adrien
Gayraud is another member of the Space Project team
finding himself extremely busy at the moment. Between sets with bands CSP and Kok
Thlok and also sound-engineering events at Slur Bar, Adrien has
somehow found the time to fit out a brand new music store on Street 143, just
north of Sihanouk Boulevard. Links is a large space
furnished with a great variety of guitar accessories such as pedals, strings
and plectrums that you won't find elsewhere in Cambodia. The shop is just
getting started with a lot more stock of all musical equipment descriptions on
the way. More than just a retail business, Links also has
a spacious and very well-kitted-out rehearsal room available for hire and
smaller studios for music tuition. The four-storey building near Olympic
Stadium should become a central part of the music community in Phnom Penh. Read
more here.
Meanwhile,
located on an inauspicious side street off Street 172, Vintage Guitars
Cambodia has recently opened for limited hours and by appointment to
view a collection of great guitars built before 1980. The stock includes many
sought-after Japanese-made acoustic guitar brands such as Suzuki and Morris.
Find out more here.
 |
| Sonic Detergent - pic courtesy of the band |
A choice of
quality gigs on Friday includes the excellent musicianship of Sonic
Detergent at Sharky Bar – featuring frontman Joshua Chiang
nailing the pop and rock vocal parts other male singers would not even dare to
attempt. On the same night, The Musicians of Siem Reap head to Slur
Bar for what could be a very entertaining musical party – see last
week's wrap for more details.
On Saturday
night at FCC Phnom Penh – The Mansion the Mekong Messengers seek
to re-create some of the euphoria surrounding their private gig last week at
the US Embassy Independence Day celebrations. Although it proved very difficult
to gain access to the gated Embassy compound without a valid invitation and
American passport, Jack '24 Carat' Diamond managed to slip in and observe this
new band take to the stage. The seven-piece Messengers played a groovy country
and blues-orientated repertoire through an impressively huge sound system. The
stage was a long flatbed truck bedecked with a six-metre stars-and-stripes. The
band performed their show to a audience of colourful characters within the
large and leafy grounds of the Embassy. Twirling hula-hoopers and circus
performers mixed with US Marines in full parade uniform. Patriotic Americans
swilled large quantities of Angkor beer while an over-stimulated group of Cambodian
teenagers pogoed and screamed next to the stage. Endless trays of burgers,
hot-dogs, pizzas and ice cream were distributed among visiting dignitaries and
business community big-wigs. God Bless America... and yes, I nearly forgot to
mention, the band were great too.
 |
| Mekong Messengers - pic courtesy of the band |
Two great
alternative gig choices await the adventurous Phnom Penh music-lover in the latter
half of the weekly gig schedule. Mathias Aspelin gives a special
performance at The Groove on Sunday with Dima Verba playing bass
and Ritchy Boisson on drums. Mathias is a modern-jazz inclined pianist
with some serious musical credentials (see a previous wrap for more details). Entrance
for the event is $10 and the drinks prices are not exactly backpacker-friendly
– but if you're happy to spend some cash then the beautifully-furnished Groove
provides perhaps the best live music listening experience in Phnom Penh right
now.
 |
| Cambodian Living Arts - pic courtesy of CLA |
Wednesday offers
the chance to see the performers of Cambodian Living Arts 'outside of
their usual environs of The National Museum and community-based projects'. Doors
Phnom Penh will host a show comprising of The Community of Living Chapei
and The Children of Bassac Troupe performing traditional folk satires for
voice and instruments such as the Chapei Deng Wang. Contrary to the
connotations of the word 'traditional', the show is billed to feature an
entertaining and energetic combination of music, drumming and dancing.
I'll leave you
with a recent video from that ragamuffin warrior MC Kaztet D. His
boundless energy has taken the Phnom Penh resident all over Cambodia and the
world - performing an inimitable and technically astounding flow of
French-language rhymes.
Until next time, stay safe out there and.... see you around the traps!
JACK DIAMOND
CLICK HERE FOR LATEST GIGS
JACK DIAMOND
CLICK HERE FOR LATEST GIGS
An open space bathroom from homeowner intrusion of designing plan
ReplyDeleteUsually, it is the duty of a designer or architect to bring their creativity forwards in house designing and let the clients laid back and relax. However, homeowner Jan Jeffery has a different idea and thus has joined hand with designer Joanne Gooding on the house plan, particularly, bathroom design.
"The original floor plan had the bedroom and bathroom separated by the dressing room, with each room walled off from the other. I sat down with the architect and we redesigned the suite so that the bedroom and bathroom could be read as one large, open-plan space with the dressing room at the far end." said Jeffery, as quoted by notable furniture in Cambodia
construction materials
.
Gooding praised the after-retuned house aspect: "The understated elegance of the design and the open-plan, shared space with the bath as a central element, imparts the essence of a real boudoir,"