“Phnom Penh is like
a blank canvas where you can pretty much create whatever you want, be
it art, music, film. There's a revival happening and I've fallen in
love with Cambodia like so many of us here. It's a truly special
place”.
- ANTHONY LEFFERTS, Space Four Zero,
Founder.
![]() |
Dara Puspita - pic courtesy of Space Four Zero |
Space Four Zero is
a new live music and arts space opening this week in Phnom Penh. The
party kicks off on
Thursday evening with the opening of an exhibition entitled Dara
Puspita: The Greatest Girl Group That N(Ever)
Was. Dara
Puspita were an all-girl rock'n'roll group formed in 1960's
Indonesia.
Cambodian Space
Project return
from their international travels to play
a
special show at
the venue on Friday night. Space
Four Zero
main-man
Anthony
Lefferts told Leng
Pleng that
he expects the gig to be a 'big
ole shindig'.
Read the full Q&A with Anthony here.
The
conclusion of the Buddhist festival of Pchum Ben this year falls on
weekdays,
with plenty of gigs happening in
Phnom Penh over the weekend.
The three days of national holiday (22-24
September) are normally
marked by
an exodus of city-dwellers to
their home provinces – it
might be wise to check with your venue to see
if
any
of the regular
gigs you
would usually expect to
attend
have been
affected.
Phil
Javelle brings
Velvet Nights back
to Riverhouse Asian Bistro this
week.
The series of gigs will
feature multi-instrumentalist
Phil as host with
a succession
of specially-invited
guests. This Friday, Saturday
and Sunday, Euan
Gray will join on
saxophone and vocals. The
Phnom Penh gig scene has missed Euan in recent months as he has been
spending time in his homeland of Australia. With
leading
roles
in Cambodian-based
Songkites and The Ragamuffin Project, Euan is an
accomplished musical educator and creative
arts therapist as well as being a great songwriter, singer and
player. The
Rooftops
lead singer told Leng
Pleng why he is looking
forward to the upcoming gigs with Phil:
![]() |
Euan Gray by Ken Edgar |
"The best thing about playing duo with Phil is that anything is possible. Phil can go from jazz to pop to classical to Corsican jail ballad - all within the same song. Responding to him and bouncing around ideas is a whirlwind of musical adventure. Every time we finish a song, the way we play together is so surprising we both keep laughing. We thought about calling our duo 'The Happy Endings' - but we are having second thoughts ;-) "
![]() |
Dima Verba by Ken Edgar |
Two
really cool gigs happening on
Saturday both
feature an interesting and novel mix of musical
styles. Los Hermanos is
a new four-piece band comprising the talents of Chris
Kebeck (guitar), Dima
Verba (bass), Jimmy
B (saxophone) and Luis
Arambarri (drums). These
guys are all seriously good,
experienced musicians. They
will be playing a fusion of music that spans 'South to North America'
– from the samba
and bossa-nova
of Latin America to the jazz,
blues and rock of the United States. Los
Hermanos make their début
at Slur Bar this
Saturday night. The
virtuoso bass-playing of Dima
Verba is particularly
worth checking out –
Dima is a
musician capable of getting some jaw-dropping sounds from his
five-stringed instrument.
Over
at Sharky Bar on
Saturday, guitarist Aymen
Ghali and saxophonist
Bunhong Cheak continue
their collaboration with vocalist Miss
Sarawan. The Miss
Sarawan All-Star Band
play a repertoire of Khmer rock'n'roll songs from the 1960's and
1970's in a jazz-orientated
style that marries a
delicate, high Khmer vocal with the distinctive sound of the 'jazz
manouche' guitar.
JACK DIAMOND
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