Leng Pleng - Live Music and DJ Gig Guide of Cambodia: Weekly Wrap

Argentinian avant garde, Canadian oil-rig-rock and a Sunday afternoon Rachmaninoff recital? Sounds like a fairly typical weekend of live music in Phnom Penh!

Bitches Mix will bring their experimental sound to the Alley Cat Cafe this Friday. Maria Lobato and Adrien Sergent like to keep their performances as improvised as possible. The duo prepare for a show by setting up keyboards, percussion, melodica, loop pedal and microphones (amongst other instruments). When the show starts... anything goes! Bitches Mix create a spicy brew of vocal percussion and looped melodies. Tasty!

Max Jones has been developing the sound of 99-99 Arts Group in the bar rooms and rehearsal spaces of Phnom Penh over the past several months. A few different players have come and gone in that time but the essence of the 99-99 sound is Max's resounding baritone voice and his dark, literary songs. Superb bassist Dave Zdriluk has also been a fixture. Dave and Max will be joined by Boom Baar (drums) and Jimmy B (Saxophone) at Sharky Bar this Saturday night. Max Jones told Leng Pleng a little bit more about the show:

“...we are going to be screening rare archival street videography of images of downtown NYC in the 1980s. The fascinating, odd or perhaps downright weird thing about this show is the somewhat disturbing juxtapositions that occur between the music and the video which are different every night and which approach some kind of twisted synchronicity of beautiful horror.

The 99-99 Arts Group is an arts collective that does a mixture between a multi-media art show consisting of video and lenticular photography combined with a honky-tonk rock band. Their music is influenced by punk-rock, bad karaoke, Leonard Cohen, gothic rock, Hank Williams, Pere Ubu, and Television.

Canadian Dave toured the North of Canada on the oil rig circuit in Canada in the 1970's and is a seminal figure on the burgeoning music scene here in Phnom Penh. There is a rumour going around town that he is actually from Canada hence the nickname Canadian Dave.”

99-99 Arts Group claim that this is a picture of them.

Nicholas Ho is a young concert pianist from Singapore. Nicholas will be performing a special recital with Cambodian pianist Touch Raksmey at Himawari Hotel Apartments in Phnom Penh this Sunday afternoon. Check out the video below to hear the world-class skills of Nicholas Ho - performing a challenging piece composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Should be a great concert.

For weekly news about classical music and other arts events in Cambodia, be sure to check out our sister publication, Kumnooh. The page is a great way to keep abreast of events such as Imperfection – Flowers in Motion – an art opening taking place this Sunday afternoon at Palm Tours Cafe on Street 278 in Phnom Penh, across the street from where the Equinox venue used to be. Many readers of Leng Pleng will already be familiar with the artist behind the exhibition – none other than Anthony Mrugacz, former general manager of Equinox. Since the closure of Equinox a few months ago, Anthony has been busy producing some fabulous and original works of art. Check it out!

Long-time Leng Pleng readers may remember the late Ian 'Snowy' Woodford, who operated the legendary Maxine's (better known as 'Snowy's') bar on the Chroy Changvar peninsula in Phnom Penh. Snowy's was a famous hangout and hosted early performances from luminary bands such as Dengue Fever and The Cambodian Space Project. Filmmaker Tim Corrigan has captured the charisma and extremely colourful story of Snowy in a cool documentary. The film will be screened at Meta House this Friday night.