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Greetings from Leng
Pleng Towers,
here in the swelteringly-hot back streets of Phnom Penh. Timothy, Ted
and myself have been blasting the office
air-con
and ordering up litres of iced dteuk
ampal
to
provide some relief from the daily 40-degree-plus temperatures. Phnom
Penh musicians
also
seem
to be taking shelter from
the heat this
week
– there is an unusually sparse sprinkling of gigs happening around
the city.
Fortunately,
there are still some unmissable
events happening – including the return of
Phnom Penh's most popular international band, and a special
performance taking
place for
International Jazz Day.
Miss
Sarawan Acoustic Quartet
will kick off the weekend at Paddy
Rice on
Friday night. The
new band
line-up
includes 'The Amazing' Antti
Siitonen
on cajon and percussion, adding a good helping of rhythm and groove
into the mix.
Jeff Sleeman
adds lyrical lead guitar to the classic Khmer soprano of Miss
Sarawan,
creating a soothing acoustic musical blend.
 |
| Channty Kak returns to Phnom Penh with CSP on Saturday night. pic: CSP website |
The
big news of the weekend is the very first appearance on Cambodian
soil in 2016 of The
Cambodian Space Project (CSP).
The psychedelic-space-rockers
have spent the past few months touring Taiwan and Australia and
getting ready to record their fifth studio album! The
Exchange
will host their
eagerly-awaited
home-coming gig on Saturday night. CSP
manager Anthony
Lefferts
got in touch with Leng Pleng
to let us know the latest exciting developments from mission control:
“The band is back in town! The full line-up for Saturday's gig is Channthy on lead vocals, Julien Poulson on guitar and keyboard, Jason Shaw on guitar and of course Phea on bass and Bong Sak on drums. Also a couple of special guests – we hope to get Sinn Sethakol up for some songs. The gig at The Exchange is running in conjunction with an exhibition at Space Four Zero [2pm to 6pm on Saturday] – a joint exhibition featuring Julien's Sticky Fingers – Art Prints Cambodia and Idle Beats Gallery from Shanghai. Every year they pick a different city, collaborate on projects and film the whole thing. You will see some very cool music and film posters.
Clinton Walker will be at the exhibition and at the gig on Saturday. It's a real coup for us to get him involved in the event and he will be the official writer for the upcoming Motown to the Mekong tour. Clinton is a famous writer from Australia and a champion of Aboriginal music. He has written around ten books on the Australian music scene and co-hosted the Australian music TV show 'Studio 22'. He is a music encyclopedia!Legendary music producer Jim Diamond will be coming over from Detroit for four days, with the kind support of the US Embassy. CSP are getting ready to record an album with him at 60 Road Studios in Siem Reap! The Motown to The Mekong tour is going to be huge... more news about that soon... see you on Saturday!”
 |
| Shades of Etta, Billie and Janis on International Jazz Day: Chinese singer 'CY' |
Saturday
the 30th April is UNESCO
International Jazz Day. Jazz musicians are something of a
rare breed in Cambodia, but pianist, singer and multi-instrumentalist
Phil Javelle has made sure there will be at least one
appropriately high-quality jazz music event taking place on Saturday.
This year Phil will be performing for Jazz Day at Chinese House in
Phnom Penh, together with
superb vocalist CY.
Phil and CY
will be exploring 'both Chinese 1930's
decadence era and mainstream Mando and
Canto pop tunes - re-arranging them with a twist of
modern Western jazz'. Sounds
to us like another classic Phil
Javelle event: top-drawer
live music in salubrious surroundings!
Whatever you're up to over the next few days, stay safe out there and... see you around the traps!
JOE WRIGLEY
CLICK HERE FOR LATEST GIGS
JOE WRIGLEY
CLICK HERE FOR LATEST GIGS
