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| Awesome skills and an archtop guitar: Victor Taboada – Pic: Steve Porte |
Phnom
Penh is in need of a first-rate jazz guitarist. The
city's boutique
jazz scene received a
massive boost recently with the opening of the only dedicated and
permanent live jazz lounge: Jazz
Club Phnom Penh.
The Jazz Club
is the only place in town where you can hear top-quality musicians
playing hot, cool, smooth, modern, classic or manouche several nights
per week.
Excellent
weekly nights at Est.
Bar,
Bouchon
and now Riverhouse
Asian Bistro also
host Phnom Penh's best singers, horn players, drummers, bassists and
keyboardists. But where are the jazz guitar players? Victor
Taboada is a Columbian
guitarist living in Thailand, currently on a short Cambodian sojourn
that we sincerely hope will turn into a more extended stay! Victor
has the dazzling dexterity, beautiful warm clean guitar tone and
effortless grasp of difficult chord progressions which
set apart
a superb jazz guitarist.
Catch him tonight
(Thursday) and on Friday night at
Jazz Club Phnom Penh and,
if you meet Victor,
tell him to please
hang
around a little longer!
 |
| (l-r) Chris Minko, Sophea Chamroeun, James Sokleap and Jimmy B prepare for the show. Pic: Steve Porte. |
Cambodian
music will also be very much on the agenda at Jazz
Club
this week
as the 'elusive,
exclusive and reclusive'
Krom play
their sole
gig of the year-so-far on Saturday night. The mixed Cambodian and
Australian band
fuse acoustic guitars, bass, keys and
saxophone with the
distinctly Khmer (and
absolutely beautiful)
vocal stylings of sisters Sophea
and Sopheak
Chamroeun. Since
guitarist Chris
Minko founded the
band in 2010,
Krom have generally
eschewed the live concert
circuit in favour of
songwriting and recording. Their
efforts are manifested in two studio albums, an international
following and, recently, submission to the nominations for the 59th
Annual Grammy Awards. Check
out the short video documentary below for a great introduction to the
music of Krom. A
word to the wise if you are planning to attend the gig on Saturday:
space is limited and you are advised to contact The
Jazz Club directly
to reserve a seat. Cambodian music will continue at the Jazz
Club on
Wednesday night when the Miss
Sarawan Quartet will
play a special gig with Cambodian saxophonist Bunhong
Cheak.
More
excellent Khmer-fusion sounds are bubbling up all over the country at
the moment. Kampot-based Mute Speaker creates his own brand of
ambient hip-hop with a distinctly Cambodian edge. Click the link
below to check out his latest track 'Skor' on Soundcloud.
Meanwhile in Battambang, Anna Smyrk and Vanthan Belo
have been collaborating on their 'atmospheric folk' fusion project
Romhaii –
check out the Facebook
and Soundcloud
pages to find out more!
Whatever you're up to over the next few days, stay safe out there and... see you around the traps!
JOE WRIGLEY
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