Author: Staff

Style simplified

The sultans of small have crafted yet another New York Times-worthy food room. Meat & Drink, the newest restaurant venture of the Bar Sito brothers, occupies the corner of two nondescript alleyways off Street 308. The curbside seating feels a lot like drinking on a front porch stoop (probably because it is). The neighbours thread their motos down narrow walkways as local kids meander by, giggling and gawking at the barangs and their bourgeois habit of drinking outdoors. Inside, a disappearing mountain of limes decorates a polished copper bar and a string of mechanic’s lights illuminates darkly painted brickwork and warm, wooden interiors. The kitchen does a short list of meat – beef, chicken and fish – served as burgers, wraps or salads. Open 5-11pm. Closed Mondays.

Meat & Drink, #40 Street 308.

 

 

 

Friends of Dylan

SATURDAY1 & SUNDAY 2 | The great and the good of the city’s folk scene are assembling under the masterful gaze of Euan Gray and Gabi Faja. Expect to hear everything from Cambodian classics to rousing Celtic numbers courtesy of Jimmy Kiss, Los Illustrados, Miss Sarawan, Kheltica, Kok Thlok and Roxanne Dumont.

WHO: Big Folk
WHAT: Folk festival
WHERE: Doors, Streets 84 & 47
WHEN: 6pm March 1 & 2
WHY: “All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song” – Louis Armstrong

‘E will

SATURDAY 1 | The only DJ in France to boast his own daily radio show between 2003 and 2009, Ewone has warmed up for the mighty Snoop Dogg and Mary J Blige and tonight he’s warming YOU.

WHO: DJ Ewone (France)
WHAT: Open format DJ
WHERE: Pontoon, Street 172
WHEN: 11pm March 1
WHY: If he’s good enough for Snoop…

Got riddim

SATURDAY 1 | What Vibratone lack in geographical legitimacy they more than make up for with enthusiasm. Between them, Ben and Leonard (guitar), Julien (bass), Vibol (keys), Luis (drums) and Maia (vocals) boast an eclectic background, with musical roots from Brazil to France to the Philippines, yet their all-original reggae genuinely rocks. The song Dreams, Maia says, “talks about just that: dreams. The wants, needs and desires that we all have. When I wrote it, it began on a really materialistic note – be it money, a house, a car – then Julien and I spoke and I realised it needed more substance, so there is this transition between the first and second verses.  It talks about being at peace with oneself and gaining happiness through fulfilment. We have another song called Who Are You Fooling? and it’s very political; it criticises the status quo and speaks about injustices.” Joining Vibratone tonight is special guest DJ Rachid Baggasse (Spain).

WHO: Vibratone and DJ Rachid Baggasse
WHAT: All-original reggae
WHERE: Equinox, #3a Street 278
WHEN: 9pm March 1
WHY: See ‘WHAT’

Brahms & Liszt

SATURDAY 1 & SUNDAY 2 | Japanese classical pianist Miki Aoki, who debuted at the London Royal Festival Hall at the age of 12, performs two solo recitals this weekend. On Saturday, The Belyayev Project is a nod to Mitrofan Belyayev, Imperial Russian music publisher and philanthropist, and includes pieces by Lyadov, Glazunov and Debussy. Sunday’s show is a tribute to György Sebök, acclaimed pianist and professor, in which Aoki will interpret pieces such as the Intermezzo Op. 118 No.2 by Brahms. Joining Aoki as special guest is ISPP student Yoo Bin Kim, a talented Korean pianist based in Phnom Penh (tickets, $20 to $55, available at The Intercon).

WHO: Miki Aoki
WHAT: Solo piano recital
WHERE: Grand Ballroom, Intercontinental Hotel, Mao Tse Tung Blvd.
WHEN: 6:30pm March 1 & 11am March 2
WHY: “It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table” – Johannes Brahms

The burn of hot wax

FRIDAY 28 | At the pinnacle of the late-1980s UK club scene, when places like the Blitz and people like Steve Strange ruled a Gomorrah of 24-hour gender-bending pop excess, the truly rebellious were breaking into abandoned school buildings in Brixton, wiring the places up with admirably jerry-rigged sound systems and shaking the windows with music that didn’t suck. Paul Adair was a 20-something college radio DJ from small-town New Zealand. London was the fount of all music. Vinyl was the substrate. “The ’80s,” says Adair, who spins under the name Dr Wahwah, “is completely underrated… it was a time when a lot of musical genres that dominate now came to the fore”. Untethered in the Big Smoke, Adair fell in behind the turntables at London squat parties. Twelve-inch wax became his currency. Adair recently started buying records again, hence Vinyl Mania, a party for Dr Wahwah and fellow wax lovers to spend the night together. Wahwah’s newest additions are “predominantly dance” he says, but there’s lots of eclectic obscurata there too: Japanese funk, limited-edition underground disco, minimalist African house. He’s joined by Nico Mesterharm, aka DJ Nicomatic.

WHO: Dr Wahwah and DJ Nicomatic
WHAT: Vinyl Mania
WHERE: Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard
WHEN: 9pm February 28
WHY: Sounds from the European underground have never been so accessible

Life through a lens

FRIDAY28  | For six months, peripatetic photographer Michael Klinkhamer has prowled the streets and alleyways of the Cambodian capital, camera in hand, dispensing to those who care to listen the ‘wisdom of the lens’. “‘You can’t go wrong here’ is a sentiment often expressed by photographers in Cambodia,” says Klinkhamer of his adopted home. “This exhibition is dedicated to all that has appeared in front of my lens over the last six months. My theme is very simple: common people, illusive monks, playing children, the vibrant and resilient Khmers in this time and place working towards a better future, welcoming, open to opportunities, keeping their dignity and their own identity.”

WHO: Michael Klinkhamer
WHAT: You Can’t Go Wrong Here photography exhibition
WHERE: FCC, #363 Sisowath Quay
WHEN: 5pm February 28 until March 31
WHY: You really can…

Strings & things

TUESDAY 25 | Hear the haunting lilt of the chapei dang weng, Cambodia’s traditional long-neck guitar (played perhaps most famously by Master Kong Nay, pictured), in tonight’s debut performance by the cream of Cambodian Living Arts’ musicians (tickets: $3). Here, the sounds of Khmer yore will be fused with electric guitar, other traditional instruments and stirring lyrics made up on the spot. No pressure there, then.

WHO: Cambodian Living Arts
WHAT: Traditional Cambodian music
WHERE: Doors, #18 Streets 84 & 47
WHEN: 8pm February 25
WHY: The sound of Khmer yore

Hunter of emotions

Her face is furrowed by crossroads of deep wrinkles; she chews tobacco, has an impenetrable expression and sports a krama atop her head. Who is she? Cambodia – or perhaps what the country might look like if it had a face.

Sometimes our mood can be interpreted through our facial expressions: an open smile, a scream of terror or anguish, a laugh, a nose wrinkled in disgust, tearful eyes. Other times, almost imperceptible facial movements are like mysterious shadows, forming and vanishing in the blink of an eye. Such fluid feelings can be difficult to decode, with only the most attentive of eyes able to capture them on canvas. This is the job of Sao Sovannara: hunter of human emotions.

His portraits comprise photography imbued with secrecy. One, depicting an elderly woman representing the Kingdom of Cambodia, became the manifesto of Cambodian Portraits, a new exhibition at The Insider Gallery. The collection includes 15 profound and intimate artworks, including paintings and sculptures.

“When I started this artwork I thought about my granny,” says Sao. “She used to always have tobacco in her mouth and wear a krama to wrap her hair up. These are very typical Cambodian traditions. She died recently but her memory is always very strong.” The young artist, who used to draw in night markets to finance his art and architectural studies, is one of the winners of the second Cambodian Fine Arts Contest, celebrated last year at the Royal University of Fine Arts. His subject, says Sao, is a woman who, like many other grandmothers, endured great hardship to keep her family alive, but despite everything still wears a smile. She is, above all, symbolic of Cambodia’s endurance and strong will.

There’s a certain feeling captured inside any portrait: it takes time to create one and even longer to interpret the person behind the easel, waiting for something more than a photograph, deeper than a mirror. Art, psychology, sensitivity and concentration are the main tools for someone like Sao. “Being able to reproduce wrinkles, the signs left by a life of contrasting emotions, has been the hardest thing for me,” he says, pointing out how art can remind people of something long lost. “My generation is very different from the previous ones. We should listen more to our ancestors, study more about the history of Cambodia and, above all, not throw our traditions away. We should never forget where we come from because this is our strength.”

WHO: Sao Sovannara
WHAT: Cambodian Portraits art exhibition
WHERE: The Insider Gallery, Intercontinental Hotel, Mao Tse Tung Blvd.
WHEN: Until March 10
WHY: “We should never forget where we come from because this is our strength.” – Sao Sovannara

 

Hermanos Cubanos

B-boy culture, peeled-off G-strings and 1970s Communism: a night with one of the UK’s most unusual exports

B-boy culture, peeled-off G-strings and 1970s Communism might seem unlikely bedfellows, but when a small band of Scotsmen find global fame by pretending to be Cuban, ‘unlikely’ takes on a whole new meaning. The Cuban Brothers – not one of whom is actually Cuban – perform a bizarre breakdancing, stripping, stand-up comedy and singing medley in what is quite possibly one of the UK’s most unusual exports of all time.

And if the reception is anything to go by, Unusual is the new Black: Elton John flew The Cuban Brothers to France in a private jet; Robbie Williams stage-invaded their act at his own end-of-tour party; artist Damien Hirst hired them for his Christmas bash; British TV presenters Vernon Kay and Tess Daly booked them for their wedding, and their debut album, Yo Bonita!, features ‘a crack outfit of some of the finest funk players on the planet’, including the band that once backed the late Amy Winehouse.

But how did several lads – from a permafrozen place synonymous with men who wear skirts but no knickers – take the quantum leap from 21st century Scotland to 1970s Havana? Miguel Montavani, Cuban Brothers’ front man and founder, wasn’t always so. As the rather more modestly named Mike Keat, he hopped the English Channel almost a decade ago to take up residence in a hotel in Palma, Mallorca. It was there, among Latin entertainers from a bygone era, that inspiration first hit.

“I’ve always had a fascination with sub-standard cabaret performers,” he told The Guardian in what the reporter describes as ‘a disarmingly Scottish accent’, “and there was this amazing guy working in the hotel I was living in who did the kids’ discos. He was in his early 50s, about five feet two and had a fuck-off, big Tom Selleck ‘tache. He’d run out from behind this little console and be like [adopts Spanish accent]: ‘Hokay keeds! Eess my fabourite, I sure eess your fabourite ass-well! Less go… Whigfield, Sadurday Night!’ It was the most hilarious thing I’d ever seen in my life and I just thought: ‘This guy’s a genius’ and fell in love with him.” Mike, enchanted by the entertainer he describes as “so awful he was fantastic”, added his own touches – including stripping off “just for the wrongness factor” – and the lascivious lothario Miguel Mantovani was given life.

Back home in Edinburgh, Miguel took control of a Tuesday club night in a basement bar and within three weeks takings had rocketed from $500 a night to $9,000. Outings to hip-hop clubs in the city soon turned up Archie Easton, a former dancer

with The Prodigy (now known as Archerio on stage), and conspicuously Oriental-looking One Motion breakdance champion Kengo Oshimo, whose alter-ego is Kengo San, ‘a dancer and fever man who can make you come without touching you’ (Miguel’s Japanese lovechild was sired inadvertently on his national service with the Cubano Merchant Navy in 1978, so the story goes). Miguel’s dance floor encounter with Archerio, a Glaswegian Buddhist and ex-welder, was a formative moment in The Cuban Brothers conception. “I battled him,” says Miguel. “He wiped the floor with me.”

Thus far, The Cuban Brothers have supported James Brown, Chuck Berry, Fatboy Slim, De La Soul and Talib Kweli, performing along the way with everyone from The Prodigy and Q-Tip to Roy Ayers and Jocelyn Brown. An appearance at last year’s Big Wig Festival in Singapore sowed the seeds in Southeast Asia and this week they’re bringing their bizarre blend of comedy, breakdancing, stripping and spectacular music to Code Red.

The show isn’t for the faint of heart or humour, but as the boys have proven, even a Communist state such as Cuba can take the joke. “I was a little bit worried the first time we performed in Cuba,” says Miguel. “I was like, fuck man, they could be thinking: ‘Our culture’s being bastardised by these jocks,’ but surprisingly enough they recognised we’re not taking the piss out of their culture, that the joke’s on us. They love it.”

Miguel’s vocal skills have since made it to the big screen in Sunshine On Leith, the film version of a British musical which follows two men relearning how to live life in Edinburgh after returning home from the front line in Afghanistan. The soundtrack features songs by Scottish pop-folk peddlers The Proclaimers, of whom Miguel is a life-long fan. “I met [director] Dexter Fletcher at Jamie Oliver’s Feastival where we were playing,” he says. “We hit it off and he told me he was doing the Proclaimers film. I was into it right away. I’m the Proclaimers’ biggest fan. I grew up sat behind them at Easter Road when I first started going to the football with my grandad. So Dex and I ended up sitting having a drink, arms round each other singing Proclaimers songs and he’s telling me I have to read for the film. It was real serendipity.

“He told me there was a film with Proclaimers music set in Edinburgh, that there’s the role of a guy running the bar that might suit me, with Peter Mullan in it too. He wasn’t going anywhere until I had a shot. The producers asked if I could shoot something but I was on the road, so I got Archie to set up a camera in my kitchen. I filmed the audition there and they loved it. They want to put it on the DVD – they said it is the best audition they have ever seen. When I learned I got it, we were off doing Holly Valance’s wedding to Nick Candy in Hollywood at Universal Studios. So I’m walking up Rodeo Drive dashing back for a soundcheck when I got the call from Dex saying I got the part. You can imagine it was one of those moments – I was in the blazing hot sun, on my way to a film set to a glam showbiz wedding to perform, punching the air. At the Edinburgh premiere, The Proclaimers made a beeline for me as I came through with my parents and said I have an amazing voice and it was their favourite bit of the film. My mum was amazed. She loves them too.”

And Sunshine On Leith isn’t Miguel’s only brush with the big screen: he’s also to be spotted in Cuban Fury, the new film from British comedy stalwarts Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. But music remains The Cuban Brothers’ mainstay: Yo Bonita! was declared album of the week by the UK’s Sunday Mirror and Mail on Sunday when it was released. Highlights include So Sweet, featuring soul chanteuse Mica Paris, which blends Philly soul with slick faux-Cuban vocals: “Won’t somebody take me back to the days in the hood, when it was good”, croons Miguel in this unashamedly retro summer track.

Instrumentation comes courtesy of The CBs, a band originally put together to back the mighty James Brown on one of his last-ever tours and which has since backed everyone from Tom Jones and Mick Jagger to Nick Cave and Prince Buster. “Yo Bonita! was the album started just after my firstborn Bonbon, I wanted to do an organic project not using any samples with the extraordinary live band I’d put together to support James Brown on one of his last tours out in Australia,” says Miguel. “The players comprise cats from Amy Winehouse’s outfit, Primal scream and so many more and they are the dopest musicians. The main idea was to do some great songs, dope beats and keep it free of gimmicks. With the exception of Kurtis Blow, who is just a legend of hip-hop culture and somebody I’ve always admired, the guests are some of my favourite British artists, all with their own true voice.” Keep your ears peeled for Motorhead’s Ace of Spades and Jermaine Stewart’s We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off rendered as they’ve never been rendered before.

But it’s on stage, in the unforgiving glare of the spotlight, that these not-so-Cuban, not-so-related ‘brothers’ come into their own in a gloriously testosterone-charged show hinged on slick slapstick banter. Not that that won them any friends at a party for the master distiller at Jack Daniel’s, who was so shocked he walked out. “He was this 80-odd-year-old southern Baptist,” Miguel recalls in The Guardian. “Apparently the ‘homoerotic nuances’ weren’t to his liking. Part of the show was to drag a guy from the audience on his chair and lap-dance around him. I finished by licking his bald forehead for about 10 seconds. I think that’s where it maybe went a bit wrong.”

WHO: The Cuban Brothers
WHAT: Crazed David Lynch/Chippendales hybrid
WHERE: Doors, Streets 84 & 47, and Code Red, opposite Naga World, near Koh Pich Bridge
WHEN: 9pm February 21 (Doors) & 1am February 22 (Code Red)
WHY: See ‘WHAT’