Byline: Imke Van Den Akker

Kaleidoscope of emotion

Poet, writer, photographer, drawer, painter, performer. She is all in one, is 56-year-old Belgian Bernadette Vincent, and she uses all of her talents to create her art. Now, for the first time, she is poised to share that work with the public: “This exhibition – Once… – is a kaleidoscope of emotions,” she says.

When Bernadette talks about her art, her face lights up. “I am so passionate about this! Two years ago I suddenly realised that people liked what I make. I was asked to participate in the Mask project, during which different artists made a piece of art out of the same mask. Through a silent auction for charity my mask got sold for $575. I remember sitting in front of my computer, looking at my screen and seeing the bids going up and up. That gave me the boost of confidence I needed.”

Her artwork is a composition of different forms: photography, painting, drawings, poems. “I find it difficult to tell my stories through only one medium, so most of my paintings are layered artworks with a mixture of media and textures.” Layered artworks? “Layers of photos; photos of painting or drawings; photos of photo transfer collages on canvas: I choose the technique that fits the feeling I want to show. My pieces are always ‘in progress’: I don’t know how to get to the end until I get there. It is the same with cooking: you have to keep seasoning until you find the perfect combination of flavours.”

Bernadette insists she may not be the best photographer: “As a street photographer, I don’t have any rules. Some pictures are too dark or too light, but it’s not my goal to make perfect pictures. I want to show feelings, so I mainly I photograph people who don’t pose! And people’s eyes, because they show people’s soul. That is why they repeatedly come back in my work. I am not a storyteller, I am a teller of stories.”

Stories are based on her emotions, from her past as an abused child to her present life in Cambodia and everything in between. “My art is personal: it is the story of my lifetime, but at the same time it is universal. Through my work as a volunteer photographer for an NGO here, I’ve seen and heard a lot of stories that inspired me. I feel a connection between the Cambodian stories and mine.”

The story continues with the opening of Once… “This site-specific performance in the staircase of Feel Good Cafe will be a travel through my artwork, through a lot of different media. A combination of everything I love: dance, poems, paintings, music. Two performers, one dancer and a musician lead the visitors alongside my artworks from the dance studio upstairs to the ground floor… It will be 50% structured and 50% improvised, so even for the performance there will be an element of surprise.”

WHO: Poet, writer, painter, dancer and performer Bernadette Vincent
WHAT: Once… performance & exhibition
WHERE: Feel Good Café, #79 Street 136
WHEN: From 7pm November 12 to December 5
WHY: “Once… is a kaleidoscope of emotions” – Bernadette Vincent

 

Channelling emotions through music

“The purest form of recognition is a stranger relating to me just through my words and melody,” says English self-taught pianist/guitarist/singer/songwriter and Earl Grey addict Charlie Corrie. Pointing at his mug full of white wine (“All my wine glasses are broken”), the 29-year-old says: “My music is honest and pure. This is the first drop of alcohol I have had in three months. Under the influence, you will write about feelings that are not real.”

Inspired by the classical music his adopted parents played during dinner parties, Charlie’s music career kicked off at the age of four. “I taught myself to play the piano alongside the classical melodies of composers like Chopin, Brahms, Tchaikovsky.” At the age of 10, he picked up and played his neighbour’s guitar for the first time. From there, he taught himself by ear. “I started writing music when I was 16. After years of playing in different bands and co-writing with other artists, my recent work is totally my own, from the beginning to the end.”

While his PR photos may have something of the ‘boy band’ about them (“Those pictures were taken years ago, when I was at a ‘pop’ phase in my career”), his new discography leans towards indie artists Ed Sheeran, Bon Iver and Ben Howard. “I take certain styles from these artists and make it my own. I don’t think anyone can truly be original; everything has to come from somewhere, but my voice makes the difference. That’s really my own sound.”

The results can be heard on his debut EP, due out by the end of this year. “In reality I am a closed book, but I express my feelings and thoughts through music. Writing music is therapeutic: it’s my way of channeling my emotions.” Predictably, his lyrics fixate on relationships. “I ruin relationships and they ruin me. I believe this is caused by my upbringing as an adopted child. I have no idea where I came from. In the first years of my life I lived in foster homes. Most people ran as fast into my life as they ran out of it, so I don’t let people in that easily, which some might confuse as arrogance.”

As an aside, Charlie does all of his composing in his kitchen “because of the acoustics and the tea pot being in reach”. Tea? That’s not rock ‘n’ roll! “Back in London I did the whole rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle: drugs, alcohol; I was even homeless for a while. After that roaring period, I really needed to get out of there. Phnom Penh gives me space to breathe and collect my thoughts.”

WHO: Charlie Corrie
WHAT: Pianist/guitarist/singer/songwriter and Earl Grey addict
WHERE: Doors, Street 84 & 47
WHEN: 9:30pm October 31
WHY: “My music is honest and pure” – Charlie Corrie

 

Who wants to be a tycoon ?

‘You win the How Many People Can You Spot On One Moto competition! Receive R50.’ So declares one samnang lahor (‘good luck’) card in CambOpoly. ‘You get Dengue Fever (it’s not the musical variety!). Go straight to the Medical Clinic,’ warns another. This, as you might have guessed already, is the newly launched Cambodian version of what is quite possibly the world’s most famous board game.

The concept came about two and a half years ago, when friends of a couple about to get hitched hit on the idea of creating an original wedding gift. The bride and groom liked board games and what started as a small independent project can now be played by one and all.

Unwrapping the game, you’re immediately immersed in the Cambodia so many of us know so well. CambOpoly’s logo, a green square with white text, is based on local road signage. The strong vinyl board is decorated with typical Khmer ornaments. The six player tokens, all tiny animals, come from Russian Market. An ample supply of paper money is provided in Cambodian riel. And the properties you can buy vary from Phnom Penh sangkats (‘districts’) to prominent tourist attractions, from well-known cafés to landmark hotels. Got an uncontrollable urge to demonstrate your burgeoning wealth to the Joneses? Simply park a miniature luxury car outside your CamboPoly properties.

The object of what was known in its original 1906 incarnation as The Landlord’s Game – long before the involvement of Parker Brothers, the British Secret Intelligence Service and Hasbro – is to become the wealthiest landlord in the country. But the eagle-eyed will notice land grabbing and forced evictions don’t factor into the rules.

Players take turns rolling the dice and working their elephant or snake token around the board. Real estate wannabes can snap up prime addresses such as Street 240, Hotel Intercontinental and even Angkor Wat. If another player lands on your property, he or she owes you rent. In an amusing nod to local values, the exact amount you’re owed depends not only on the value of your property but also on whether your Lexus or Bentley is parked outside (clue: the more luxury cars, the higher the rent).

One of the best things about CamboPoly is that you can customise the game yourself: the board comes with five blank samnang lahor cards, their directives limited only by your own imagination. As with the reality of real estate in this country, you can even make up the rules yourself. Just try not to bulldoze too many villages in the process, please.

The game is handmade, locally produced and all proceeds go to Support for Children of Incarcerated Parents (SCIP), which funds social worker visits for jailed mothers and fathers.

CamboPoly is available from Smateria, #8 Street 57 (cnr Street 278), priced $55.

 

The sound of survival

Forgotten songs Booklet2So this is it! This is literally ‘the sound of survival’. Even after decades of war and cultural destruction, during which traditional Cambodian music was banned and almost forgotten, ancient masterpieces are being resurrected on the newly released album Cambodian Forgotten Songs Vol. 2.

The story behind this revival starts with a purchase of an old book at a flea market in Paris. Chansons Cambodgiennes, written in 1921 by French academic Albert Tricon, contains the Western scores and phonetic lyrics of 54 Cambodian songs that were on the cusp of vanishing into the mists of time. After a journey to the other side of the world, the book eventually ended up at the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre in Phnom Penh.

The centre immediately set about singing and playing new life into this otherwise-at-risk-of-being-forgotten musical heritage, much of which had survived only as oral tradition. Supported by professional artists and music academics, the first CD of eight songs was released in 2009 and is now being followed up with a newly released second volume, also containing eight tracks. Although nobody can know for sure how the music was originally played, the recordings, say the good folk at Bophana, remain as close to traditional forms as possible.
The result is fascinating: a melodic combination of traditional Khmer instruments, vibrato vocals and poetic lyrics. Three different Khmer music styles are covered, all easily recognisable by the instruments and rhythms used. Mohori, commonly performed at banquets and folk dances, sounds almost Chinese influenced because of the huge part the roneat eik (‘bamboo piano’) plays. But the addition of flutes, drums and finger cymbals gives these love songs an exotic, optimistic tone. This is also represented by some feel-good lyrics: ‘My darling, I will take care of you’ from the song Mon; ‘Sleep deeply, my beloved/ Sleep on my lap’ from Sangsar (‘Sweetheart’).

The sound is very different from arak, which dates back to the days of animism. The lyrics of ‘spirit possession’ songs Khlong, Komréng and Dâmbang dèk are strongly determined by this ancient belief system in which mountains, trees and animals are worshipped as sentient beings. Knowing this, you could be forgiven for interpreting the ostensibly innocent lyrics about nature as sexually loaded come-ons. Take, for example, Dâmbang dèk: ‘Young grass, flat land / At the peak of the mountain / Eagles are crying…’ This ‘ancient rock ‘n’ roll’ is characterised by ever faster drum rolls to seduce the souls of the departed. The change of rhythm and repetitions of melodies are almost hypnotic, sucking you into the music in what feels like a fleeting possession. The final two tracks are popular Khmer traditional songs, oozing with fun. Indeed, Svai muy mek (‘Green frog’) will most likely make you hop up and down on the spot.

To make the album’s appeal as wide as possible, it comes with a booklet containing English-language translations of the lyrics, as well as full musical scores for each song. Even the technical difficulties involved are described in detail. Without this extra feature, the album should still be considered something of a national treasure. And luckily, even after two albums featuring 16 forgotten songs (both available from the Bophana Centre now on a donation basis), there are still 38 such songs left to unearth.

WHO: Cambodian musicians unearthing traditional songs of the past
WHAT: Cambodian Forgotten Songs Vol. 2
WHERE: Bophana Centre, #64 Street 200
WHEN: Now
WHY: Rediscover the beauty of Cambodia’s rich musical heritage

The sound of survival

So this is it! This is literally ‘the sound of survival’. Even after decades of war and cultural destruction, during which traditional Cambodian music was banned and almost forgotten, ancient masterpieces are being resurrected on the newly released album Cambodian Forgotten Songs Vol. 2.

The story behind this revival starts with a purchase of an old book at a flea market in Paris. Chansons Cambodgiennes, written in 1921 by French academic Albert Tricon, contains the Western scores and phonetic lyrics of 54 Cambodian songs that were on the cusp of vanishing into the mists of time. After a journey to the other side of the world, the book eventually ended up at the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre in Phnom Penh.

The centre immediately set about singing and playing new life into this otherwise-at-risk-of-being-forgotten musical heritage, much of which had survived only as oral tradition. Supported by professional artists and music academics, the first CD of eight songs was released in 2009 and is now being followed up with a newly released second volume, also containing eight tracks. Although nobody can know for sure how the music was originally played, the recordings, say the good folk at Bophana, remain as close to traditional forms as possible.

The result is fascinating: a melodic combination of traditional Khmer instruments, vibrato vocals and poetic lyrics. Three different Khmer music styles are covered, all easily recognisable by the instruments and rhythms used. Mohori, commonly performed at banquets and folk dances, sounds almost Chinese influenced because of the huge part the roneat eik (‘bamboo piano’) plays. But the addition of flutes, drums and finger cymbals gives these love songs an exotic, optimistic tone. This is also represented by some feel-good lyrics: ‘My darling, I will take care of you’ from the song Mon; ‘Sleep deeply, my beloved/ Sleep on my lap’ from Sangsar (‘Sweetheart’).

The sound is very different from arak, which dates back to the days of animism. The lyrics of ‘spirit possession’ songs Khlong, Komréng and Dâmbang dèk are strongly determined by this ancient belief system in which mountains, trees and animals are worshipped as sentient beings. Knowing this, you could be forgiven for interpreting the ostensibly innocent lyrics about nature as sexually loaded come-ons. Take, for example, Dâmbang dèk: ‘Young grass, flat land / At the peak of the mountain / Eagles are crying…’ This ‘ancient rock ‘n’ roll’ is characterised by ever faster drum rolls to seduce the souls of the departed. The change of rhythm and repetitions of melodies are almost hypnotic, sucking you into the music in what feels like a fleeting possession. The final two tracks are popular Khmer traditional songs, oozing with fun. Indeed, Svai muy mek (‘Green frog’) will most likely make you hop up and down on the spot.

To make the album’s appeal as wide as possible, it comes with a booklet containing English-language translations of the lyrics, as well as full musical scores for each song. Even the technical difficulties involved are described in detail. Without this extra feature, the album should still be considered something of a national treasure. And luckily, even after two albums featuring 16 forgotten songs (both available from the Bophana Centre now on a donation basis), there are still 38 such songs left to unearth.

WHO: Cambodian musicians unearthing traditional songs of the past
WHAT: Cambodian Forgotten Songs Vol. 2
WHERE: Bophana Centre, #64 Street 200
WHEN: Now
WHY: Rediscover the beauty of Cambodia’s rich musical heritage