Category: Music

Tales of the extraordinary take centre stage at this year’s international music festival, at a time when humanity is on the cusp of being consumed by global turmoil and tension. Says director Anton Isselhardt: “Myths and legends tell us a lot about former societies and their spiritual conceptions, beliefs and even fantasies. They are binding tools to learn about our past and they foster a better understanding of the current situation. Some myths and legends also include hidden elements or traces with a certain transcultural character. They demonstrate clearly that behind all fascinating diversity, there is always something in common between us. Music is an ideal medium for turning concrete legends and myths into a more abstract aura, which may then enlighten one’s individual fantasy. In other words, music based on myths and legends enables us to create our own stories in our own minds. This may lead to quite new artistic experiences.”

Here’s Anton’s guide to what not to miss:

7PM NOVEMBER 13 @ INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, MAO TSE TUNG BLVD: GALA OPENING

Robert Schumann: Fantasy Piece No. 1
“This title promotes a fundamental romantic ideal; the creative expression which arises from Robert Schumann’s unrestricted imagination. Characteristic of this are the sudden emotional changes, a signature of so much of Schumann’s music and which reflect his emotions and mood swings.”

Leoš Janáček: Pohadka
“Pohádka, which means ‘fairytale’ in Czech, is inspired by the poem The Tale of Czar Bendvei, which is itself a modern poetic adaptation of old heroic tales.”

Max Bruch: Kol Nidrei
“Jewish mysticism is devoted to all aspects of Jewish esoteric traditions. Bruch’s composition is based on chanted prayers in the synagogue symbolising the purification of emotions – catharsis – on New Year’s Day.”

Gabriel Fauré: Sicilienne
“Faure was the first prominent composer to write music inspired by Pelléas And Mélisande, a drama by Belgian author Maurice Maeterlinck, based on the familiar narrative of forbidden love and reminiscent of the myths of Tristan and Isolde. The third movement of Faure’s orchestral suite is widely considered ‘the one moment of happiness’ shared by Pelléas and Mélisande.”

Sergei Prokofiev: Cello Sonata C-major
“Premiered on March 1950 in the Moscow Conservatory, with Mstislav Rostropovich as soloist and Sviatoslav Richter at the piano, this sonata is a masterpiece; a landmark in the cello and piano repertory.”
Artists: Stephanie Waegener (cello), Bakhtiyor Allaberganov (piano)

7PM NOVEMBER 14 @ META HOUSE, #37 SOTHEAROS BLVD: ARIE ANTICHE

Giulio Caccini: Euridice
“Caccini was one of the lesser-known founders of opera, but one of the most influential creators of the new Baroque style. During this time he also took part in the movement of humanists, writers, musicians and scholars who formed the Florentine Camerata, a group which gathered at the home of Count Giovanni de’Bardi and was dedicated to recovering the lost glory of ancient Greek drama.”

Claudio Monteverdi: The Coronation Of Poppea
“The last and most innovative opera by Monteverdi is one of the first operas to use historical events and people. It describes how Poppea, mistress of Roman Emperor Nero, is able to achieve her ambition and be crowned empress: one example of how historical events can become mythologised over time.”

George Frederick Handel: Rinaldo
Christof Willibald Gluck: Paris And Helena
“Handel and Gluck developed the court opera throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition, the reform of opera by Gluck paved the way for the composers of the Vienna Classic, such as Mozart, Salieri and Haydn.”
Artists: Mari Jinnai (soprano), Ai Iwasaki (mezzo soprano), Loo Bang Hean (piano)

6PM NOVEMBER 15 @ ST JOSEPH’S CHAPEL, #1782B NATIONAL ROAD 5: GREGORIAN CHANT

Musicologists Dott Alberto Firincielli and Dr Sam Sam-Ang introduce an evening of Gregorian chant, including O Ignee Spiritus, by Hidedgard von Bingen, and Ave Maria.
“Gregorian chant had its beginnings in the early centuries of the Church, becoming fully developed around the 8th and 9th centuries in western and central Europe. Chants were learned first as an oral tradition, in which texts and melodies were sung from memory. An ongoing tradition in Southeast Asia is the Cambodian Buddhist chanting style Smot.”
Artists: Gregorian Chant Choir (Assumption University Bangkok), with conductor Alberto Firrincieli

11AM NOVEMBER 16 @ META HOUSE: PIANO RECITAL

Sergei Prokofjew: Romeo and Juliet Op.7
“Prokofjew was inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet (based on Pyramus and Thisbe from ancient Greek mythology).
Richard Wagner/Franz Liszt: Elsa’s Dream
“Elsa’s Dream has the air of a religious epiphany. Wagner traced the myth of Zeus and Semele, Eros and Psyche, Elsa and Lohengrin, Tristan and Isolde, but all, Wagner insists, stand for the same eternal story: the necessity of love. Wagner declared them to be ‘no mere outcome of Christian meditation, but one of man’s earliest poetic ideals’.”
Claude Debussy: Ondine
“As Debussy stated: ‘Music is a free art gushing forth, an open- air art, boundless as the elements, the wind, the sky, the sea.’Ondine, a mythological figure of European tradition, is a water nymph who becomes human when she falls in love with a man, but is doomed to die if he is unfaithful to her.”

Peter Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty
“Tchaikovsky was inspired by The Sleeping Beauty, by the French writer Charles Perrault from 1690, based on the Nordic saga Volsunga.Based on the tradition of the piano masters of the Russian School, Mikhail Pletnev’s piano transcription of The Sleeping Beauty recreates the colour and drama of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral score, within the context of a virtuoso piano solo.”
Artist: Loo Bang Hean (piano)

7PM NOVEMBER 17 @ INTERCONTINENTAL: IMPRESSIONISM AND EROTICISM

Albert Roussel: Pan
“Composer Albert Roussel visited Cambodia in 1909. He spent several years in India and Southeast Asia and these travel experiences deeply affected him. Many of his musical works would reflect his interest in distant, exotic lands, and a strain of exoticism coloured his work.”

Claude Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
“One of Debussy’s most famous orchestral works… considered a turning point in the history of music. Pierre Boulez remarked that ‘The flute of the faun brought new breath to the art of music.’”

Olivier Roussel: Regard de l’église d’amour
“Messiaen’s musical language is a representation of religious symbolism. His mother, Cecile Sauvage, exerted a profound influence upon his life and his music through her poetry. Other influences evident… include birdsong, the influences of nature, Russian music, Greek metrics and Hindu rhythms.”

Jules Massenet: Meditation
“Méditation is an instrumental intermezzo from the opera Thaïs for solo violin.Thaïs is the legend of a hedonistic Egyptian courtesan and a devotée of Venus. She leaves her life of luxury and pleasure to find salvation through God. Massenet’s work is described as bearing a sort of religious eroticism and there have been many controversial productions.”
Artists: Him Savy (flute), Cheak Bunhon (clarinet), Pisey Oum & Mattias Krug (violin), Mari Jinnai (soprano), Sethipanha Khuon (cello), Anton Isselhardt (flute), Rong Sereyvann & Etienne Chenevier (piano)

Brows furrowed deeply in a scare-mask of furious concentration, the diminutive drummer – eyes flicking first to the singer then to Malaysian master drummer Lewis Pragasam, beating perfect time in the air with two drum sticks – is barely visible among the sprawling red collection of snares, kick pedals and cymbals. Dwarfed by the kit, she – yes, SHE – is apparent only from the wooden blur arcing high in the air before being brought crashing down on tight skin in an almighty roll of artificial thunder.

Alexta, better known as ‘Alex’, is an impressive young Cambodian whose presence commands rather more attention than her physical stature might otherwise suggest. Fiercely vocal on subjects political and social, she retreats into a whisper remembering the glory days of pre-Pol Pot Cambodia, when women wore their hair high in oh-so-now beehives, rocking their barely there miniskirts to the tunes of West Coast America.

Eyes well, cast to the floor. “Music in Cambodia isn’t the same as it was before the Khmer Rouge. I want my country – and my country’s music – back to what it was before, like Sinn Sisamouth. Looking back, we were so proud! Look back, girl!”

Clad in androgynous T-shirt and jeans, in the cushion-lined attic studio at Ragamuffin House, Alex, of all-girl group Count Us In, is one of Ragamuffin’s ‘Songkites’ – a growing army of impossibly talented, impossibly young Khmer musicians completing their very first, all-original album. In short, this ever-raucous band of future pharmacists, doctors, engineers and business gurus – in addition to being outstanding academics – are also the precedent setters for a new generation of Cambodian creatives.

Here, in the collective embrace of creative arts therapists Euan Gray (saxophonist, frontman of The Rooftops, made in Australia) and Carrie Herbert (songwriter, made in England), Ragamuffin is nurturing the quite literal creation of tomorrow’s headline acts: from songwriting to recording to releasing to touring, each Songkite is carefully being schooled in the art of becoming a star. Which, given the quality of their first collective effort, isn’t as out there as it might sound.

The album moves with focused but fluid energy from barefoot-in-the-sand ukulele lilts to hauntingly stirring solos on the tro, a traditional two-stringed Cambodian violin that weeps and wails like a mother in mourning. The Songkites sing, in English and Khmer, of love, loss, life. Things that move them. Things that inspire them. Things they hope this country could one day be again.

Generation One, which Ragamuffin hopes will be the first of many, make their stage debut on Koh Pich (Diamond Island) this weekend. Songkites v. 1.0 – namely Propey, Soria Oung, Alexta Kava, Sentosa Mam, Nikki Nikki, Kan Pich, Jimmy Kiss, Syra Run, Peitu, Nikki Chillzz, Panha and Yorn Young – includes everyone from exceedingly rare female bass players to the progeny of genuine Golden Era rock gods. Says Ragamuffin: “The name ‘Songkites’ is inspired by Cambodia’s famous musical kites, Kleng Ek, which produce melodic tones as they fly. We imagine each original song here as a ‘songkite’ – released and flying free with the songwriter holding the string.” Miss at your peril.

WHO: The Songkites
WHAT: A new generation of Cambodian songwriters
WHERE: Koh Pich (Diamond Island), behind City Hall
WHEN: 6pm March 16
WHY: Come, let’s fly a Songkite!

Artwork by Rachel Faller.

 

Panha

Marry You In Our Dreams

This is a song I have always wanted to sing; I want to make an album about my life – and I can do it at Songkites. I had many ideas before, but I didn’t know to realise them. I’ve often thought about suicide and I know this is a feeling many artists feel in their hearts. But now I feel I can do anything! I have really improved. My song paints a motion picture in your mind about Cambodian teenagers. Mostly, they are really busy – they have their dreams, they have their own loves, and they want to get married but they cannot because they need money, they need a job, they need to study… We might not be able to get married in reality, but nobody can put our hearts in jail and we can get married in our dreams. And even though we may be far away from each other, we can still love each other as though we were close. If we talk about our country, there is a lot of sadness in Cambodian history and sometimes in my life, so with what little time I have I want to be happy and sweet. I don’t want to meet bad people, but if I meet them I will tell them to be happy and positive and share the love. I’m inspired by many artists around the world, including Charlie Chaplin, who came here in 1932 just for one day. My dream is to be a filmmaker, like my grandfather. He produced only one film, but he knew immediately after that first film that he wanted to make a second, but he couldn’t because the Khmer Rouge came. They destroyed everything: his tools, his human resources. He sold many cars and houses to make his film. After the Khmer Rouge, he tried to hide everything about his story, so the people in my generation don’t know about him. When I used to go to sing on stage, he always said to my mum: ‘You must not do this to your son! You must make your son not be a singer or an artist.’ But I still do it! And now that he is old, he understands. He is happy for me. I told my family that we have one artist already and now I am an artist too. They talk a lot about me; even my parents were never happy when I went on stage. Before, when I won second prize in a national competition, I couldn’t tell them at first. When I finally invited them to see me perform, my father said nothing, but my mother later told me: ‘Your father is very excited and he has called many of his friends to invite them to watch you!’ Now, he understands too. I have two dreams: one is for my family, one is for me. The dream for my family is for me to be a businessman, which I think could be a good influence on the next generation in Cambodia. For my wife and son, for example: if I am just an artist and don’t have any money, I cannot do anything for them, but if I have a business I can have money and I can raise my children and live with my lovely wife, and I can still live my dream by making lots of music in Cambodia. Here at Songkites it’s not about money, it’s about love. Even before Songkites I planned to make an album, but all I had was draft songs. I always lied to my friends: ‘The finished one is coming soon!’ I called many people to ask for help, but it never happened. Now, I have found the right people at Songkites and we all share the same goal. I tell my friends: ‘Don’t fight with each other. We need to find the right way to follow our dreams.’ We compete with each other to make something better: I learn from Euan then Euan learns from me and then we create something new together. There is a lot of ways to create new things!”

Jimmy Kiss

Baby I’m Sorry

I’m the guy who has curly hair – and it’s natural! [Laughs] I love rock and the rock style. I want to be a rock star, but rock is too hard for Cambodia. I’m a tour leader and I take customers around Cambodia, so I get to test the feelings of Cambodians across the country. Everywhere I go, I take my ukulele and make music with people. Everyone likes it so much! ‘What is that guitar? Why is it so small?!’ The girls always come and sit close to me; they really like it! [Laughs] With rock music, you need power; you need to be strong, but in Cambodia people are nervous when you act strong because they don’t have enough food. If you don’t have enough food, how can you jump up and down? You cannot jump without power; without energy. When you go to the countryside, there’s not much food; there aren’t many clothes. Where’s the happy feeling? They cannot feel it. That’s why, in order for songs to be successful in Cambodia, they cannot be happy songs, but sad songs – if you sing about your broken heart, your sorrow – people can understand, because that’s how they feel right now. For now, my favourite style is rock but my songs are sad. I was born into a family that wasn’t rich or poor, but I have lots of relatives who live in the countryside. I lived with them for 18 months so I could experience what they feel when they don’t have food. Hungry! And how does it affect your song when you’re hungry? I meet many people from around the world who seem to have everything – new houses, new cars – and that creates energy, but Cambodians, they are still nervous. Panha’s story is really touching because his father and my father were the same thing: his father made films; my father was a rock star, Vor Sarun. The first time we met, Panha already knew everything about me! My father used to sing like: ‘WOOOOOWWWW!’ [starts clicking fingers then erupts in a textbook rock-star screech]. And his hair was really big too! All the TV stations in Cambodia know my father and people abroad invite him to go overseas to perform all the time, but he won’t. Some of his friends from the US came here and he went to karaoke and sang his own songs! He says to me: ‘If you’re going to sing, you must be number one!’ He was a very famous singer in the past, but he had to burn all his photos, cut his hair, put a lot of dirt on his face and clothes and stop washing in order to make a bad smell – all to stay alive, otherwise he would have been killed by the Khmer Rouge. They said rock was not good for society. Things will change. Something will happen… [Propey chimes in: ‘That’s what we’re waiting for!’] I’m kind of a jungle man. Jimmy the jungle man! I was born in Phnom Penh, but my parents – thank god – they gave me freedom. It was a really lucky time. I could do all the things I wanted to do. I went to the jungle alone with my first big bike. It broke down, so I started walking with my guitar. I found a Khmer Rouge family there, in the jungle: the father had been quite senior before. At the time, I didn’t feel scared. They came over to talk to me: ‘Hey, guy. Where are you going?’ With a gun in his hand! I told him my bike was broken and I didn’t know how to fix it. ‘You can stay at my home. I cannot fix your bike now because it’s too late at night.’ I said: ‘I would like to be friends with you. Is that OK?’ ‘Yes! Come, come!’ I went with him and there were many kids in his family. Everyone was so friendly. Since that time, I have felt like that place is my homeland because I had so many experiences with them. There’s an old pagoda there which is like heaven. In the morning, there is fog everywhere and the animals have real freedom with the monks. They’re not scared. The monks bring out food and deer, wild pigs, monkeys and everything come. It’s amazing! Then a few months later some guy wanted to build something there so they killed all the animals. I felt so angry. I decided to come back to Phnom Penh to get a job. People are born and people die, so before I die I know I have to do something that’s good. It’s time for me to be a musician – and now I’m with Songkites, the right people in the right place! If you’re with the right people in the right place, the right song will come too… When I’m on stage, it’s not about money; it’s about love. When our Songkites videos got more than 100,000 hits on YouTube within three days, that’s love! One more thing that Songkites has given me: I’m now in Dub Addiction, a very famous band in Cambodia, and we plan to make music around the world. The real dream is coming!

Propey

Journey of Heart

Before Songkites, it was really hard for me to put a new song together; it would take months. Now Euan and Carrie have taught us some techniques that help me make songs a lot faster – it’s really easy to compose now. I rarely sang pop before; I always went for pop-punk, like my band The Anti-Fate. It was totally strange and new to me, but I had a concept and Euan helped me to figure it out. My new song is all about love! Us rock stars, we’re always in love… [Laughs] I’ve been in love with this girl for a year and a half. She’s a fan of Anti-Fate and she’s one of the Cambo Headbangers Facebook group. One day, we talked a lot about life. We helped each other when we had problems and then one day I fell in love with her. Too bad she had to move to France, but I’m still waiting for her, so I composed this song to let her know I love her. When you love someone so bad but you have to be apart from each other – and I’m not sure whether she’s going to come back to see me or not or if I could go there to be with her – I just want to express my feelings. I know I’m a daydreamer. I want to release my first album in Khmer and English and then I want to do the same with Anti-Fate. In my experience, some Cambodians will judge me if I compose a song in English, but most people will support you because they really want to hear new Cambodian singers, not just copies or translations. Especially something new and weird! [Laughs] My family doesn’t know about my music. They’ve seen me carrying guitars and stuff, but they never ask; I want to surprise them when I have something in my hand to show them. The last time they saw my picture in The Advisor, my dad said to my mum: ‘He looks similar to our son!’ [Laughs] Mum asked my cousin: ‘Is that my son?!’ And my cousin looked at the picture and said: ‘Yeah, that’s him!’ [Laughs harder]

Alexta Kava

I Still Love You

I love pop and pop rock, a lot of American and English music. Music in Cambodia isn’t the same as it was before the Khmer Rouge. I want my country – and my country’s music – back to what it was before, like Sinn Sisamouth. Looking back, we were so proud! Look back, girl! What we’re doing musically now, here at Songkites? Even if it’s not good, at least it’s ours! My dad’s a dentist, but he loves guitars. To begin with, he wouldn’t allow me to join the music scene in this country. In my band Count Us In, which is all girls, we have a dentist, a pharmacist and an engineer. We will complete our studies and make music; we can’t live without either. I love music and I do it with my heart – it’s not just about money – but study first. How do I feel on stage? Be confident! Show people what we can do! And ROCK IT! Before I knew how to play music, if I had free time I would get bored: sleep, watch TV. Now that I play music, my friends and I can all rock together. It’s better than being alone. I get inspired by everyone around me: first my lover then my parents, my friends. Not many girls in Cambodia play drums. Here, girls are expected to dance like this… [Twists and turns hands in the style of an Apsara dancer then pulls a face]. It’s traditional: we must walk slowly; speak quietly. BOOOORING! [Laughs] I will never forget our traditions – I adore them – but I love playing the drums. Many older people don’t support me; they say I’m crazy, or a boy. But look: boys can do this, but girls can too! Nowadays, women can do anything men can do. Together, we can make change. We’re the first girl band in Cambodia, Count Us In, and we’ve been together for two years now; we’re best friends. And here at Songkites, everyone helps each other, which makes us all better. It’s like heaven. I want to live in the studio!

Kan Pich

Who I Am

I love being who I am: I just love music and I love singing. I’ve had a dream since I was a young boy – I felt that I could be famous. I was just dreaming and didn’t expect much, but I feel happy with what I can do. I didn’t expect this would happen to me so fast, that I would be part of something like Songkites. I made an original song by myself, which before was only a dream, but now it’s happened. I still don’t know: is this reality or am I dreaming? When I wake up in the morning I have more energy because I have set foot in the place I only dreamed about before. I might not be very successful yet, but I am living my dream. I think that in the future Cambodian musicians will show their work to the world and the world will admire it, admire that Cambodian people can do it. I have no magic to change the world, but I can change myself to be an example, to influence people. The most important thing is educating people through my lyrics and my music – I teach them about life. You cannot go to people directly and say: ‘You have to do this! You have to do that!’ [Wags finger] In order to change people, you don’t have to rule them violently. You can try to educate them in a very smart way; a very gentle, entertaining way. I can’t live without music! When I perform, the feeling is indescribable. You’re not pretending; it comes from deep inside your heart. Lyrics are really inspirational, so when I’m singing it’s like I’m telling myself to stand; to show people I have to be strong. The lyrics give me the ability to express that and I feel excited, so I perform in a very excited way. What support does my family provide me? My dad doesn’t act like he supports me 100% because he’s afraid I will lose something if he supports me to work in the entertainment industry; I will lose my knowledge, which would affect my long-term future. He wants me to wear a jacket and a tie or work with very high-ranking people; be their assistant. [Wrinkles nose] But that’s not me! I would rather be one who finds my own creativity than the one who’s taking someone else’s words and repeating them. I have worked with high-ranking people before, but there is always a gap in the conversation because they think your education level is lower than theirs. Here at Songkites, there are people waiting to support my speech all the time. It’s the peaceful world I’ve always dreamed about living in: there is no competition, no violent arguing, no fear of being here.

Among the tallest DJs on the planet, this rubber-limbed phenomenon graduated from a bottle of Mr Sheen and a piece of lino to become the most fleet-footed member of the world’s self-styled ‘scariest dance group’, The Prodigy. Ten years later, Leeroy Thornhill – all two metres of him – famously quit the band that had earned him millions for leaping around and pulling faces on stage, moved out of his Victorian windmill in the British countryside and returned from whence he came: behind the decks. Now en route to Code Red for his third appearance in Phnom Penh, Leeroy took a moment between mixes to talk Windy Miller, getting his groove on and whether life in The Prodigy was really as bat-shit crazy as we like to think.

You’ve said James Brown is your idol – and the inspiration behind your famous dance moves, which in turn influenced the Melbourne Shuffle. I’ve watched every ‘How To Dance Like Leeroy Thornhill’ tutorial on YouTube and have to keep calling friends to come untangle me. How the Hell do you do it?
When I was younger going out clubbing or house parties meant funk, and James Brown was the man. I was always into music that involved dancing. It still makes me laugh when people talk about the Melbourne Shuffle, etc. It’s a great compliment but having two arms and legs there are only certain things you can do with them. I think because I’m tall it made it look different, but I wasn’t doing anything that hasn’t been done before. I just used to get my groove on and took the moves I used in funk music and put them to the Prodigy sound.

You’ve been DJing for A Very Long Time Indeed. Take us back to when you were a teenager spinning early hip hop and electro, in your own words: “mixing before they actually mixed”.
I’ve been DJing 28 years now. I started when I was at school with a mate: he had some decks and we used to play house parties and the odd club, but it was mainly with rare groove and early hip hop, so beat mixing wasn’t really involved. It was about trying to just drop the tune in and out as smoothly as possible with a bit of scratching, spin backs, turning off the turntable to let the track slow down. I think that’s one thing a lot of new DJs miss: dynamics, letting a cool tune start from the beginning, instead of a two-hour mix that doesn’t stop or change tempo. It’s all about preference, but that’s what I like to do: take a set up and down.

And your sister was a punk! How much do we owe her for the epic electro-punk savagery that was The Prodigy’s signature sound?
Yeah my sister was into punk, but it didn’t influence the band. We all had cool musical backgrounds in regard to styles and we just evolved from pure dance music into dance music with other influences, ie: reggae, hip hop, rock. Again, it goes back to dynamics.

What are your best and brightest memories of your time with The Prodigy?
The whole Prodigy journey was amazing. We were four mates who just wanted to play at the rave parties we used to go to as punters. There were so many highlights, but I still buzz when I think about our gig in Red Square, Moscow, or the surprise gig we did with Oasis at Knebworth in the UK, and the first time we played at Glastonbury. Also getting to play gigs and meet your musical heroes, like David Bowie, U2. Amazing!

Is Keith as crazy as he looks, on a scale of one to completely bat-shit mental?
Keith is as cool as. When you’re on stage you have a licence to perform how you want and the adrenaline is the best drug in the world; you can release it in any way you want and that was always Keith’s way. Maxim as well. When they hit that stage it all comes out.

You’ve been variously described as the ‘hardcore Hellraiser’ and the ‘most normal guy’ in the history of The Prodigy’s line-up. Which is it? And if it’s the former, what’s the most hardcore Hell you ever raised? Just how crazy was life offstage?
I wouldn’t call myself a Hellraiser. We are all normal guys, really. Like I said, when the adrenaline’s flowing you just go with it. I was the most boring: being nearly two metres tall I’ve always stood out, so I never really had it in me to be extrovert. Because we all had different personalities it made the whole thing work. It’s like life: if everyone was the same it would be boring. Off stage, we are all pretty chilled.

This is perhaps my most favourite of all the things you’ve said on record to date: “If people honestly think that ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ is gonna make people go and beat up women, then we’ll just do a song saying ‘Deposit All Your Money In This PO Box Number’.” [Laughs]
It makes me laugh when people think that song lyrics make people do what you want. If it was that easy, you could ask for what you want. The bible says: ‘Thou shall not kill.’ That don’t work, either.

Since going solo as a DJ, you’ve remixed some impressive names: David Gray and Moby, both representing sounds most folk wouldn’t associate with what you’d done before.

I love all sorts of music and it was an honour to do those tracks, although now when I listen I know they could have been better. But my music will never be Prodigy music because that’s in Liam’s blood and he’s a genius.

How does it feel to have your own work remixed by one of the Great Masters himself: Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, no less?
Lee scratch Perry is a legend and to have him remix for me was an honour. Yeah, I loved what he done: it’s out there, like the man himself. Also Mad Professor and working with Finley Quaye: all amazing artists.

You’ve said dance music in the UK has become ‘too commercial’ and that you prefer the energy of the crowds in places such as Asia and Russia.
There are still amazing parties and crowds in the UK, but the music business has changed because of the X Factor and shit like that. It’s so controlled: the main radio shows play the same shit over and over again. Unless you’re in a cool underground club, it’s like the dance music scene didn’t exist. I played there last year. I played two tracks and somebody came to request Elton John. I have no problem with him – he’s amazing – but some of the younger people have no idea what cool dance scenes came before. When I was young we were always looking back in time for cool music and fashion. I prefer playing outside of the UK. Asia can be hard, but I think it’s getting better every year.

The scene here is changing fast. What keeps you coming back?
It’s great: the people seem open minded about dance music and you can just get on with playing your sound, knowing the guy before or after is gonna be accepted in the same way even if they play a different style. Dance music is about all the styles, not just one sound.

Being locked in a studio with legendary US rapper Kurtis Blow last year must have been… why don’t you tell us?
We didn’t get in the studio with Kurtis, I just kept in contact over the phone discussing the tracks. The same with Melly Mel. These guys were part of my life growing up and to have vocals from them was awesome: they are old school and deliver old-school styles. You know what you’re going to get and it’s about making it work with our new sound.

This year you’ll be releasing the first Smash Hi-Fi album, preceded by the single Ready For This. What can our ears expect? 
It’s all very electronic based, but there are some cool vocal tracks, different tempos and flavours. It can be a bit boring to have an album of 10 DJ tracks; it’s meant to be cool to listen to as well. But we are DJs, so the DJ tracks are banging. We want to write music that people will listen to in the future and not sound too dated.

Your signature sound, Miami Bass, is – and I quote – ‘a mix of tuff electrobreaks, old skool samples, hip hop, rock and electro’. Who – and/or what – inspires you?
I think I’ve moved on from Miami Bass now. I did used to buy all my tunes in Miami, but that’s changed and the dance music has changed. There are so many different styles and tempos. That’s great because I like to play more than one style and tempo.

What was it like living in a windmill? Do you remember Windy Miller in Camberwick Green, when we were kids?
Yeah, man! My email address is Windy Miller. He was cool…

iPod: the last thing you listened to?
I have an original iPod that’s full of old music. A mate put his whole record collection on there before he sold the records. I swear every time I play it I hear music I’ve never heard before, but the last thing I played was Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.

What do you do for downtime?
If I’m not spinning or in the studio, I like a good movie or watching football – that’s my thing, or good food and wine.

And finally, fantasy DJs: if you could play alongside anyone, who would it be?
I would love to see Liam DJ again. He’s awesome but doesn’t do it any more. The last time we spun together was in the early ’90s.

WHO: Leeroy Thornhill
WHAT: “A great mash-up of breaks ‘n’ electro-style toons”
WHERE: Code Red, opposite NagaWorld (near Koh Pich Bridge)
WHEN: 11pm January 31
WHY: He’s a fire-starter, twisted fire-starter…

“We didn’t like the name rock steady, so I tried a different version of ‘Fat Man’. It changed the beat again, it used the organ to creep. Bunny Lee, the producer, liked that. He created the sound with the organ and the rhythm guitar. It sounded like ‘reggae, reggae’ and that name just took off. Bunny Lee started using the word and soon all the musicians were saying ‘reggae, reggae, reggae’.” – Derrick Morgan

It would take Eric Clapton’s 1974 cover of I Shot The Sheriff to bring the music of Bob Marley – the dreads-sporting spawn of 1960s’ Jamaican ska and rock steady – to the rockers of the wider world, but when reggae finally made land, it made land in style. By 1972, this new rhythm had bubbled to the top of the US Billboard Hot 100, first with Three Dog Night’s roots cover of Black And White then with the gentle contemporary groove of I Can See Clearly Now, by Johnny Nash. From the loins of pioneers such as Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and King Tubby have sprung forth a new generation of lyrical Rastafarians who, like their forefathers, use the sacrament of music to promote everything from ganja to the unifying concept of One Love. Led by expats, such a culture is taking root here in Phnom Penh: on January 25, a new collective of believers will unite under the moniker Wat A Gwaan (Jamaican patois for ‘What’s going on?’ – see our cheat sheet for more) for a night of worshipping at the Jamaican altar. The Advisor meets the creative force behind Cambodia’s first reggae sound system festival, Kaztet D (MC, singer, activist, made in France), to talk Shiva, music as activism and how to fake it in Rastafarian.

What is it about reggae in particular that ignites your artistic passions?
I’ve always been an activist in music; I try to unify the people through projects. After I had some experience, I wanted to share it with younger people so I built a collective and a studio in France. I come from a family who travels a lot: during the ’90s, when I was a teenager, I started coming to Asia. I started to write music and sing when I was living in Vietnam in ’96-’97, when I was 15. My father was an adventurer: doing his own thing, architecture. I also come from a background in architecture. I went back to France when I was 17; that was tough. I put all my energy into music. I went to Paris for a while and met some musicians who were older than me and soon I was the rookie of the band. They taught me a lot: we were rehearsing three times a week, doing a lot of concerts in Paris. I started with hip hop then moved into reggae: hip hop and reggae are always the two sides, very related. Hip hop comes from reggae music. I come from the generation that started to listen to hip hop at the beginning in the early ’90s in France, when we had the first hip hop hits on the radio.

Why is reggae taking such a convincing hold in Southeast Asia?
The first reason is that reggae music comes from Jamaica, a southern country with a tropical climate. It’s also quite a poor country. In the southern countries, there are some things that are common: between Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean. Going back to the old story there are a lot of similarities between reggae and Asia, specifically Jamaican culture. The history of Jamaica, like all the Caribbean, was one of slavery for a long time. On the islands, very early on, there were people fighting against slavery: the Maroons. They were rebels. At the end of the 19th century and early in the 20th century, before the real Rastafarian movement, the descendants of slaves still had relations with Africa. Jamaica has the strongest links to Africa: in the music, percussively, in the culture. Then the Indians came, bringing with them Hinduism. Even now in India you have some saddhus (‘holy men’) with dreadlocks, exactly like Rastafarians. This has been Indian culture for thousands of years: in Hinduism, Shiva has dreadlocks, Shiva smokes ganja, Shiva is related to fire, considered a holy thing.

I had no idea Shiva was a stoner.
Absolutely! He’s the Lord of Bongs! In every Shiva festival in India, alcohol and meat are forbidden but it’s OK to smoke ganja because it opens the third eye. Indians brought this spiritual relation to the holy plant. Here in Cambodia, Hinduism was overlaid on animism and became Theravada Buddhism. Cambodia is probably the most Indian culture in Southeast Asia.

How do you differentiate between hip hop and reggae?
Hip hop is something that, everywhere in the world, has become very commercial – much more than reggae music. Reggae music is something people all over the world try: people playing; reggae bands, even jazz covers of Bob Marley, but that’s still something. Today you have hip hop in all the biggest clubs and just a little bit of reggae: it’s a very different situation. What’s interesting in Cambodia is we have more musicians, bands and artists in reggae than in most other countries – apart from Thailand, where there’s a big reggae scene. But in Thailand and, to a lesser extent Vietnam, it’s mostly DJs and producers, not bands. There, it’s more ‘turntable reggae’, the sound system culture.

Does reggae in Southeast Asia still serve a role as social commentary?
Absolutely! Reggae music is engaged music. Here, reggae music matches quite well with Khmer music. Dub Addiction know this. The groove is the same, that’s why at the beginning it was easy for DJ Khla to sing over reggae music with Dub Addiction even though he didn’t know anything about it. There’s some musical similarity. If you hear some old Khmer psyche rock, some songs sound like slow ska music, which is very close to reggae. The effects they were using here at the time and the effects they were using in Jamaica were very similar; you had the same influences – like some of the songs by Ros Sereysothea and Sinn Sisamouth; most of the famous Khmer psychedelic artists.

Now there’s a revival of all this and many bands are working in this direction, including a lot of young Khmer bands, like The Underdogs and Kok Thlok, but they play with more traditional Cambodian instruments. Then you have expat bands producing original reggae: Dub Addiction, Vibratone and Jahzad. Dub Addiction are getting quite big, which is very nice and they’re working on a new album with only Khmer artists because they want to bring more Cambodian people into reggae music and the way to do that is to touch them with their own language. Vibratone is interesting because their bassist Ben, the guy who runs the Reggae Bar, has been producing reggae for a long time and Maia is a very good singer, even though she doesn’t come from reggae music; an amazing person. Something is definitely happening with Vibratone and it’s very interesting.

If reggae evolves in Asia, I hope it evolves into more social commentary – a challenge to the status quo. In Europe, reggae music isn’t very engaged; most of the time it’s very light and quite commercial. Also, because the economy is so bad in Europe, it’s very hard for the people who are working in an engaged way, especially in France, where people are very divided. Reggae music doesn’t take part in most of the debates; they do only light reggae music, about ganja and women, but there’s so much more to it than that and DJ Khla was a good example. He’s a Khmer guy who doesn’t come from reggae at all, but he was doing some songs that were very close to reggae music.

DJ Khla was recently forced to leave the country because he switched from publicly supporting the government, as an artist, to supporting the opposition.
He met the guys from Dub Addiction and they started to make some songs together. He’s an amazing singer: the voice, the rhythm, the lyrics. And that’s the problem: the lyrics. For a very long time he was on the government’s side, but then he changed to the opposition’s side. Everybody knows he cannot come back to this country and I can’t talk too much about it. I know he’s in France and I think he’s OK, but still he has family here… He sings in Khmer, so Cambodian people understand the lyrics straight away. He was once related to the army, singing propaganda for them, then he met Dub Addiction and things started changing in this country. He made a track where he sings the rules of the opposition party. If you sing this in Cambodia then you’re out; you cannot stay here. If you are European you can just leave and it’s OK because this isn’t your country, but if you’re Khmer you can’t.

Is this the start of a more political direction for new music in this country?
That’s a very good question. At this time? I don’t know. Probably, if you look at what’s happening on the streets. If it’s happening on the streets, it’s happening in art also. The other problem is that fighting against something is quite easy, but what are you fighting for? Everywhere in the world, it’s the same problem: this attitude where they think they can go anywhere in the world and tell people how to do things. ‘You should do this for human rights.’ This is the problem for engaged people everywhere.

What can we expect at Wat A Gwaan?
It will be a reggae music sound system. We’ll have most of the people who play reggae music – producers, DJs – in Cambodia now, because all the activists who’ve come from different places in the world are here in Phnom Penh.

Including Cambodians?
Not yet, but we’re waiting for them! Unfortunately DJ Khla isn’t in the country any more so we can’t ask him to come as MC. From what I know there is still no Cambodian reggae DJ or MC here and that’s why Dub Addiction is doing this new album with Cambodian artists. We’re also very open to any collaboration, any style.

We want all the people who play reggae here to bring their energy together. It’s a mixture of engagement, spirituality and fun. As an MC it’s about flow, it’s about playing with words, talking about funny things. Sometimes I have to work on my set so that it’s not too engaged! The biggest influence for me over the past three years has been not the gangster stuff, but grime music from London. Grime is where you have some MCs coming from hip hop and some MCs coming from ragamuffin, ragajungle, dancehall: the Jamaican part of it. It’s a basic beat, two step, with a lot of bass and very fast time. You just grab the mic and… [Growls] This is more like punk. The flow is very sharp, very precise. Some of the MCs are very smart and have very intelligent lyrics.

Today, you have two schools of sound system: you have the UK school, which is more dub and roots, and you have the Jamaican school, which plays more new productions and dancehall. The two types of music are connected but very different.

In Wat A Gwaan, we want to promote all reggae music and we especially want to promote reggae music coming from here and to put our energy into this – to plant the seed. Cambodia is one of the easiest places in Asia to do this. I can hardly imagine living anywhere else!

Tell us about your line-up.
Polak is a producer and DJ from Hungary. He’s produced drum ‘n’ bass and hip hop and he raps also. Sometimes he’s a bit shy on stage, but we’re working on this! [Laughs] He’s got real stage presence, though. He’ll be using keyboards and sound production and all sorts of other effects. He will be mainly playing UK dub stepper; he lived in London for a while. It’s what we hear in Europe a lot now. Dub Addiction play a lot of stepper.

Then we have Tonle Dub and Mercy. Mercy’s from Africa and she knows all about African music. She knows what reggae is talking about more than anyone else here! Tonle Dub is German, a very nice guy. He probably has the best music knowledge – in any style – of anyone here in Phnom Penh. He’s a real music library, especially with reggae music. The scene in Germany is really something!

And we have Professor Kinski, who is probably the biggest producer in Cambodia. He’s been doing reggae music for a long time with local artists, but he also does punk music, hip hop, electronic music, amazing remixes of the Cambodian Space Project. A lot of different things! He’s also a very, very good MC. He’ll be playing his own stuff plus some productions made of reggae; dub; a bit of Khmer music; electronic music; Khmer samples and vocals. This is going to be big. I’m really waiting for this – he’s amazing! He’s the Mad Professor of Cambodia: effects, reverbs, delays…

We have me also. I don’t know yet whether I’m going to mix a little bit or only be MCing or singing, but maybe I’ll be selecting a bit at the beginning – I’m more of an MC, a reggae selecta, than a DJ. Do I sound more French than Jamaican? Kind of mixed, I think. You will see!

Chass Sound is a new sound system from Siem Reap. DJ D’Tone has already played in Phnom Penh. He’s been fascinated by reggae music for a long time and he’s a purist. Normally he plays vinyl, old school. His team are mostly from Brittany, so not exactly French – they have a different language and culture, which is interesting. I love this region. These guys will be representing on the one side Siem Reap, which is where they all live, and on the other side Brittany: DJ Nicko, DJ Mat, RDrum and MC Chase. It will go from reggae and soul to perhaps jungle and a bit of drum ‘n’ bass, but mainly reggae music, of course.

WHO: Wat A Gwaan
WHAT: Reggae sound system festival
WHERE: Slur Bar, Street 172 & 51
WHEN: 9:30pm January 25
WHY: Ah sey one (‘It’s great!’)!