Category: Night & Day

FRIDAY 7 | At the headquarters of Tiny Toones, where artful graffiti adorns the walls, kids of sex workers, drug addicts, the violent and parents otherwise unable to cope come to immerse themselves in the head-spinning, beat-boy culture that was the first wave of hip hop. Founded by ‘KK’ (real name: Tuy Sobil) in 2005, the organisation is today based in a bustling Chba Ampov alleyway on the far side of Monivong Bridge and supports hundreds of youngsters. “The major change is how I feel,” says one boy clad in a Manchester United football shirt. “I’m more happy than I was before I came to Tiny Toones.” “My favourite is the singing and dancing,” volunteers another. “It has opened my eyes to different aspects of art, especially coming from foreign places. I understand more now.” One boy giggles. “I never believed I could be a superstar.” Says KK’s sidekick, Shhort: “I was born in 1980 so I grew up listening to the first rappers back in the day. To me, rap was a movement. That’s why I fell in love with rap music. It was people living in the ghettoes speaking their minds. People were uniting through hip hop back in the day, with Queen Latifah and all those people. There wasn’t no gangster rap back then. Back then it was the b-boy, unity, love approach. We’re trying to bring back that original love and unity aspect.” After the fundraising show, NYC’s DJ Spinbad and Sarah Love, the UK’s first lady of hip hop, will take the floor.

WHO: Tiny Toones
WHAT: Hip hop fundraiser
WHERE: Code Red, opposite NagaWorld, near Koh Pich Bridge
WHEN: 7pm March 7
WHY: If you’ve never seen tiny kids head-spinning and b-boying, the time is NOW

FRIDAY 7 | Behold, the high priests of Phnom Penh punk: Psychotic Reactions, Sangvar Day and Stiff Little Punks 2 rekindle the chaos of the 1970s punk scene tonight in a new rock festival at Slur. Expect loud mouths, loud music and even louder motorcycles.

WHO: Psychotic Reactions, Sangvar Day and Stiff Little Punks 2
WHAT: Punk rock festival
WHERE: Slur, Street 172
WHEN: 9:30pm March 7
WHY: WHYTHE@&*%NOT?!

FRIDAY 7 | Graduates of acclaimed Irish stand-up Aidan Killian’s comedy crash course, the capital’s resident Funny People are staging another Phnom Penh Punchliners open mic tonight. Brace your ribs for wicked wise-cracks from local scene stalwarts plus some very special guests.

WHO: PP Punchliners
WHAT: Stand-up comedy open mic
WHERE: Equinox, #3a Street 278
WHEN: 9pm March 7
WHY: It’s the best medicine

THURSDAY 6 | Violence and sensuality collide in the newest creation of noted choreographer Emmanuèle Phuon, who will join Kang Rithisal, executive director of Amrita Performing Arts, for informal discussions on contemporary Khmer dance at Java Cafe. Phoun is currently working on a new production based on the movements of traditional Khmer boxers and her dancers will give a five-minute preview of the current work. Additionally, Phoun will show video shorts of her previous performances –Khmeropedies I, II & III – and talk about the evolution of modern Khmer dance in general and her work in specific. Khmeropedies III: Source/Primate was a central part of last year’s Season of Cambodia festival in New York. K3 uses the movements and mannerisms of monkeys to reinvent the classical masked dance style known as lakhaon kaol. Phoun’s next production, based on movements within the boxing ring, is still in the early development stages, but already the flashes of grace that mesmerised audiences at the Guggenheim Museum are apparent.

WHO: Emmanuèle Phuon
WHAT: Contemporary Khmer dance
WHERE: Java Cafe, #56 Sihanouk Blvd.
WHEN: 6:30pm March 6
WHY: Get a sneak preview of Phuon’s next great piece

TUESDAY 4 | Armed with fire-breathing winged things, several shadow puppets and a video camera, Ernst Altmann, an artist from Berlin, and his filmmaker wife Bjela Proßowsky set out to discover similarities between the Old Continent and Asia – and uncovered a few peculiarities along the way. The couple chose dragons as their theme because the creatures exist in every culture. Legend has it that the lands of the Khmer originated from the Naga, a water dragon, something Cambodia’s sense of identity is still strongly connected to. While some youngsters scoff, dismissing winged fire-breathers as the stuff of childish fantasy, Ernst noticed they exhibit a certain shyness towards – almost a fear of – these fantastical beings, especially when talking about Neak Ta, a guardian spirit. Somehow, even under the surface, Cambodians still identify with it. “The dragon is the symbol of power of nature,” says Ernst. “It’s the human connection to his natural state. Europeans killed this bond, but in Cambodia it’s different. It’s a moment to say: ‘Hey, don’t forget that this is your power. It’s great that you have it. Don’t lose it.’”

WHO: Artist Ernst Altmann and filmmaker Bjela Proßowsky
WHAT: How To Talk To Dragons performance, exhibition and installation
WHERE: Meta House, #37 Sothearos Blvd.
WHEN: 7pm March 4
WHY: “I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?” – John Lennon

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

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…

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’

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

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