FRIDAY 14 | A big tent next to the Coengebouw in Amsterdam; on the beach in Wijk aan Zee; in warehouses on the Javakad: house hero DJ Per has been spinning since 1984, released multiple albums and tonight he’s all yours for an evening of ‘tension, groove and constraint’ (tickets: $8, including free drink).
WHO: DJ Per (Netherlands)
WHAT: House trip
WHERE: Pontoon, #80 Street 172
WHEN: 10pm February 14
WHY: He’s big in Holland
FRIDAY 14 | DJs Donabelle, Alan Ritchie and Sequence usher in sunset on the Tonle Sap with house tunes, a free drink, food by Da Sandro Panini Bar AND free entry to Code Red afterwards where NY house legend Bert Bevans will take the helm until the wee hours. Tickets ($10) can be reserved by calling 089 491039 or bought at Code Red and Da Sandro Panini Bar.
WHO: DJs Bert Bevans, Donabelle, Alan Ritchie and Sequence
WHAT: Sunbodia Boat Party
WHERE: The Tonle Sap and, later, at Code Red, opposite Naga World (near Koh Pich Bridge)
WHEN: 4pm February 14
WHY: Let the sun go down in style
THURSDAY 13 | Austrian choreographer Helene Weinzierl, founder of the nation’s most well-travelled dance troupe, presents two pieces: Is It Me, and Think Fish Pt. 1. In the first, Yuri Korec performs ‘the identity conflict of the artist with his artistic figure, in the struggle of trying to find the true self.’ Think Fish Pt. 1, performed by Viviana Escalé, is ‘the story of the communication between a couple’. Both take the audience on ‘a journey of different interpretations of the same thing, which sometimes might lead to funny (mis)communication’. Tickets ($5) can be reserved via metaartcambodia@nullgmail.com.
WHO: Austrian choreographer Helene Weinzierl
WHAT: Is It Me and Think Fish Pt. 1 dance performances
WHERE: Meta House, #37 Sothearos Blvd.
WHEN: 8pm February 13
WHY: Embark on a journey of interpretation
THURSDAY 13 | Twenty-five artists, more than 100 works and one proud quality tag: Made In Battambang is the first exhibition uniting visual artists from this city of exceptional creative energy. “Many people wonder why this place is so artistically prolific and I think that it’s simply in the air,” says curator Alain Troulet. “All the artists of this exhibition are very proud to represent it, putting aside their natural jealousies and rivalries.” Last year, New York hosted the living art festival Season Of Cambodia, but failed to invite a single Battambang-based artist. “The festival wanted to depict the artistic panorama of Cambodia, but what about all the great artists from Battambang? With this exhibition they are saying: ‘OK, now we would like to show who we are,’” explains Troulet. Most of the paintings express disquietudes, through strong images and contrasting colours. An example is Tor Vutha’s Prisoner, whose racking scream seems to perforate the obscure silence of the canvas. The subconscious desire to overcome the pain caused by historic atrocities leads to purification and a proactive young energy hungry to conquer the world. Other artworks express social criticism, like Ot Veasna’s grotesque character Lok Coca, which calls to mind the New Objectivity movement or Mao Soviet’s We Should Know Who Is Corrupt. This last work seems dream-like, but on closer view turns into a nightmare: empty mask-like faces and convulsive, sick forms writhe in a spectral gut. Youhave been warned.
WHO: The best of Battambang’s artists
WHAT: Made In Battambang exhibition
WHERE: Institut francais du Cambodge, #218 Street 184
WHEN: From 6:30pm February 13 until March 25
WHY: Home is where the art is
SUNDAY 9 | The first punk rock music arrived in Burma on cassette tapes carried by sailors in the ’90s, igniting a growing movement in the capital. For young Burmese, punk provides a radical way to spit their political frustrations in the face of the much-despised government. Lyrics condemn miserable living conditions in a scream for freedom and human rights. The main characters in Yangon Calling: Punk In Myanmar, by Berlin-based filmmakers Alexander Dluzak and Carsten Piefke, are leading members of Myanmar’s punk scene, filmed in secret for six months. Says rokumentti.com: ‘Yangon Calling is a film about a country where punk is still true rebellion and literally a fight for freedom, and not just a random bunch of slogans and a way to dress. The music represents a lifeline amid the stranglehold of the government and personal hardships. Any talk about the death of punk is much exaggerated, at least when it comes to this vigorous documentary.’
WHO: Punks, old and new
WHAT: Yangon Calling: Punk In Myanmar screening
WHERE: Meta House, #37 Sothearos Blvd.
WHEN: 7pm February 8
WHY: ‘Yangon Calling is a film about a country where punk is still true rebellion and literally a fight for freedom, and not just a random bunch of slogans and a way to dress.’ – rokumentti.com
FRIDAY 7 | The Phnom Penh Punchliners, graduates of Irish stand-up Aidan Killian’s comedy crash course, are staging their fifth open mic tonight. Brace your ribs for wicked wise-cracks from local scene stalwarts Scotty Davies (UK), Sam Thomas (US), Dan Riley (UK), Laura J (UK), Ramon Stoppelenburg (NL) and more funny folk a-plenty.
WHO: PP Punchliners
WHAT: Stand-up comedy open mic
WHERE: Equinox, #3a Street 278
WHEN: 8pm February 7
WHY: It’s the best medicine
SATURDAY 8 | Red Hot Chili Peppers. Bruce Springsteen. The Beatles. U2. Get your rocks off tonight with Sonic Detergent, freshly laundering rock hits past and present.
WHO: Sonic Detergent
WHAT: Rock covers
WHEN: 9:30pm February 8
WHERE: Slur Bar, #28 Street 172
WHY: Better the devils you know
SATURDAY 8 | The Underdogs specialise in time travel – specifically to the much-mourned ’60s, Cambodia’s ‘Golden Era of rock ‘n’ roll’. “Everyone knows Chnam Aun Dop Pram Moi (‘I’m 16’) and Svar Rom (‘Monkey Dance’), but there are many more songs that we play that are less well known,” says lead singer Sammie. “We want to introduce young people to more obscure songs that are just as good… We search YouTube, listen to old cassettes and we talk to the old people who remember the times. The new songs copy too much; they sound just like K-Pop. We want to make a real Cambodian sound.” The songs of Ros Sereysothea and Pen Ron are now widely known, but the band also plays tunes by the Elvis/Dylan/Sinatra of Cambodia, Sinn Sisamouth, as well as the wilder singers Yol Auralong, famous for Jih Cyclo and the drunken raving blues of Syrah Syrah, and the funky soul of Voa Saroun. Long may the dogs run free!
WHO: The Underdogs
WHAT: Energetic Golden Era rock ‘n’ roll
WHERE: Equinox, Street 278
WHEN: 9pm February 8
WHY: They bark, but they don’t bite
Where once squatted a dimly lit pool hall populated by the seediest of Street 51’s night walkers, there now stands a cavernous, big-enough-to-swallow-almost-any-band Temple of Boom. Oscar’s 51 is not to be confused with its smaller, slightly less salubrious sibling on Street 104. No, no. The ‘new’ Oscar’s is a gentrified nod to the gods of rock ‘n’ roll – many of whom have been immortalised, life-sized, on its walls. The live music stage is big; the bar even bigger and the resident sound engineer really is The Real Deal.
Oscar’s 51, Street 51 & 172.
FRIDAY 7 | New wave, post-punk, ’80s cheese: all grist to the mill for the inimitable Jaworski 7, fronted by the larger-than-life Jerby Salas Santo. “The band loves post punk, indie, new wave and everything in between,” he says. “We’re like a Pacific/Oceania band. We now have two originals on our set and we’re planning to add more.” Think The Cure, The Smiths and brace yourself for a fist-pumping, high-jumping flashback to your formative years.
WHO: Jaworski 7
WHAT: New wave, post-punk and ’80s cheese
WHERE: Slur, Street 172
WHEN: 9pm February 7
WHY: A fist-pumping, high-jumping flashback to your formative years
