Category: Night & Day

FRIDAY 6 | Crazy costumes, thrown sweets, interactive scenes and comedy cross-dressing. What more could you possibly wish for? Pantomime, at least in the UK, is as big a part of the Christmas tradition as turkey, tinsel and a tumbler of something potent for Santa. For the past decade the Phnom Penh Players have been bringing this seasonal English spectacle to Cambodia’s capital. This year’s incarnation, The Epic Pantomime, features Greek gods, an overconfident hero and at least one very questionable accent. What makes it so epic? Says Zak Kendall, Pantomania’s self-professed ‘greatest historian’: “By definition, an epic involves a hero on a cyclical journey or quest. The hero faces temptations and adversaries and returns home significantly transformed by his journey. Generally the hero learns or discovers something about himself that he didn’t realise before. An epic hero illustrates traits, performs deeds and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by society. Some of the greatest examples would be Gilgamesh, the Odyssey, or Beowulf… I can see by your blank expression that you have no idea what I’m talking about. Very well, it’s a little bit like the original Star Wars trilogy, although I promise you there are minimal Star Wars references.”

WHO: The Phnom Penh Players
WHAT: The Epic Pantomime
WHERE: Russian Cultural Centre, corner of Norodom Boulevard and Street 222 (tickets, $10, available at The Willow Boutique Hotel, Divine Pizza & Ribs, and The Flicks)
WHEN: 7:30pm December 6; 2pm and 7:30pm December 7
WHY: It’s EPIC!

 

FRIDAY 6 | Take three of the capital’s finest reggae bands, add a dedicated reggae sound system and sling the whole messy lot into Slur: it can only be Phnom Penh’s first ever Reggae Muffin Festival. ‘Big Ting a Gwaan!’, declares the flyer (no, we don’t know what that means, either). Jamaica’s most resilient soundscapes will be distilled into one evening of ska, roots, reggae, ragga, dub, dancehall and dubstep – not to mention a few emerging genres that haven’t even been given names yet. Brace yourself for a sonic onslaught featuring Jahzad, Vibratone and Dub Addiction – the latter recently crowned Best Band in The Advisor’s Best Of Phnom Penh 2013 reader awards. Tickets ($3 in advance, $5 on the door) are on sale now at Slur and King Tao’s on Street 172.

WHO: Jahzad, Vibratone and Dub Addiction
WHAT: Reggae Muffin Festival
WHERE: Slur, Street 172 & 51
WHEN: 9pm December 6
WHY: ‘Big Ting a Gwaan!’ (whatever that means)

 

THURSDAY 5 | Broadway darling and the favourite composer of silver-screen goddess Marilyn Monroe, Cole Porter gave the world strokes of musical genius such as Kiss Me, Kate; Anything Goes, and I Get A Kick Out Of You. Tonight, jazz impresario Philippe Javelle and friends will be tipping their trilbies in a one-night-only tribute to this leviathan of American musical theatre.

WHO: Philippe Javelle & friends
WHAT: A tribute to Cole Porter
WHERE: The Groove, #1c Street 282
WHEN: 9pm December 5
WHY: “It’s delightful, it’s delicious, it’s de-lovely” – Cole Porter

 

TUESDAY 3 | When more than a dozen khaki-clad dancers air-stepped, jitterbugged and boogie woogied their way through a 30-second commercial for global thread-peddlers Gap in 1998, they unintentionally turned a new generation of rug cutters not onto affordable casual-fit pants but a certain something called ‘swing’. Called upon to define this Harlem sound by Bing Crosby on national radio, Louis Armstrong replied thus: “Ah, swing. Well, we used to call it syncopation then they called it ragtime then blues then jazz. Now it’s swing. White folks, y’all sho’ is a mess.” Today, swing having been immortalised for the 21st century masses first by JXL in the video to Little Less Conversation then by Robbie Williams’ Swing When You’re Winning and later by Marilyn Manson in Mobscene, it’s even on the rise in the steaming urban jungles of Asia. “It’s massive in Korea and China, especially Beijing,” says Richard, a psychologist and long-dancing member of local dance club Swing Penh. “I got called as a reluctant stand-in and felt a bit awkward, but then it became like a problem to solve: how do you do this? We don’t do too much of the ‘throwing around’ stuff. We’re middle aged, you know…” Janice Wilson, Swing Penh’s resident instructor, has performed, choreographed and taught dance in 11 countries, touring with Michael Buble and Wynton Marsalis and once opening for Bill Cosby at Disney World. “Swing allows for full immersion. You’re not just listening to the music, you’re living it; breathing it,” she says.

WHO: Hep cats and hipsters
WHAT: Swing dancing
WHERE: Doors, Street 84 & 47
WHEN: 7pm December 3
WHY: “Swing allows for full immersion. You’re not just listening to the music, you’re living it; breathing it” – Janice Wilson

 

SATURDAY 30 | Join the capital’s burgeoning Irish community for a day of beer, cider, gourmet hot dogs and, of course, lashings of Irish stew and live music. Now, will you have a cuppa tea? Ahhhhh! Go on, go on, go on…

WHO: The Irish and all who love ’em
WHAT: Irish Community Event
WHERE: Quealy’s Bar, Street 172
WHEN: 2pm November 30
WHY: “DRINK!!!” – Father Jack

 

SATURDAY 30 | Perched atop the wobbly stool in The Shark Cage, the rehearsal space at Sharky Bar on Street 130, is the two-tone-haired drummer with Cambodia’s ‘original’ all-Khmer rock band. Above the thunder, preternatural screams. Cartoon Emo, Cambodian alternative/heavy metal rockers, signed with Svang Dara Entertainment in 2010. Their debut album, Shadow, sold in the region of 1,000 copies. Music graduates from the Royal University of Fine Arts, this band of 20-somethings – Boy (vocals), Tom (lead guitar), Din (bass guitar), Dan (guitar), and La (drums) – cite Iowan heavy metal icons Slipknot, and Massachusetts-based metalcore group Killswitch Engage as among their influences. But they’re not altogether unaware of their English forefathers. Mention The Who, The Sex Pistols or The Rolling Stones and five heavily stylised heads – all crowned with spiky technicolour hair – nod in approval. Mention K-Pop and they explode in derisory snorts. And what of Cartoon Emo’s self-penned lyrics? “When we do something bad or wrong to our parents, like a shadow that follows us, we try to think about how bad the experience feels, so we try to do something good, to make a balance. We also sing about lovers, about women, about drugs, but everything is a lesson; education. We try to teach people to be good. Many people in Cambodia are gangsters, or playboys. You see how we are dressed: we may look like them, but we are not gangsters or playboys in our hearts.”

WHO: Cartoon Emo
WHAT: Cambodian alt-rock and heavy metal
WHERE: Sharky Bar, Street 130
WHEN: 9pm November 30
WHY: Thunder and preternatural screams, Khmer style

 

SATURDAY 30 | Sometimes, the word ‘Epic’ simply isn’t big enough to cover it. Such is the case with our – yes, The Advisor’s – Best Of Phnom Penh 2013 Street Party. Six bands (including very special, top secret, we-could-tell-you-but-then-we’d-have-to-kill-you special guest stars), four DJs, live tattooing, street-side nonsense and more boozin’ and schmoozin’ than surely even Bacchus himself could handle. The carnage starts at 3pm and is threatening to last all night. You Have Been Warned (and so have the local authorities). Block parties were never this good. Be there and bring everyone you’ve ever met – or we’ll hunt you down and maim you for life!

WHO: YOU!
WHAT: The Advisor’s Best of Phnom Penh 2013 Street Party
WHERE: Slur Bar, Street 172 & 51
WHEN: 3pm November 30
WHY: “Or we’ll hunt you down and maim you for life!” – The Editor

 

FRIDAY 29 | In the shtetl (‘villages’ or ‘ghettoes’) of Eastern Europe, itinerant Jewish troubadours once roamed, expressing through klezmer music the full gamut of human emotions from joy to despair, from devotion to revolt, from meditation to drunkenness – all served up with a generous dose of Yiddish humour. Inspired by secular melodies, populasr dances, and the wordless melodies used by orthodox Jews for approaching God in ecstatic communion, klezmer’s evolution was spurred by contact with Slavic, Greek, Ottoman, gypsy and, later, jazz musicians. Using typical scales, tempo and rhythm changes, slight dissonance and a touch of improvisation, today’s klezmorim include Sam Day, a young mandolin player from the US who, before returning home, was instrumental in founding the Klezbodians. The band features Bun Hong on clarinet, Giacomo Butte on accordion, Timothy Walker on guitar and Ali Benderdouche on dumbek. Sam, back in the US with his magnificently named Shtetlblasters, says: “There’s something danceable about klezmer music. There’s a very clear rhythm; it’s driving, propulsive music. And the scales used are sort of major and minor at the same time, so there’s something melancholy about it. It’s very vocal, too; the melodies are played on the clarinet or violin in ways that attempt to emulate the human voice, the sound of a cantor – in a synagogue, the person who’s singing the Jewish prayers…” [Erupts in song] And what can we expect of the Klezbodians? “Mostly fast-paced klezmer instrumental music – similar to gypsy music – along with some Yiddish vocal tunes. It will be feisty!”

WHO: Klezbodians
WHAT: Itinerant Jewish troubadours
WHERE: Doors, Street 84 & 47
WHEN: 9:30pm November 29
WHY: “It will be feisty!” – Sam Day Harmet

FRIDAY 29 | New wave, post-punk, ’80s cheese: all grist to the mill for the inimitable Jaworski 7, fronted by the larger-than-life Jerby 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: Equinox, #3a Street 278
WHEN: 9pm November 29
WHY: A fist-pumping, high-jumping flashback to your formative years

THURSDAY 28 | When Typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines, battering the archipelago with wind speeds nearing 200 miles per hour, the devastating storm surge left an apocalyptic wasteland in its wake. At least 3,974 people were killed and a further 1,186 remain missing, with about 500,000 now homeless, according to the latest official figures. On November 28, in a citywide show of solidarity, one of the capital’s most loved Filipino musicians – touched personally by the tragedy – will host a benefit concert to raise much-needed funds for survivors. “We were all worried and deeply wounded,” says Jerby Santo, lead singer of Jaworski 7 and Dancing With The Indios. “The most devastated city, Tacloban, was where I went to college and established my career just before coming here to Phnom Penh. I left a really interesting city and was looking forward to seeing it again then the storm hit it. I spent sleepless nights thinking about my family and friends because I could not contact them and the images on the news networks and social media compounded my situation. Thankfully they survived the storm, but some of my friends did not make it. Two musicians from our scene both got engulfed in the storm surge, promising young musicians… snapped out in a flick, just like that.” Entry for the concert will be $5, “but we encourage people to give more because $5 won’t buy a single corrugated iron sheet. The goal is to be able to buy corrugated sheets and other building materials for my town, Dulag, where 98% of homes were destroyed.”

WHO      : Vibratone, Moi Tiet, Adobo Conspiracy, Dancing With The Indios
WHAT   : Typhoon Haiyan benefit concert
WHERE: Equinox, #3a Street 278
WHEN  : 9pm November 28
WHY     : Show some love for our Filipino friends and help rebuild a shattered nation