Category: Night & Day

FRI 3 | Beginning on Friday 3 and running until Sunday 5, this three-day traditional village festival is your one chance this year to check out a true traditional village festival without travelling back in time and/or to the provinces. Organised by Plerng Kob and ABC Cambodia FM 107.5, you can enjoy three days of free traditional entertainment, including masked dancing, yike singing and shadow plays, while munching on locally grown and cooked produce direct from provincial vendors. To cater for all tastes, the festival will also showcase a selected range of modern art and fashion for the young’uns. It’s all completely free and runs from 7am until 10pm on each of the three days, so make the short hike to the site – it’s absolutely worth it.

WHO: Dancers, singers, artists, food vendors
WHAT: Bonn Phum Village Festival
WHERE: Prek Thleng, Takeo
WHEN: 7am, Friday April 3
WHY: Experience an ancient festival in
the city

SAT 4 | The freshly launched 40 Thieves Apparel label are hosting the first of what is set to be a series of pop-up shop parties at Che Culo this Saturday. With way too much street style to know what to do with, this ain’t your regular clothing market. Not only will the crew be selling their current range of urban threads, including hats, shorts, accessories and one-off items, there will also be some freebies thrown in the mix along the way. Beats will be laid down all evening by Phnom Penh DJs Alan Ritchie, Dr. Wah Wah and DJ Bree, while the venue will be treating all attendees with drink and food specials – and if you’ve ever tasted their stuff, that fact alone should have you on your feet.

WHO: 40 Thieves Apparel & DJs
WHAT: Pop-up shop party
WHERE: Che Culo, #6B St. 302
WHEN: 5pm, April 4
WHY: Tasty cocktails, threads & beats

SAT 4 | If you haven’t checked out The Room yet, this is the night to do it. Picture hanging out in a funkier, better furnished version of your own living room, filled with all the greatest parts of a trendy lounge bar: international DJs with underground sounds, a well-stocked bar and, tonight only, free Italian bites until 9pm. So basically, it’s nothing like your living room at all, which is why you should get the hell out of it and come along.

WHO: Imported DJs
WHAT: Deep house and free eats
WHERE: The Room, #10 St. 246
WHEN: 7pm, April 4
WHY: It’s hella cooler than your own room

SAT 4 | Believe it or not, Easter isn’t all about stuffing your face with chocolate and spending the next few days in the foetal position feeling like the fatty you are. Instead of (okay, alongside) doing so, you can come along to Gasolina’s Easter party fundraising event and earn brownie points for contributing a truly worthy cause. $2 will buy your kid (or yourself – no judgment here) participation in an Easter egg hunt, with all funds donated directly to the 1000 Days movement, which helps women in need receive education and support for 1000 days from the beginning of their pregnancy. Hyperactive kiddies can let off all their excess sugar-fuelled energy on a jumping castle and a variety of arts and crafts activities while parents can sit and have an afternoon drink at the bar. And if you’re feeling extra charitable, buy the roaming magician clowns a beer – they’re bound to deserve it.

WHO: Families and charitable humans
WHAT: Easter party
WHERE: La Gasolina Bar & Restaurant, #56-58, St. 57
WHEN: 2:30pm, April 5
WHY: Family fun for a good cause

TUE 07 | If you’ve been enjoying Show Box’s most recent Box Market installments, you may be excited to hear that they’re upping it a notch by transforming it into a night market every second month, featuring a live DJ and, of course, free beer from 6:30pm-7:30pm to fuel that insatiable thirst of ours. Shop, sell or do both, swapping your old garb for something new, used or handmade. In the lovably lax Show Box style, anything goes, so if you want to sell something you have made (food, jewelry, etc.) or accumulated over time, you can set up a table for just $3 by contacting staff at showboxpp@nullgmail.com, or do it the old-fashioned way and pop your head in prior to the day.

WHO: Buyers & sellers
WHAT: Night market
WHERE: Show Box, #11 St. 330
WHEN: 7:30pm, April 7
WHY: ‘Cos other people’s stuff is always better than your own

FRI 27 | Mak Remissa, a photojournalist for the European Pressphoto Agency, is considered one of the most successful Khmer photographers of his generation. A survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime, his latest series, Left 3 Days, draws upon his memory of the evacuation of Phnom Penh in 1975. Alongside his photography exhibition, Remissa will give a talk in Khmer on why and how he worked on this project.

WHO: Mak Remissa
WHAT: Photography exhibition
WHERE: Bophana Centre, #64 St. 200
WHEN: 6pm, March 27
WHY: Revisit the past through photography

FRI 27 | Despite its suggestive title, Milky Way unfortunately isn’t the chocolate bar appreciation evening it might seem. But keep those fat little hopes raised high, as The Creem’s Milky Way party is set to deliver a night of music and good vibes that are sure to be just as sweet. Always on the hunt for fresh new ways to party, this time the crew present a shindig under the stars. Chill out by the moonlight to mellow beats on Phnom Penh’s only rooftop club in town, with music provided by DJs Nora Haidee, Tom Coates and DJ Sequence.

WHO: Party people
WHAT: Rooftop party
WHERE: Dusk til Dawn, #46-48 St. 172
WHEN: 10pm, March 27
WHY: Who isn’t hungry for a change of scenery?

FRI 27 | Many of us most closely associate the golden era of Khmer music with the nostalgic vocals of Sin Sisamouth and Pan Ron, perhaps accompanied by some cute visuals of bopping teens in their Sunday best. While this is a likely scene from a ‘60s dance club, a different, less prevalent music scene was taking off on stages across the Kingdom. With a wave of American and British rock musicians taking the world by storm, Cambodians embraced this contemporary rock scene. None did more so than the members of the Drakkar band, who formed their group in 1967 after being influenced by such rock musicians as The Rolling Stones and Deep Purple. After starting out on a high, playing at elite social events and embassies, the band’s success continued to skyrocket, eventually leading them to produce a best-selling album in 1974 and become the first Khmer rock band to be aired on Cambodian television. Forced to disperse upon the takeover of the Khmer Rouge, the band’s name persisted through the most difficult years in the country’s history, reforming with several new band members after the country regained control in 1979. Drakkar will perform their original songs at Sharky Bar on Friday before commencing their US tour in April.

WHO: The Drakkar band
WHAT: Live Khmer rock
WHERE: Sharky Bar, #126 St. 130
WHEN: 8pm, March 27
WHY: Actual legendary rockers from
the ‘70s

SAT 28 | Anyone who thinks caring for the environment is just for tree-hugging hippies belongs in the Stone Age and should duly be torn a new one by a sabre-toothed tiger. As for the rest of us, it’s that time of the year where we all come together to express our appreciation for this fine planet of ours through the annual Earth Hour celebration. Switch off your electricity and head on over to RUPP, where you can enjoy a concert under the candlelight (featuring Meas Sok Sophea and Chhorn Sovannareach), a shadow play, monkey dance, puppet show and more. There are also prizes to be won, so get among it for a good cause.

WHO: Earthlings
WHAT: Earth Hour celebrations
WHERE: Royal University of Phnom Penh, Confederation de la Russie
WHEN: 5pm, March 28
WHY: It beats alone in the dark

SAT 28 | It’s time for another potent mix of poetry and drinking on the Tonle Sap. As usual, participants are required to bring along their poem to recite, an alcoholic beverage to share and a fiver for the boat. Standard procedure requires alcohol to be imbibed pre-recital for the benefit of everyone involved. Whether intentionally or by sheer celestial coincidence, the theme is “green” on the night of Earth Hour, so be sure to join in the spirit of it all and pack an emerald elixir for the occasion.

WHO: Thespians with a twist of lime
WHAT: Poetry cruise
WHERE: Tonle Sap
WHEN: 8pm, March 28
WHY: Drink green – it’s good for the environment