Any attempt to sum up a year will fall short – there will be omissions due to forgetfulness and/or ignorance, and notable happenings will be overlooked – but every year LengPleng tries to overcome these issues to remind the crowd of the past year. Apologies in advance for what gets left out.
The year began, in a growing tradition, with celebrating the top place getters in the Radio Oun Top 100 Songs of All Time poll for 2022. Gareth Bawden came in at number one with his song See Me Through; Ariane Parkes followed with escape, heal and the beauty in our moments of simplicity (and John or James at number six). The rest of the top 20 was filled out by Geography of the Moon and Phnom Penh based singer-songwriters ZyctDan, Joshua Chiang and Ernie Buck (resident-in-absence).
In many ways 2023 will be remembered for farewells – particularly the all-star Life of Brin concert at Star Bar in Siem Reap for and with Brian Wood. We have also said goodbye just this week to Malaysian drummer Lewis Pragasam who spent several years active in Phnom Penh; also lost to us through the year were musicians and music supporters Paul Rogers, Chris Bean and Ken Long. In a less final way – more of a hopeful see you later – to notable members of the music community who returned to from whence they came or on to new challenges: Big D Walker, Arone Silverman, Mary and Takeshi Yamauchi, Ned Kelly, Daisuke Yasukochi, Jesse Ricketson.
The surge in touring bands this year got us close to pre-plague 2019 levels, particularly in the metal/punk arena – the Slam City Metal Fest at Atlantis and X Bar in Siem Reap showcased metal bands from Cambodia alongside Dead People and Sandy Good from Philippines and Cút Lộn from Vietnam. We also welcomed Zeitgeists from Bangkok (twice), The Argies from Argentina, HEXIS from Denmark, Octopouple, Neuroot from the Netherlands and Waisted Laika from China. Somewhat more mainstream touring bands included PlanB from Adelaide, South Australia, French brass band Volcanic Cocopulse and Indian duo Rhythm of Ecstasy. Among the other regular visitors who slipped onto stages were Bob Passion, Billy Page, Justin Frew and Adrien Gayraud. Tasmanian Danny Healy brought his saxophone and clarinet to the table for many months and will be back; towards the end of the year Geography of the Moon returned for an extended stay and shortly afterwards Sinville Roadshow did the same. Phnom Penh benefited from the relocation of Brooke Palmer.
There’s also been a fair bit of travelling within the kingdom, with bands such as Scapegoat Candy, Jam-Cha, Cardboard Lo-Fi, The Blue Wave and Angkor Classique taking to the highway, not to mention the nomadic trailblazer Graham Cain.
It was a big year for anniversaries – the Phnom Penh International Music Festival celebrated 20 years of annual events, this month Alley Cat/Tacos Kokopelli had their 18th birthday, while both the TacoKat Sunday Sundowner Sessions open mic and Joe & the Jumping Jacks sailed past 10 years.
The northern summer this year seemed to thin the ranks somewhat, and this led to a reshuffling of the pack to produce some interesting results – the appearance of new acts with familiar faces such as MuXu, Treble Entendre, Silver & Taylor, 4Beats and The Lark, along with line-up changes for Japan Guitar Shop, blender, Nightmare AD and Reign in Slumber.
Away from the stage, there was plenty of studio activity from the likes of Summer Lee Carlson, the Coz Collective, Joe & the Jumping Jacks; early next year expect the long-awaited Japan Guitar Shop album Done You Right.
The diversity and strength of the Cambodian music scene was showcased at the 60 Road Studio Bon Om Touk Festival in November. We also saw the relocation-forced disbanding of Soselo Summer, the return of Green Pepper to the circuit with a range of classical and jazz concerts, the resurgence of the Tuesday night Lone Star open mic, the resuscitation of the Lazy Drunks, the development of Gone Marshall’s crooner alter ego Robert Marleigh, the continuing strength of the Originals series at Back Street Bar, the revival of poolside gigs at Villa Grange, and even the re-emergence of Sihanoukville on the live music calendar with residencies at Prince Beach Club and the Bay of Lights festival. In Phnom Penh, the usual rise and fall of suitable venues continues.
What have we missed? Next week LengPleng will publish the annual crowd-sourced roundup of all things 2023 – send in your dot points, short essays and hasty scribblings to gigs@lengpleng.com.