***for full gig listings jump to the bottom***

Greetings,

A frequent visitor to Cambodia over the years has been English singer/songwriter Billy Page (see this week’s Passing Chords below) – he’s back again and hits Phnom Penh this weekend with solo shows at Sundance (Thursday) and The Box Office (Friday), and joining with Phil Javelle and Ricky Haldemann on Saturday at Oscar’s on the Corner.  Then he’s off to Kampot – see below.

Also a reminder that the Khmer music fusion performance Chapei Diary is on this Saturday (afternoon dress rehearsal) and Sunday evening.

Tonight Thursday you can find Blues Routes at Trattoria Bello and Alli G at Botanico.

On Friday night in Phnom Penh, Cloud is celebrating their sixth anniversary with a show that includes Joshua Chiang and As The Heart Betrays, while Havana Nice are at Odom Gardens and Gerard & Gaby are at Green Pepper.  Son Sabor Trio are at Back Street Bar, Aguita E’Coco are at Bosporus, Phil Javelle is at Central Café, and The Conspiracy Theory play a special one-off final show at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, newly formed Electric Soup are at The Harbour.

On Saturday night in Phnom Penh, a lunar new year party at HClub features Alli G & Friends, while Meta House celebrates 15 years of operation with Geography of the Moon and Major/Minor.  In Siem Reap Sam Rocker is with Batbangers at Pomme, and Son Sabor Trio is at AMBAR.

**For the rest of the gigs check out the listings at the bottom of the page**

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Passing Chords:  a few things you might not know about…

Billy Page, an English singer/songwriter who’s been in and out of South East Asia for many years.  It’s been a pandemic-while, but he’s back for and you can catch him solo at Sundance on Thursday and The Box Office on Friday, and with Phil Javelle and Ricky Haldeman at Oscar’s on the Corner on Saturday night.  Then he’s off to Kampot for a series of gigs.

Do you have a pet musical hate?

Breaking strings mid-song, when you’re really into it, and you lose the tuning and everything.  It’s probably my fault for whacking it too hard.  And brass players who play too loud all over your vocal.

A private musical indulgence:

I really like to listen to Joni Mitchell in the morning.  It’s a great way to wake up. She’s got a very soothing voice; there’s nobody I can think of who gets near it.

The year you first came to Cambodia:

In 2004.  Things were so different. It was like landing on another planet.  You came from the airport and it was just dust, you couldn’t see anything.  It was a really enchanting, hedonistic crazy place.  A petrol station was a cart parked in the middle of the road with an oil can and a plastic tube.

An early music memory:

My mum singing lullabies to me.

The last thing you had to eat:

The banana split that was just served to me.  The waiter very eloquently and quaintly called it a banana spliff.

A country you want to visit:

I would quite like to go to Peru.  And maybe Argentina.  I think it’s been a while since we had our war… it’s probably okay.  Also Brazil, where oddly enough The Smiths have a massive following; I’m a big fan too.

A book or movie you keep going back to:

Midnight Run, with Robert de Niro.  It actually inspired a song of mine –Different Life.

What languages can you speak?

English and German.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:

I started singing quite young, and I used to sing in the church choir.  And then I got into theatre, and only picked up the guitar quite late.  Then guitar became the main thing.  Now I think I’m a combination of a singer, songwriter and guitar player.  I definitely don’t think of myself as a guitarist first.  The key thing for me is that when I’m gigging I always want to play the song better than I did the night before.

Something people might be surprised to know about you:

That I speak German.  Also that I used to be a dental technician.  And I love wood, and the grain – I used to love making things out of wood.  In a strange way it’s way why I got into guitars.  I probably should have been a carpenter.

You have a time machine and a magic ticket to one gig or festival in the past.  What do you choose?

Wembley Stadium, 1985.  Live Aid.  I couldn’t go, I was gigging somewhere else at the time.  I would have liked to have been there.  Such a groundbreaking thing to happen that nobody had ever done before.

A question from the last participant, Phil Javelle:  How many stairs to reach the Best Damn Bar?

Probably 15.   15 steps to heaven.       [Ed: not far off; it’s 17]

Steve Porte Photo of the Week

Sharon Lui gives Steve a taste of his own medicine at the JJ Cale tribute at Oscar’s on the Corner, Friday, 21 January, 2022

 

Musicians, venues, punters:  if there are things that you know that LengPleng should know, please tell us and we’ll do our best to tell the world.

See you around the traps.

your correspondent,
Guillermo Wheremount
LengPleng.com

gigs@lengpleng.com (mailto:gigs@lengpleng.com)

 

Weekly Gig Guide – week commencing Thursday 27 January 2022

** residency/weekly

For DJs and clubs, we recommend Phnom Penh Underground

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

 

Coming soon:

 

Coming later:

 

By Weekly Wrap