for an audiovisual version of the gig highlights click here

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

Greetings:

The last weekend in February continues a strong month as we prepare for hot season.  Take a look at the Coming Soon section at the bottom of the listings – coming up in March are a bunch of festivals ranging from Nesat Village in Koh Kong, Pepperfest in Kampot, and the Slam City Asia with many touring and local metal bands at Atlantis in Siem Reap and Noisy Chili in Phnom Penh – look out for a LengPleng feature on that one soon.

Thursday night in Phnom Penh, find Stu Cottom at Villa Grange, a classical piano recital by James & David Atkinson at Bellini, Cambodian music legend Samley Hong at Little Susie and The Extraordinary Chambers at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Kampot Suspender Brothers: Nico Thoma & Carlos Alonso are at Ariart and Indian classical duo Arnab Bhattacharya & Nilimesh Chakraborty are at Laundry in Siem Reap.  

In Phnom Penh on Friday night visiting from the Netherlands are the Biggles Big Band at Raffles Le Royale; elsewhere Arome Khmer are at Craft, Lisa Concepcion is at Farm To Table, Phil O’Flaherty is at Botanico and Ex-Pulse are at The Tin Hat.  Aisha & Serdar perform with full band at Little Susie, while Alli G Rockustic are joined by Boxchords and Road Crew at Cloud, The Broken Cymbal are at Voodoo Boulevard and The Lark at Oscar’s on the Corner.  On the coast, Bob Passion & the Indispensables are at Kep Natural and Japan Guitar Shop are at KAPAL, while Siem Reap has Mr Zee at Ubuntu and Sokunthea & Friends at Ben’s Corner.

 Saturday night in Phnom Penh sees a boat cruise with Penh Pals and The Broken Cymbal hosted by Tacos Kokopelli, while Lewis McTighe is at The Deck, Sinville Roadshow is at Craft, Green Leaf Motif are at Seekers Spirits and AlliG is at Kopitiam. Silver & Taylor are at Au Marche, Loopy Reggae Duo are at Little Susie, while Dua Lipa & the Dua Lipas are at Duplex and The Extraordinary Chambers are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Kampot, the Kampot Craft Beer Festival at Monkey Republic features Joe Wrigley, Summer Lee Carlson & Mute Speaker and Japan Guitar Shop, while in Siem Reap Bangarang (Japan) are at Laundry.

Come Sunday in Phnom Penh, Miss Sarawan & Scoddy are at Villa Grange, Nico Thoma is at The Vine and the Sunday Sundowners open mic is hosted by Scott Bywater at Tacos Kokopelli and Stu Cottom is at Bar Oz.  Back Street Bar continues the Originals Showcase series with Rob Narciso, Vince Solomons & Skeptical Chemistry and Gaby Courroux and Electric Muxu Orchestra go late at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap there are open mics at Pomme and The Mended Drum.

Passing Chords – a few things you may not know about

David Atkinson, pianist brother of Phnom Penh based pianist James Atkinson.  Born in Ottawa, he has lived in Toronto since 2004.  After many years of playing in different bands, he found his way into musical theatre and for the last few years he has been music director for musicals – he recently toured with a production of Hamilton, starting in Honolulu and made its way to Toronto for an extended run.  He is visiting Cambodia for a couple of weeks during which he will play a classical recital with James in Phnom Penh on Thursday 22 at Bellini, and with the band Quartz in Siem Reap at Laundry on Tuesday 27.

Do you have a pet musical hate?

Ambivalence.  Every time I’m working out an arrangement and I have to figure out the ending for a song it’s an opportunity to make it even better.  When that kind of consideration gets phoned-in: that would be a pet hate.  I don’t have a pet hate genre, I’ve made it my professional calling card to do anything, to not specialise but to be a generalist as a musician.

A private musical indulgence:

When no one’s around what I like to do is sit at the piano and try to play a song that I know but have never played before, a familiar pop or rock song, and see how I can voice it on the keyboard, and if I can come up with an imaginative way to play it.  I’d love to one day put together an album of arrangements like that.  Also I was first taught in the classical tradition, so there’s a lot of classical repertoire that I like to go back to, just for fun.

The year you first came to Cambodia:

Two days ago.

An early music memory:

My brother James is 13 years older than me, so when I was a young boy he was already quite an advanced pianist, and a big inspiration.  Growing up there was a jazz big band made up of some of the most promising young players in Ottawa, and James was a founding member – I remember hearing them play and being so thrilled by the music.  I would have to have been about six years old.  The big horn section, swinging really hard, it definitely stuck with me.

The last thing you had to eat:

A bowl of cereal.  Trying to be gentle on my tummy as I move through the jet lag.

A country you want to visit:

Brazil.  Of all the music genres and cultures I have delved deep into, Brazilian music is a big one for me.  For many years in Toronto I had a band playing Brazilian psychedelic rock, inspired by the Tropicalia movement of the 60s and 70s.  There’s a big Brazilian community in Toronto that we were involved with.  That was wonderful, but then to actually go to Brazil would be awesome.

A book or movie you keep going back to:

The Organised Mind, by Daniel Leverton, who is best known for a book called This Is Your Brain On Music.  He’s a musician turned neurologist, and his specialty is using fMRI machines to study what is happening in people’s brains when they play music, when they listen to music, associating with musical patterns.  The Organised Mind is a bit broader – the main question it asks is, given that humans haven’t really physically evolved in the last 20,000 years, how is it that we are capable of managing all of the information that we now need to manage in the modern world.  One of my favourite catch-phrases I use as a teacher is: my favourite thing to do is to meta-cognate, that is to think about thinking.

What languages do you have?

English and some passable French from growing up in a bilingual city.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:

Piano.  I had three older siblings who all studied piano, so from the time I was a baby I was on their lap and being shown things.  I started formal training when I was four.

Something people might be surprised to know about you:

In my downtime I have some quite nerdy indulgences – I run Dungeons and Dragons campaigns with my family, and I’m also an adult Lego fan.  During the pandemic I went and got all of the old childhood Lego for my five year old daughter, and we now have a room in the basement with a Lego city in it.

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

I’d go and see The Beatles at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg.  In their genesis, playing four-set nights with new R&B and Motown covers, before they were being recorded.

A question from the last participant – Emotion or reason: which do you choose?

That’s a big question, because I think about this a lot; as I said, I like to meta-cognate.  I would hate to have a life without emotion, I think that would not be life worth living.  But life without reason would be unendurable and chaotic.  I tend to emotion – I spend a ton of energy rationalising and analysing my emotions, and what I started to come to realise is that although it might be me thinking that I have used reason to get my way out of a situation, ultimately I just rationalise what I was already feeling in my heart.

Department of Mutual Support:  Friends of LengPleng

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Steve Porte Photo of the Week

Mäkks holds down the beat with Bob Passion and the Indispensables at Oscar’s on the Corner, Friday 16 February, 2024

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See you around the traps.
your correspondent,

Guillermo Wheremount
LengPleng.com
gigs@lengpleng.com (mailto:gigs@lengpleng.com)

 

Weekly Gig Guide – week commencing Thursday 22 February 2024

** residency/weekly

For DJs and clubs, we recommend Phnom Penh Underground

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

*Note that Wednesday events are often not announced until early in the week – check back here for updates*

Coming soon:

  • David Zdriluk, 6 pm, 29 February, Villa Grange
  • JamCha, 10 pm, 29 February, Oscar’s on the Corner
  • Loopy Reggae Duo, 7 pm, 1 March, The Box Office
  • The Goldilocks Zone, 8.30 pm, 1 March, Hometown Hangout
  • Nesat Village Festival with Jam-Cha, The Broken Cymbal, Ant Colloff and André Aguiar plus DJs, 1 – 3 March, Nesat Village
  • AlliG & TheQuilas, 10 pm, 1 March, Oscar’s on the Corner
  • Bustaka Boys plus Robin Narciso, 5 pm, 2 March, The Deck
  • Scott Bywater birthday jam, 8 pm, 2 March, Little Susie
  • Electric Muxu Orchestra – Scoddy’s birthday show, 10 pm, 2 March, Oscar’s on the Corner
  • Rags to Rainbow Duo (Colin & Gaby), 7 pm, 6 March, Trattoria Bello
  • George, Danny & Gaby, 30 pm, 8 March, Craft
  • Loopy Reggae Duo, 7 pm, 8 March, The Tin Hat
  • Penh Pals, 8.30 pm, 8 March, Chez Cri Cri
  • Japan Guitar Shop, 9 pm, 8 March, Laundry (Siem Reap)
  • Bob Passion & The Indispensables, 10 pm, 8 March, Oscar’s on the Corner
  • Nico Thoma, 5 pm, 9 March, The Deck
  • Cardboard Li-Fi, 7 pm, 9 March, Botanico
  • 60 Road Studios Festival, 6 pm, 9 March, 60 Road Studios (Siem Reap)
  • Miss Sarawan & Scoddy, 2.30 pm, 10 March, Villa Grange
  • The Blue Strangers, 4 pm, New Leaf (Siem Reap)
  • Adam Marsland, 6 pm, 14 March, Villa Grange
  • Slam City Fest with Lilith (Philippines), Cut Lon (Vietnam), Elcrost (Vietnam), Recasseur (Vietnam), 6 pm, 15 March, Atlantis (Siem Reap) – $10 entry
  • Pepperfest Kampot Camping Festival Day 1 with KAN, Bamboo Train, Cartoon, Roberto Salgado, YoYo, Dydou, 2 pm, 16 March, Kampot Camping (Kampot)
  • Slam City Fest with Carnivola (Thailand), Lilith (Philippines), Cut Lon (Vietnam), Elcrost (Vietnam), Recasseur (Vietnam), Nightmare AD, Doch Chkae, After God, Reign in Slumber, Radioactive Deathmonkey and Winsum Losesum, 6 pm, 16 March, Noisy Chili – $10 entry
  • Mr Zee, 5 pm, 16 March, The Deck
  • Pepperfest Kampot Camping Festival Day 2 with Chris Garcia, Alli G, Barang Barang, Placard, Doch Chkae and Ricky B, 2 pm, 17 March, Kampot Camping (Kampot)
  • Adam Marsland, 2.30 pm, 17 March, Villa Grange
  • Rags to Rainbows – Colin’s 77th Birthday Bash, 30 pm, 18 March, Craft
  • Boat cruise with Geography of the Moon and Japan Guitar Shop, 6 pm, 23 March, Tacos Kokopelli – tickets $7.50
  • Miss Sarawan & Scoddy, 2.30 pm, 24 March, Villa Grange

 

 

By Weekly Wrap