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

Greetings:

Tonight, Thursday, in Phnom Penh, get out for the jazz jam with Dr George at Tape Deck (note the Echo Terminal jam session at Factory Phnom Penh is cancelled tonight, but will be back next Thursday for the last session of the season).  Also Miss Sarawan is at Rust, Cocofunk are at Sabada and Brett Perkins (US) is joined by local singer-songwriters at The Phoenix Bar (formerly The Silk Route).  Later and louder The Extraordinary Chambers are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, Kiko is at Amici Signature and Pepe & Melissa are at The Pizza Garden.

On Friday in Phnom Penh The Fallen Apples (Mirasol & Gaby) are at Hunt, Zingaros are at Motodop, Intan & Metta are at Khmer Funk Sky Bar and Adam Marsland is at Botanico.  Ex-Pulse are at The Tin Hat, Greg Beshers is at The Vine, Jay is at The Big Easy, Rom Romvong are at Big Wig and The Lark are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, Joshua Chiang & the Dropping Shoes are at Laundry  and Kiko is at The Pizza Garden.

On Saturday morning in Phnom Penh Tape Deck hosts a Bassac Wind Band information and play-along session.  Then Lisa Concepcion is at Shangri-La, guitar trio Six String Theory (George, Gaby & James) are at Tape Deck and John Peter is at Botanico.  Motodop hosts a special event – a tribute to Stevie Wonder’s album Songs in the Key of Life featuring Phil Javelle, Intan Andriana, Initial G, Adam Marsland, Jedil Robelo, Cameron Smith and Darvel Martinez.  Rom Romvong are at Tropico and Sticky Tentacles are early at Noisy Chili and late at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, Christabel is at The Pizza Garden.

Come Sunday, Scott Bywater is at The Vine, Skip Cormack and Wayfarer State are at Motodop, John Memery hosts the Sunday Sundowners open mic at Tacos Kokopelli, Stu Cottom is at Bar Oz and Greg Beshers is at Hunt.  Later on, Shaken Spirit are at Oscar’s on the Corner, and in Siem Reap Kodi Hudson is at Embargo.

Department of Recruitment

The introductory session for the planned Phnom Penh community concert band, Bassac Wind Band, will be held at Tape Deck on Saturday.  More information here.     “If you play, have ever played or would like to play, this could be for you. The concept is a band for players of all ages and abilities. Join the group and we can help you to refresh your old skills or achieve the goal of playing with an ensemble.”

Passing Chords – a few things you may not know about

John Memery, an Australian folk-leaning singer and songwriter who divides his time between Phnom Penh and Kampot.  He’s a regular at the Little Susie Songwriters Circle and other open mics, and this weekend the guest host of the Sunday Sundowners at Tacos Kokopelli.

Do you have a pet musical hate/pet peeve?

Rap.  I cannot abide it.  I would like to say I’ve persevered and listened to all the subtleties of the various highways and byways of rap, but I haven’t really.  I don’t like the way the words come at me like machine gun bullets, without the normal rise and fall and light and shade of real song lyrics.

A private musical indulgence:

Opera.  Not that I indulge it much these days, but I used to love that grand sweep of the voices of opera singers.  And the emotion.  The stories in opera are so big – there’s almost always a murder – the grand passions of it.  There’s a lovely story of Leonard Cohen going along to his lawyer and confessing that he’s being paid to sing but he doesn’t feel he can; the lawyer says none of you guys can sing, if I want singers I go to the opera.

The year you first came to Cambodia:

I think it was about ten years ago.  I came here to live four years ago roughly.  I had once formed a strong opinion that anyone who lived in the gritty air of Phnom Penh really had to be a little bit cracked – now I find myself here and loving it.  This is now more home than home.

An early music memory:

As a teenager listening to the music of the day blaring out of a little tinny transistor radio – Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, extraordinary songs.

The last thing you had to eat:

An omelette here at Chez la Boulange on St 172.  It’s the halfway mark on my morning dog walk.

Stagefright – yes or no?

Yes.  I’m not really a comfortable performer.  I’ve had wonderful times behind the microphone, but I have to propel myself up there, and I clear off again as soon as I can.  But it’s a good feeling, hearing yourself behind the microphone and knowing you sound good, and knowing you’re making a fair fist of a good song.

A country you want to visit:

I was an inveterate travellers in my 50s and 60s, but I haven’t been to Japan, South America, North America.  I’ll next visit Australia at Christmas time; going home always involves a huge adjustment, whereas coming back here there’s no adjustment at all.  So Australia, just for a visit, kids and grandkids, good friends.

A book or movie you keep going back to:

Lately it’s books about Cambodia – both When the War was Over by Elizabeth Becker and River of Time by Jon Swain I’ve read three times in the last few years.

What languages do you have?

Basic English, which seems to be ever more basic.  In the last few years I’ve been flailing around with Chinese, because my wife is Chinese, but that seems to be disappearing too.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:

Guitar, but I didn’t really start playing until I was 39.  I found myself around musical people and there were guitars, and I’d learned basic chords as a teenager but had no particular talent for it.  Since then I’ve developed some kind of style of my own.

Something people might be surprised to know about you:

I spent about ten years as a goat farmer, living in an old church.  My youngest daughter said to me some time ago: Dad, you and Mum were hippies!

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

I would like to go back to 1975/76 and experience Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue.  Or a Leonard Cohen concert after he was forced out of retirement.

A question from the last participant: what inspired you to get started in music in Cambodia?

The life itself, the vibe of the place.  I started writing songs about Cambodia and expat life.  My explorations into Cambodian culture are pretty shallow thus far.  I write these songs and then I’ve got to get out there and play them for people.  I wrote poetry for a lot of years but I don’t think it quite worked, I was unable to find a real poetic voice.  But when I found I could make up melodies that kind of took the place of a voice.  I wrote my first song at the age of 39, and it was terrible, but it was a recognisable song.  Then the next song wasn’t bad, and some of the following ones were actually really good, and affected other people.

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Steve Porte Photo of the Week

David & Julian Zdriluk performing at The Original Sessions at Tape Deck on Saturday 29 August, 2026

 

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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 3 September 2026

** residency/weekly

Thursday

 

Friday

 

Saturday                                                            


Sunday

 

Monday

Tuesday

 

Wednesday

 


Coming soon:   

Thursday 10 September 2, 2026

Level 21 Swing (Intan, Sharon, Christophe & Gaby), 7 pm,


Friday 11 September

 

Saturday 12 September

 

Friday 18 September

 

Saturday 19 September

 

Saturday 26 September

  • 3rd anniversary party featuring Dos Sifones and One Year Visa plus DJ, 5 pm, Mex’d Up (Siem Reap)
  • Tamarinda, 6 pm, Tape Deck
  • JamCha plus Drunk on Champagne, 7 pm, Motodop

 

Sunday 27 September

 

Saturday 3 October

  • 1976/1996 tribute: Acoustic Installment featuring Marianna Hensley, Mirasol Aguilar, Gaby Courroux, Adam Marsland, Scott Bywater and many more, 5 pm, Tape Deck

 

Thursday 8 October

 

Friday 9 October

 

By Weekly Wrap