click here for an audio-visual look at the gig highlights

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

Greetings:

Friday night in Phnom Penh finds Clay George at Dina Gallery@Il Forno, Arome Khmer at Vinoteca, Danny Healy Swing 3 taking one final bow at Botanico, while Summer Lee Carlson & Mute Speaker are at Duplex and Scapegoat Candy are at Oscar’s on the Corner.

Saturday in Phnom Penh Scapegoat Candy are at The Deck, The Busking Kings are at Front Bar, Vart Van is at Botanico and Brooke Palmer is at new venue Tropico (across the road from Sundance).  Jazz Sauce pay tribute to Bourbon Street at Au Marche, while The Blue Souls are at Back Street Bar, Summer Lee Carlson & Mute Speaker have a repeat performance at Duplex, and Jam-Cha are at Oscar’s on the Corner.

On Sunday in Phnom Penh Dean Wolf Bailey and Jam-Cha are at The Deck, Chicago Mike McCann hosts the Sunday Sundowners open mic at Tacos Kokopelli, Rod & Chema are at The Vine and Stu Cottom is at Bar Oz.  For something different, guitar and flute duo PongpatPongpradit & Anton Isselhardt perform Pan American Impressions at Raffles Le Royal.  The Extraordinary Chambers take Sunday duties at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, Soundskool bands Sharps and Flats (am), Sharps and Flats (pm), and The Bombastic play at Soundskool.

Department of New Releases and Tours

Soselo Summer are back in the public eye, with the release of their long-awaited album, The Submerged Generation, on Bandcamp and Spotify.  They also have dates in Ireland in June, and are planning a return to Phnom Penh stages in July for a proper album launch.  Watch the spaces you watch.    

Geography of the Moon have finally recorded and will shortly release their crowd favourite Pick It Up (And Put It Down) – coming to Bandcamp on June 14.

Japan Guitar Shop have announced tour dates for Vietnam in July – tell your friends in the east.

And finally, Metta Legita has released a delightful new video , shot by Björn Leonhard, of a solo performance of Chick Corea’s Children’s Song #20.

Passing Chords – a few things you may not know about

Cameron Smith, trumpet and flugelhorn player who also does a little guitar and vocal work, who moved to Phnom Penh with his wife Rhonda in January.  He is already involved in several bands, including Electric Muxu Orchestra, Checkered Past, Maki Orkestr and the recently formed Phnom Penh Brass Ensemble.  His first local band-leading venture debuts on Saturday night at Au Marche – Jazz Sauce, a tribute to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, featuring Yusbel, Darvel and Aymen.

Do you have a pet musical hate?
Lip-synching – pretending to sing while a backing track plays.   I’m also not a big fan of the kazoo.

A private musical indulgence:
I’ve started to get into country music in my older years.  My parents used to listen to it a lot and my brother and I would go and hide in our bedroom –  now I appreciate the story telling.  My dad passed away a few years ago, and now I find myself sometimes putting on a Slim Dusty album.

The year you first came to Cambodia:
2017, with the Australian band Plan B, as part of a three country tour – we started in Vietnam, came to Phnom Penh and played at Sharky Bar, then we did a few shows in Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia.  That was really fun.

An early music memory:
My brother and I, when we were six or seven, had lessons at Lowe’s Organ Centre in Toowoomba, Queensland.  They had a great showroom of organs in a big German-style building that’s now been turned into an Aldi supermarket.  Upstairs they did group lessons for kids.  I remember the lessons being quite fun.  Around about the same age we would listen to Mum and Dad’s cassette tapes and LPs – we were particularly fond of Rolf Harris Live at the Opera House.  Little did we know.

The last thing you had to eat:
A taco-inspired salad that my wife Rhonda made for lunch.  It was very yummy.

A country you want to visit:
Japan.  I haven’t been there, and I hear there’s a bit of a trad jazz scene and a brass scene, and Rhonda and I would like to go to Tokyo Disneyland.  We went to the original Disneyland last December – Rhonda’s been I think 13 times or something.

A book or movie you keep going back to:
The book is Wizard’s First Rule, the first of a series, The Seeker, by Terry Goodkind.  Your regular wizards and swordfights and castles and kings – I like that sort of thing.    The movie is Little Shop of Horrors, Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene.  I’ve seen that countless times in lots of different iterations.  It’s one show that I haven’t played in the orchestra for, I’d really like to play the music of Little Shop of Horrors.

What languages do you have?
Just English.  And I’m trying to learn some Khmer.  I can not get terribly lost in a tuktuk now, that’s a plus.  And say no at the markets.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:
Primary instrument is the trumpet.  I started when I was ten, in primary school.  I went to an introduction to the instruments at school, and I wanted to learn the saxophone, but they didn’t have any available.  There was a trumpet in the cupboard at home gathering dust – it was actually a little cornet.  I started learning on that, and Mum wouldn’t let me stop, and here we are today.

Something people might be surprised to know about you:
I still get nervous about performing, whether it’s at Oscar’s on the Corner or on a big stage, especially in new situations or new configurations.

You have a time machine and a magic ticket to one gig or festival in the past. What do you choose?
The first performance of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto on the recently invented keyed trumpet, in 1796.  Anton Weidinger was the inventor, and Joseph Haydn composed the concerto for him.  Also any of the Neville Brothers concerts in the early 1990s at Tipitina’s in New Orleans.  I just finished reading Aaron Neville’s autobiography – I just like anything those guys do.

A question from the last participant: what changes would you like to see the Cambodian music scene over the next few years?
More opportunities for bands – it’s the same in Australia post-COVID.  I like playing jazz but I’m into all sorts of different music.  You always want to see new venues open up, particularly venues for larger ensembles – two of the bands that I’m in are seven-piece, we need more room.

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Steve Porte Photo of the Week

 

Soon-to-be-leaving-us Danny Healy blowing the blues with The Blue Souls at Oscar’s on the Corner, Saturday 18 May, 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 30 May 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*

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By Weekly Wrap