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

Greetings:

Ignoring the annoyingly persistent rainy season, this weekend continues the explosion of gigs across the country – double bills, triple bills, a choir concert, the return of a favourite and a three-day festival – and there’s plenty more to come this month.

The Vine celebrates four years of operation withVineStock, a big weekend of live music and DJs, featuring The Two Jacks, Marianna Hensley, Dave Cox, Phil O’Flaherty, Scott Bywater, Mike St John, Cove Aronoff and more from Friday to Sunday – for more details see below.  Congratulations to Joel, Sara, the staff and Pepper.

For those out on a Thursday night in Phnom Penh, find Hugo Marcellesi & Gaby Sometime at Samai Rum Distillery, Joe Wrigley at Botanico, Alli G at Can Can and later on The Extraordinary Chambers at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, Andy Luna is at Pasta La Vista and Jam-Cha are at Villa D; in Kampot Graham Cain is at Golden Time.

On Friday night in Phnom Penh Jeff Baker is at Botanico@Odom Garden, The Two Jacks and special guests at The Vine, Boxchords are at Craft, Khmer Magic Music Bus are at Bouchon Wine Bar.  Geography of the Moon are at Sundance and the triple bill of Spiked Gravy, the new Damani Band and house band Temple are at Oscar’s on the Corner .  In Siem Reap, Son Sabor Latin Trio are at The Harbour and Rod Tolentino is at AMBAR, while the Jampot open mic at Karma Traders in Kampot is hosted by Ant Colloff.

 Saturday begins early with Phil O’Flaherty and Scott Bywater at The Vine and The Busking Kings at Villa Grange. Into the evening, The Broken Cymbal are at The Box Office, Khmer Magic Music Bus are at Craft, and PRERNA are back [From the Archive], with special guest Sharon Lui, at Meta House.  Geography of the Moon play their last show before departing for Thailand and Japan at Back Street Bar, Srey Ka & K’n’E are at Oscar’s on the Corner, and Alli G & The Quilas go late at Sam’s. In Siem Reap, check out the double bill of Electric Soup and The Wildmen at Laundry.

Making it a big Sunday in Phnom Penh, the Musica Felice [From the Archive] present a charity concert at Sofitel, and the VineStock fourth anniversary party continues with Mike St John and Cove Aronoff. And for those going late, Joe & the Jumping Jacks at Oscar’s on the Corner.

Looking ahead to Wednesday, Bouchon Wine Bar presents jazz guitar master George Hess for one exclusive Phnom Penh show.  Also note that The Box Office open mic is taking a few weeks off.

The Leng Pleng Interview

Uniqueness and connection: Geography of the Moon prepare to travel again

It’s been a while since LengPleng checked in with our rising stars Geography of the Moon – ahead of their last weekend in Phnom Penh before heading off for Thailand and Japan we sat down to see where they’re at and where they’re heading.  After an early afternoon breakfast – Virginia eating slow, Andrea eating fast – we turned on the recorder, noted the date and time, made Twin Peaks references and got talking.

LengPleng: So it’s been a busy year?

Andrea: In the last year we played almost 100 gigs, starting with our last couple of London gigs after COVID, then in Thailand, then we came back to Cambodia.

Virginia: This time around in Cambodia we’ve played everywhere, we’ve been in everyone’s face every week.  In Phnom Penh this year – we’ve never played so many gigs in one place ever, this is a record.  Waiting for borders to reopen so we can start travelling again.

Andrea: That’s why we’re about to go to Thailand and Japan.

Read the whole article here

Passing Chords – a few things you may not know about

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damani.  Bass player around town, you may know him from his time in Hypnotic Fist Technique, Vartey Ganiva, and freelancing gigs here and there too numerous for him or anyone else to remember.  His new band, tentatively called Damani Band, plays for the first time on Friday night opening for Spiked Gravy, which he recently joined, at Oscar’s on the Corner.

Do you have a pet musical hate?
Can’t think of any thing in particular that i hate, I generally enjoy all music, although some things I have outgrown. I do however respect professionalism, honesty, humbleness and diligence in any capacity so you could say I hate a lack thereof.

A private musical indulgence:
I listen to a lot of UK Drill which is a subgenre of rap from London. I say it is private because it’s usually just in my headphones during my moto rides and not often a shared recreation with friends in Phnom Penh.

The year you first came to Cambodia:
2015, October. Just turned 22.

An early music memory:
When I was very young I received a toy tape cassette recorder with a built in microphone, speaker, handle and everything. Perhaps more of a sound in general memory rather than music, but I do recall and am recounted by my family that I would spend hours recording myself, things around the house and just pointing the mic to the speaker to make feedback squeals. Funnily enough, I then dropped out of school at age 15 and from 16 onwards I only studied Sound Engineering.

The last thing you had to eat:
Indo-Mie with a fried egg. You caught me at a bad time.

A country you want to visit:
Senegal.

A book or movie you keep going back to:
I like the early films of director Zhang Yimou. The one I’ve watched the most is To Live, because it’s on YouTube.

What languages do you have?
English, Italian and, to a certain degree, Khmer.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:
I want to say computer. I started making beats and compositions on Cubase when i was about 12. Through that process and building up my bedroom studio, I also picked up skills on other instruments for recording my beats and songs. Since I came to Cambodia however, I’ve played a lot of bass by means of necessity I guess. But I can tell you, it doesn’t really get touched outside of gigs or rehearsals.

Something people might be surprised to know about you:
I’m a published author.

You have a time machine and a magic ticket to one gig or festival in the past. What do you choose?
If it’s just for the gig then I’d go to see Taraf De Haïdouks sometime in the mid 90s whilst the original members were still alive.

A question from the last participant: are you musically content?
I will never be musically content, that infers that I am satisfied with where I am at, but there is still so much to discover and refine. I am happy and enjoying life, yes.

Steve Porte Photo of the Week

Celebrating four years of The Vine with Geography of the Moon, Pepper and David Flack.

If you wish to receive LengPleng in your inbox every Thursday please send a subscribe email to gigs@lengpleng.com.

Musicians, venues, punters:  if there are things 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 6 October 2022

** 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:

By Weekly Wrap