Dylan in Vietnam - Part 1: Dylan and the Vietnam Mythology
Bob Dylan is set to play a concert at RMIT University in Saigon on April 10. In the early press for the concert it was billed as part of a tribute to Trinh Cong Son, "Vietnam's Bob Dylan", who died ten years ago.
The announcement of Dylan's concert has made headlines, which, it is hoped. will help sell out the 8,000 seat venue in Ho Chi Minh City's District 7. Interestingly, most every article which has appeared attempts to connect Dylan in some fashion to the movement against the war in Vietnam, screaming headlines such as "Anti-War Bard to Perform in Vietnam"
- Read more
- 12251 reads
Air Guitar and Apsara Dancing: The Crowd Loves the Like Me's
At the end of a dusty, half-abandoned mall, Parkway Studios is a multi-tiered concert hall hewn from a thick concrete that gives it a subterranean feel. Early in the evening, Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” was blasting over the crowd as KlapYaHandz prepared to take the stage. Loosened-up Expats were putting in dance work, as you’d expect. The more conservative Cambodian half of the crowd was mostly standing still or taking iPhone pictures – again, as expected.
- Read more
- 12697 reads
Tonight, Equinox, Tomorrow, the World: Fanfare Sans Fronteres' Mission to Cambodia
For the last month, 8ctopus’ “French funky world music” has been echoing through the streets of Phnom Penh as the brass band makes its exuberant rounds of the city. Perhaps you’ve heard their songs floating over rush hour traffic by Russian Market, or maybe their horns have already rattled your pint glass at a local bar. If you’re one of the kids at Sok Sabay, a residential shelter for children rescued from abuse, you’ve grown used to hearing this carnival of music every day and playing some yourself.
- Read more
- 10871 reads
Laura Mam & Her All-Female Band, “The Like Me’s”
Similar to Sex and the City, the Like Me’s consists of four females, half of which are Cambodian and the other half Filipina. With different talents and varied ages, they complement one another to form a unique sound. The R&B/Alternative/& Pop Southeast Asian American band is much like the Cambodian Alliance for the Arts since they target both a global and domestic audience to accomplish their mission; to empower and to heal. Just like any crew or organization, the band was established through common experiences and interests.
- Read more
- 11628 reads
The Like Me's
The Like Me's, the world's only all-Cambodian girl band, is gearing up for its debut tour of the Kingdom.
The Like Me's are on a mission.
Since 2009, the California-based quartet has been promoting the sounds of Cambodia's oft forgotten 1960s-era music scene in an attempt to rekindle the Kingdom's "Golden Era" of music.
And while it's foreign audiences who are usually most mesmerized, the music, says the band, is aimed squarely at homeland hearts and minds.
- Read more
- 17062 reads
Supabad rocking the town
The live music scene in Phnom Penh, just keeps getting better and better. If last nights show by Supabad is any indication of what we can expect in the venues around town soon then a big thanks to the venues bringing in live acts.
- Read more
- 7340 reads
Cambodian Space Project have landed
Invisible Agent hasn’t released on vinyl in a while, so naturally I get very excited when other people do. Such a fabulous format, carrying all that warm and rich analogue goodness.
Sundown Sessions: DJs Marco and lllest present "7-Eleven," an early-hours "before" party on the fifth-floor sundeck of The Quay Hotel.
![](http://mail.expat-advisory.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/thumbnail_meduim/southeast-asia/cambodia/phnom-penh/article_images/sundown-sessions-djs-marco-and-lllest-present-quot7-elevenquot-early-hours-quotbeforequot-party-fift_marco_september-6-2010-253pm.jpg "Sundown Sessions: DJs Marco and lllest present "7-Eleven," an early-hours "before" party on the fifth-floor sundeck of The Quay Hotel.")
On the fifth-story sundeck of The Quay Hotel, canopy-covered Moroccan lounge beds peer across the Tonle Sap River and to The Mekong River beyond. A cool breeze blows in from the water and washes over the bubbling black-stone hot tub.
When Phnom Penh's DJ Marco first saw the place six months ago, he knew he had found the venue for a perfect sunset affair. So along with his cousin, another local spinster who goes by the name DJ Illest, the two approached Benjamin Le Grand, a manager at the hotel, and gave him the pitch.
Travelin' Band
I was just a lad, nearly twenty-two
Neither good nor bad, just a kid like you
And now I'm lost, too late to pray
Lord, I've paid the cost on the Lost Highway
So goes the song "Lost Highway," made popular by the late country-and-western star Hank Williams. The name seems fitting for a classic rock band based in Sihanoukville, the beach-town escape at the end of Highway 4.
A very brief Q&A with Cambodia's no 1 songstress, Meas Soksophea
Meas Soksophea has been my favourite female Khmer singer for a while now, in fact since I heard her rendition of the love song What You Don't Know, which you can hear and see for yourself in the video. She also sang the theme song from the film The Red Sense, which is a beautiful song. Recently married, therefore disappointing all of her male fans in Cambodia, Sophea has been increasing her online presence in the past few months, embracing facebook and twitter with regular updates via the latter.
- 2 comments
- Read more
- 7639 reads