This article (part 2) was provided by Metal Postcards Rec‘s Sean Hockings. With Thanks To the author Julien Poulson of The Cambodian Space Project and Phnom Penh’s entertainment and listings website Leng Pleng
Part 1: From Hooker Bars to Opera Houses – the dark heart of Cambodia’s haunted music scene (Part 1)
Photo courtesy of Leng Pleng
This very interesting article was provided by Metal Postcards Rec‘s Sean Hockings. With Thanks To the author Julien Poulson of The Cambodian Space Project and Phnom Penh’s entertainment and listings website Leng Pleng
Photo courtesy of Leng Pleng
Lately, I’ve been on the receiving end of some interesting and inquisitive emails from musicians and filmmakers around the planet who are writing to ask about Cambodia’s music scene. They want to come here – they’re ready to get on the plane – tomorrow! They say and they tell me it’s because they sense there’s ‘something in the water’ there’s something going out there… or at least that’s what they’ve heard from others and hell… it sounds like a great place… Sure it is, and if this week’s gig guide is anything to go by, it seems more and more musicians and artists are traveling all this way out here just to get a taste of the action.So, here’s an attempt at some sort of summation of what I thinks been going on ‘out here’ and I’ll begin by borrowing the lyrics ‘from hooker bars to opera houses’ penned back in the early ‘70’s by ‘lost’ and recently ‘found’ rocker Sixto Rodriguez. The sentiment of Rodriguez’s storytelling song “A Most Disgusting Song” easily fit with describing the deep, eclectic, electric, beautiful, beguiling, often haunting, tragic and intensely vibrant story of Cambodia’s strange but virile music scene…
Text by Sean Hockings
Dub Chieftain Skill Stamina & Luck. Alt J and Django Django the grandchildren of the Beta Band .. Pah humbug… if The Beta Band appeared now this is what they would sound like except not as good. Here at Metal Postcard we can’t wait for you to hear this album. See Erraweetrack (off the forthcoming album) on You Tube and from last year his 7″ Fitness Fanatic.
Dub Addiction (Working Title) Dub Addiction Meet Khmer Rockers Uptown. Yes more weird and wonderful dub. This time from Phnom Penh based Professor Kinski and his Khmer sidekick MC Curly + a supporting cast of thousands. Digital dub with english and khmer lyrics takes Kingston’s sounds to a new place. See Catch A Fire, Zunguzeng Inna Di Penh and some live action downtown Phnom Penh.
Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
It’s been a long time I haven’t heard from my contributor Sean Hockings who still resides in Hong Kong, still running his label Metal Postcard Rec, and hopes to bring China and SE Asia’s underground music scene to a wider world. Today he mailed me a YouTube video and the press kit of a very interesting Cambodian alternative rock band called The Cambodian Space Project. Enjoy!
Text by Sean Hockings
News From Metal Postcard Records
Texy by Sohrab Saadat Larjevardi
Have you ever heard of Mongolian ethno-jazz? I didn’t. But I know that Mongolian wrestlers are very successful in the Japanese sumo world. In fact I don’t know much about this country and its culture, especially about Mongolian music. Of course I’ve heard about the overtone singing or throat singing, but that’s all. I also know that horse hair is used for making strings for Mongolian string instruments.
Anyway it’s good to know that my favorite music jazz expanded to Mongolia. Please check out the video below which shows the performance of the Mongolian ensemble Arga Bileg at the Asia Society in New York, October 19, 2012. Founded in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2009 by percussionist Gantulga Ganbat, this seven-piece ensemble fuses traditional Mongolian folk music with Western and jazz music.
The musicians are: Gantulga Ganbat (percussion), Davaazorig Altangerel (fiddle), Batzaya Khadhuu (fiddle), Munkhtogtokh Ochirkhuyag (zither), Purevsukh Tyeliman (piano), Jigjiddorj Nanzaddorj (fiddle) and Bayasgalan Terbish (percussion).
