Former songwriter for the stars reflects on a life well-lived

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wQi7b5TnNn5vU_4vasz3H5ZieHIupX0H4UrCnMFEoW_7_BiHfOhiGiH5OHrlRvMKHm_GZBbE7JZmQm8YN8uNb-8o7MzABsWHtz9TedXPE7mSXd-vJHMOlSmVxSPNUmfObxPBJFv9ZpA/s1600/oum-dara-at-his-home-in-phnom-penh-earlier-this-week.-heng-chivoan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wQi7b5TnNn5vU_4vasz3H5ZieHIupX0H4UrCnMFEoW_7_BiHfOhiGiH5OHrlRvMKHm_GZBbE7JZmQm8YN8uNb-8o7MzABsWHtz9TedXPE7mSXd-vJHMOlSmVxSPNUmfObxPBJFv9ZpA/s640/oum-dara-at-his-home-in-phnom-penh-earlier-this-week.-heng-chivoan.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> Oum Dara was once the songwriter, composer and violinist behind some of Cambodian music's most legendary singers like Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea. Today, he has little to show for it materially, but happily looks back on his nearly eight decades.<br /> <br /> Oum Dara lies on a hard wooden bed in his family's hole-in-the-wall apartment in the capital, listening to the tinny notes of Rob Oun Neng Hery ("That's you, My Dear") playing from his cellphone. It's a song he wrote for the iconic singer Sinn Sisamoth in the 1970s.<br /> <br /> "That's you, my dear, who is my fate . . . Please show mercy, and keep it meaningful, until the last day we breathe," Sisamouth croons.<br /> <br /> Dara wrote the song for a beautiful woman more than 40 years ago, but that now feels like a past life. The pictures on his wall show the other famous singers he used to work with, including Pen Ron, Ros Sereysothea, and Meas Hok Seng, from when he was a violinist, music composer and lyricist during the Kingdom's Sangkum period, commonly known as the Golden Age.<br /> <br /> "My life at that time was almost perfect," Dara says. "I could enjoy doing what I was passionate about while earning big money, enough for me to have a big house and a modern Kawasaki, while many people recognised me outside. But, now, they are all gone."<br /> <br /> Born in 1940 in Koh Sotin district in Kampong Cham province, Dara was the son of a customs official and first learned to play violin at the age of 14 from a forest ranger named Keo Vokrat. His father later hired a French violin tutor to come to his house. After a stint as an elementary school teacher, he took up the violin professionally, just as the popular music scene was beginning to flourish.<br /> <br /> During the early '60s, Dara moved to the capital to play for National Radio of Cambodia, and became well known when in 1966 he was asked to compose the music for Lolok Nhy Chmol ("A Couple of Doves"), sung by Meas Hok Seng. Within a few years, Dara was not only writing music but the lyrics as well, and his songs are still listened to today across generations.<br /> <br /> The stories in them, typically of love gone wrong, are from his own experiences, like Os Sangkhem ("Out of Hope"), in which Sinn Sisamouth channels Dara's unrequited love for a female colleague at the National Radio station.<br /> <br /> Chhob Srolanh Oun Tov ("Please Stop Loving Me"), sung by Ros Sereysothea, describes his sadness when his first wife asked him for a divorce in 1973 because, he says, of his focus on his career and not on her.<br /> <br /> "My own experience and the story of people I know add colour to the song and music," Dara says.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUySJKrsA6a1wDyf20xpgbrOT7f6WLpXWauE2x-s_AqyppVeCf6PbfxfeSHvGrTi8Ta5frwsJY9SxKEGnmK0zF7EpWwFS9ipNaGeTjhuNwj-_St444xF7lxVgPWalpzQsluwN_0zHhw_I/s1600/a-photo-from-oum-daras-wedding-to-his-second-wife-sam-vanna.-supplied.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="225" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUySJKrsA6a1wDyf20xpgbrOT7f6WLpXWauE2x-s_AqyppVeCf6PbfxfeSHvGrTi8Ta5frwsJY9SxKEGnmK0zF7EpWwFS9ipNaGeTjhuNwj-_St444xF7lxVgPWalpzQsluwN_0zHhw_I/s320/a-photo-from-oum-daras-wedding-to-his-second-wife-sam-vanna.-supplied.jpg" width="213" /></a></div> When the Khmer Rouge came into power in 1975, Dara was forced out of Phnom Penh to Kandal, and was treated as one of the "new people" – the corrupted urban elite who had strayed from the Khmer Rouge's peasant ideal.<br /> <br /> He was alone and did not bring anything with him – and certainly not a violin. However, unlike many Cambodian artists who were killed by Khmer Rouge cadres because of their professions, Dara was able to escape the killing, starvation and even hard labour thanks to his musical skill.<br /> <br /> "A Khmer Rouge cadre recognised me, and asked me to join their troupe as a violinist," he said. "I was ordered to play songs about communism and revolution, especially in front of the diplomats from China. I did not like it at all, but this job helped me survive, and I even had enough to eat since I always got to eat with the cadre."<br /> <br /> After the fall of the Pol Pot regime, Dara moved from one job to another and spent a short time living at a refugee camp along the Thai border, before resuming his career as a musical instructor and composer for the Ministry of Information.<br /> <br /> But he never recovered professionally from the destruction of the Khmer Rouge and today he is living in poverty. All that is left of his career is a violin and a cache of unreleased songs. A traffic accident 10 years ago immobilised the legendary violinist and impaired his ability to play the violin.<br /> <br /> Dara's wife, Sam Vanna, 60, says her husband's humility, and lack of sociability, prevented him from moving up the ranks of society.<br /> <br /> "Unlike many artists, he is not a boot-licker," Vanna says. "He would not write a song that promotes or praises anyone, or copies other's works. I am angry with him sometimes for that, but I am also proud of him."<br /> <br /> Oum Tharath, Dara's younger daughter and a successful mixed martial arts fighter, said she is disappointed that she could not carry on her father's legacy.<br /> <br /> "Despite our hard life, I am proud of having a father who is a famous musician who created masterpieces and originality," Tharoth said. "As a child, I also wanted to learn to play violin, but I am not keen on it, and more into sport."<br /> <br /> Dara, meanwhile, said he has lived a life of happiness, and if there is another to come he would like to be born a musician again.<br /> <br /> "I want the next generations of Cambodians to strongly promote music, like how people do in developed countries," Dara said. "It is one of the things that make life enjoyable."

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Former songwriter for the stars reflects on a life well-lived

Oum Dara was once the songwriter, composer and violinist behind some of Cambodian music's most legendary singers like Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea. Today, he has little to show for it materiall…

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Eclectic blues festival invites diverse artists

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg-hRwUTziRMuocAO4E97zWtKHdJaNsatM-I7mpGPuBAzAYiSMAYWoSlVQDOIIOzaIGaOY9aL82F26ZFaRi3GMjIVfvje9AfJV4ppSbv7N-R9pnkjO5nMdniZNaiXKMESnItn_gk4inuc/s1600/screen_shot_2018-01-25_at_08.58.07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg-hRwUTziRMuocAO4E97zWtKHdJaNsatM-I7mpGPuBAzAYiSMAYWoSlVQDOIIOzaIGaOY9aL82F26ZFaRi3GMjIVfvje9AfJV4ppSbv7N-R9pnkjO5nMdniZNaiXKMESnItn_gk4inuc/s640/screen_shot_2018-01-25_at_08.58.07.png" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> Across the street from Wat Botum earlier this week, musicians Julien Poulson, Jean-Luc Jousse and Hollie Lewis were lounging by the pool at the guesthouse Villa Grange, the headquarters for the Phnom Penh portion of the inaugural Folk Art Blues Fest Cambodia. An electric guitar sat next to veteran French rock 'n' roller Jousse, who since the early 1980s has been playing blues, psychedelia and punk-oriented rock 'n' roll for the many incarnations of the group The Kleps. Founded as The Psychedelic Kleps, they have played under the name the Klepstones, Kleps Revisited, the Justesse Social Kleps as a folk duet and The New York Kleps.<br /> <br /> "And now, the Phnom Penh Kleps", Jousse jokes.<br /> <br /> Jousse, who has worked as a tour manager, sound engineer and even driver for some legendary rock acts like Guitar Wolf, the Fleshtones and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, is in Phnom Penh for the nascent Folk Art & Blues Fest, which is really more of a travelling revue of psychedelic, garage and folk art acts over the next five days. It was organised by Poulson, one of the founders of Cambodian Space Project, as a musical spinoff of the Kampot Readers and Writers Festival.<br /> <br /> "The [Kampot Readers and Writers] Festival has always had a very strong musical program, to the point where a crescendo of critics were saying it's too much music in the second year," Poulson said. "We probably need to separate these things a little bit along the way. So this time it's a very small thing and it's not in a fixed place – It's rolling across Cambodia like an oldtimey revue."<br /> <br /> Those of you imagining acts reminiscent of BB King or Mississippi John Hurt may be disappointed. The "blues and folk" moniker is meant more in spirit, as the roots of each act's brand of rock 'n' roll. "Let's be broad about our definitions, in the way that Louis Armstrong once said ‘All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song'," Poulson said.<br /> <br /> The festivities begin tonight at Villa Grange, where five bands will be playing. Among those are local legends Cambodian Space Project and juggernauts The Kleps.<br /> <br /> Electro-psychedelic British band Frankie Teardrop Dead, Australian folk band the Justin Frew Trio and enigmatic Saigon-based duo OPNAIRDRGMKT will also hit the stage.<br /> <br /> On Friday, musicians will be at the guesthouse all day, playing acoustic singer-songwriter sessions led by local troubadour Scoddy Bywater before the revue hits the road southwest to Kampot.<br /> <br /> There, the lineups change slightly for two nights of shows, and there will also be art workshops in the day, including from Borneo-born woodcut printmaker Rico Leong and with the all-women's Srey School of Rock and its Sou Sou Band. The tour heads up the coast for a gig in Otres near Sihanoukville before a whittled-down version of the revue will then make its way to Siem Reap for a Tuesday gig.<br /> <br /> On top of getting to play in good company and have some fun, the festival is a chance to build the network of musicians living abroad with connections to Cambodia.<br /> <br /> "These are people who are likeminded or want to volunteer or bring skills and talent to make something happen," Poulson said. "We've all seen over the last 10 years a very big opportunity in Cambodia for creative industry. And not just a community but real opportunities – making things locally and building international distribution."<br /> <br /> <i><a href="https://au.eventeri.com/g/folk-art-blues-fest-cambodia-event/16935441" target="_blank">The Folk Art & Blues Fest</a></i> <i>begins tonight at Villa Grange at 7pm. Tickets for Friday are $7 at the door for foreigners and $3 for Cambodians, plus a free drink. Singer-songwriter sessions begin at 2pm and last until 8pm Friday. For a full schedule, including in Kampot, Otres and Siem Reap, visit the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/folkartbluesfest/" target="_blank">Facebook page Folk Art & Blues Fest Cambodia.</a></i>

Eclectic blues festival invites diverse artists

Across the street from Wat Botum earlier this week, musicians Julien Poulson, Jean-Luc Jousse and Hollie Lewis were lounging by the pool at the guesthouse Villa Grange, the headquarters for the Phnom…

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In pursuit of Phnom Penh perfect pickle

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCwsIa4J_9OnNFmcwwgGqycExfdNEKRjv5bmOMU_7E1Uiyi_EusfG8ugyrQUqlZGwrhYRyogDUsJg1XKQCkLkTr7awq0Lq5w_-5uLrRgrZSTV5JQmPRSkgAJ3YG8uMYVEPcJKUOL7y-ZM/s1600/luu-meng-left-examines-a-pickled-cucumber-at-men-thidas-pickle-stall-in-toul-tompoung-market-this-week.-hong-menea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCwsIa4J_9OnNFmcwwgGqycExfdNEKRjv5bmOMU_7E1Uiyi_EusfG8ugyrQUqlZGwrhYRyogDUsJg1XKQCkLkTr7awq0Lq5w_-5uLrRgrZSTV5JQmPRSkgAJ3YG8uMYVEPcJKUOL7y-ZM/s640/luu-meng-left-examines-a-pickled-cucumber-at-men-thidas-pickle-stall-in-toul-tompoung-market-this-week.-hong-menea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> They're kept in metal bowls, plastic buckets and in jars, and often found on the side, or even at the centre, of Khmer dishes. Sometimes they are vegetables, other times fruits, and even fish, crabs or ants.<br /> <br /> Whether the tradition is imported or homegrown, one thing is certain: pickled foods are everywhere in Cambodia.<br /> <br /> This was apparent on the north side of Kandal Market, where The Post recently found Pech Srey selling fresh limes and their pickled and preserved equivalent, Ngom Nov. Decidedly unappetising in appearance, and sold by her at 30,000 riel ($7.50) for a vat of 170, the brown and shrivelled limes are first dried in the sun for one to two days, before being boiled in sugar and salt water, and then further preserved in water for three to four months. They can end up in chicken or duck soup, in sauces with grilled fish, or be turned into drinks, Srey says.<br /> <br /> And true enough, a nearby drink vendor was squeezing a pickled lime into a bag of ice, pouring in some fresh lime juice, soda water and a tablespoon or two of sugar, and for 2,000 riel, or about 50 cents, the result was a refreshing and astringent beverage.<br /> <br /> But going from stall to stall, The Post soon found itself in a pickle trying to delve deeper into the history and place within Khmer cuisine of preserving foods in vinegar or brine. Pickles and similarly preserved foods are as integral to Khmer food as prahok, vendors said, but the back story, and the reasons for their popularity, remained unclear.<br /> <br /> So The Post called on the expertise of Cambodian master chef and Thalias Director Luu Meng.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRNeSVj1aZxfd1_t1H4Al_0WunZiYbXDPWmcIL57T9xBZ3mDuljVe-dpPaCxgfbBghCu7xw3NJzZtpzKFzkyThyphenhyphen0trndmVGaxBYeBhCfWjAlkSABKW9aD8rW4Wx60q6VMb6nUThETRBY/s1600/one-of-the-two-varieties-of-pickled-cucumbers-sold-by-men-thida-in-toul-tompoung-market.-hong-menea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="546" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRNeSVj1aZxfd1_t1H4Al_0WunZiYbXDPWmcIL57T9xBZ3mDuljVe-dpPaCxgfbBghCu7xw3NJzZtpzKFzkyThyphenhyphen0trndmVGaxBYeBhCfWjAlkSABKW9aD8rW4Wx60q6VMb6nUThETRBY/s640/one-of-the-two-varieties-of-pickled-cucumbers-sold-by-men-thida-in-toul-tompoung-market.-hong-menea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> According to Meng, the local pickle paradigm has French and Chinese influences – particularly from the Teochew people who made contact with Cambodia centuries ago.<br /> <br /> "In Guangdong, one of the areas is Teochew, and they pickle a lot of things because they are fisherman families, so when they go out they need to get their food and stock it up . . . either they put it in preserve or they do it pickled," he says, noting that typically fish and meat would be preserved in salt.<br /> <br /> Meng notes a difference between pa'ap or palak brai foods, which are preserved through salting or fermentation, as opposed to chhrua, or pickled food. In some cases, they are combined, for instance with turnips preserved in salt and then pickled to improve the flavour – or chrua chai tov in Khmer.<br /> <br /> Similarly, prahok or kdam brai (salted crab) can also straddle the two techniques.<br /> <br /> Cambodian pickling, Meng says, always starts with sugar, salt and vinegar. MSG is common in market and street pickles, and herbs and spices are added according to individual recipes.<br /> <br /> "You need to have the balance between the caramel and lemony [flavours], and of course other seasonings," he said.<br /> <br /> In the spirit of showing rather than telling, Meng guided The Post through the Boeung Keng Kang and Toul Tompoung markets to meet some of the longest-running pickle vendors in town.<br /> <br /> On the north side of BKK market at #17 Street 380 is a hole-in-the-wall shop identifiable by a glass case outside filled with fruits and marked "888" in red.<br /> <br /> "This is the oldest pickle shop of BKK market," Meng said, though it specialises in what he calls a "modern" pickling trend – assorted fruits pickled with chili and garlic eaten as a snack. Also for sale is cut fresh fruit, which can in turn be dipped into a pickled chili, garlic and prahok sauce. Prices are about $3 per kilo of whichever fruit one fancies, from pickled tamarind to grapes to pineapple.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55-ZiHSXzXiPdwgba5Wb4Sif6LA-GJplXdm4OLfLu4ay6ekGxFGe-x_DHeFpMnUVIYzfJVlWFIWnQSvleZJNDWFVmA_Q_rZSUzXa1ohq5kQeTceE_6PDAHNDE1Af8511MBP0_WXl-hZg/s1600/a-variety-of-pickled-sauces-and-pickled-fruits-can-be-found-at-888-pickle-shop-north-of-boeung-keng-kang-market.-hong-menea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="546" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55-ZiHSXzXiPdwgba5Wb4Sif6LA-GJplXdm4OLfLu4ay6ekGxFGe-x_DHeFpMnUVIYzfJVlWFIWnQSvleZJNDWFVmA_Q_rZSUzXa1ohq5kQeTceE_6PDAHNDE1Af8511MBP0_WXl-hZg/s640/a-variety-of-pickled-sauces-and-pickled-fruits-can-be-found-at-888-pickle-shop-north-of-boeung-keng-kang-market.-hong-menea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> Owner Suos "Mom" Vanna says she has had her shop for 13 years and sells about 300 kilograms each day.<br /> <br /> Meng says this kind of pickled fruit snack has been a growing trend for at least 20 years, and has especially taken off in the past decade.<br /> <br /> "Mostly the young [and] the pregnant ladies eat these," he says, in part because it's considered a home-remedy to morning sickness. "They share it with people and it's become trendier".<br /> <br /> For the "traditional" pickle, Meng takes The Post through the narrow pathways of Toul Tompoung Market. He's recognised by the odd passerby, happily surprised to see the well-known entrepreneur in such a setting. At the end of the butcher's row, Meng finds Men Thida, who has been selling pickles since she was 12 years old, before she took the business over from her mother.<br /> <br /> Here, she sells Khmer-style pickled cucumbers. She also has a choice between pickled mangoes and half-ripe papayas, each flavoured with rice water, brown palm sugar and vinegar, with bean sprouts and lotus roots. She also has Chinese cabbage and other leafy greens, though Meng notes these are done in the Chinese style. For that, he recommends an old lady in O'Russey Market.<br /> <br /> <b>Luu Meng talks pickles in the market:</b><br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Hhjp34T_AIU/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hhjp34T_AIU?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> <br /> In Cambodian cuisine, Meng notes, pickles can serve as an appetiser, digestif or as a side dish.<br /> <br /> "For Western people you eat your grilled pork or lamb chops with salad, we eat it with pickles," he said, sitting down for a plate of grilled chicken and rice with a side of pickles.<br /> <br /> They also transcend class boundaries, Thida says, with more thrifty construction or garment workers making pickles a main course with rice, while the wealthier tend to have them as a garnish.<br /> <br /> "We eat them every day, no matter if you are rich or poor," she says.

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In pursuit of Phnom Penh perfect pickle

They're kept in metal bowls, plastic buckets and in jars, and often found on the side, or even at the centre, of Khmer dishes. Sometimes they are vegetables, other times fruits, and even fish, crabs …

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The Art Bar aims to inspire new artists

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvJUDu0aGNh_QjIj-_mmqie03hh-kQ8vDCZzUYcWtb62z456jCMsvBmsYI2dq1vWjQlpLph7BQWhVTYZilCshOtebatNmggyITayQQrWfrScmSAi3ocMQR7Ww6eVRKmRC3CxhC00s5-gc/s1600/artist-and-teacher-daniel-ou-during-a-sip-n-paint-course-on-december-27.-hong-menea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvJUDu0aGNh_QjIj-_mmqie03hh-kQ8vDCZzUYcWtb62z456jCMsvBmsYI2dq1vWjQlpLph7BQWhVTYZilCshOtebatNmggyITayQQrWfrScmSAi3ocMQR7Ww6eVRKmRC3CxhC00s5-gc/s640/artist-and-teacher-daniel-ou-during-a-sip-n-paint-course-on-december-27.-hong-menea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> In an industrial pocket of Phnom Penh, just north of the Chroy Changvar bridge, Mark and Jefferson Huang have built a paradise for artists – and for the wannabes too hesitant until now to put themselves out there.<br /> <br /> The Art Bar, which despite the name is not an actual bar, is in a gorgeous repurposed warehouse hidden from Street 45. Go through an industrial parking lot and to the right down an alley and visitors will find a sun-filled space with floor-to-ceiling windows and steel beams alongside easels and canvases ready and waiting for colour.<br /> <br /> The two Filipino brothers are seemingly straight from central casting, with Jeff – a painter and street artist with tousled hair – the creative lead, and Mark – a more straight-laced businessman who also manages a garment factory – in charge of operations. The vision at The Art Bar is to connect professional artists and amateurs, initially through painting courses, but also in other media in the future.<br /> <br /> “I’m not an artist – I never would have thought that I’d be painting in my life,” Mark says. “But the activity we’re offering is a way for us to bridge that gap between someone like me and the art world.”<br /> <br /> For Jeff, who is one of two resident teachers at The Art Bar alongside celebrated local street artist Daniel Ou, the goal is to chip away at most people’s built-in barriers.<br /> <br /> “First, it’s to breach that wall of ‘I can’t do it’. Actually, you can do it. Step by step we break it down how to build a composition, then it’s up to them what they feel,” he says “Some people come back, and I’ll say, ‘Let’s not do this anymore. Pick an image and let’s do something about you’. Are they getting into this? Then I’ll feed them more.”<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8HIKujuZd9YuisxFUAbONKJaWppKZJ6CKAq713NWCRR_ZsrP6N11o0n0ZBg8oqlufL8p-aSaYDu7bLKszQigpdB1anjjDOOBj21RVIIA6nf0SalP7N9pDiGcCSjMXkcRO6GzoUxTV6U/s1600/brothers-jefferson-left-and-mark-huang-inside-the-art-bar.-hong-menea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="546" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8HIKujuZd9YuisxFUAbONKJaWppKZJ6CKAq713NWCRR_ZsrP6N11o0n0ZBg8oqlufL8p-aSaYDu7bLKszQigpdB1anjjDOOBj21RVIIA6nf0SalP7N9pDiGcCSjMXkcRO6GzoUxTV6U/s640/brothers-jefferson-left-and-mark-huang-inside-the-art-bar.-hong-menea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> While the main activities are “Sip ’n Paint” sessions – in which participants follow step-by-step instructions from a teacher on the basics, with a beverage for enhanced creativity – the Art Bar is also a venue for professionals or those looking to move beyond an amateur level.<br /> <br /> It offers reasonable open studio rates to local artists, at just $49 each month, not including materials, and open sessions for people who want to come in and work on their own projects with a professional close at hand to give advice. A large canvas costs $100, including paint, and an artist can come back as many times as is necessary to finish a piece. A “Sip ’n Paint” course, meanwhile, is $25 per person for a two-hour session.<br /> <br /> In the future, there will likely also be ceramics courses, though Jeff says fine-tuning in the instruction is needed since the “failure rate” is higher than for painting. Classes in other media, like photography, are also on the table in the future.<br /> <br /> But for now, it’s a place for newbies to get creative and a potential home for local talent in a city with few large studios.<br /> <br /> “Most of the artists we have just try to do things in their own home, which is not a very positive environment. If you put them around other artists they get inspired or they inspire others,” Mark said. “Come down here and collaborate and let’s brainstorm some s— and come up with something nice.”<br /> <br /> The Art Bar is located at #225, Street 45. It is open every day from 10am until 9pm, with bookings available online at theartbarkh.com, or by phone at 088 529 9188 for English and 069 569 888 for Khmer.

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The Art Bar aims to inspire new artists

In an industrial pocket of Phnom Penh, just north of the Chroy Changvar bridge, Mark and Jefferson Huang have built a paradise for artists – and for the wannabes too hesitant until now to put themsel…

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Novel by Cambodia scholar now in English after 92 years

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAnGYdt5ilIfWq-J6UQM0L9oedhEiVl28hHVo1sfc0jv4LWKFgHieAt97ZAHvivzdiaL3rh2rtQD8yLV3O5UyPpqKIeG7siohDqbt6pXV5H9w4UtZYVgmkLhQDOZ5CL5xh62-04jQa18/s1600/angkor_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAnGYdt5ilIfWq-J6UQM0L9oedhEiVl28hHVo1sfc0jv4LWKFgHieAt97ZAHvivzdiaL3rh2rtQD8yLV3O5UyPpqKIeG7siohDqbt6pXV5H9w4UtZYVgmkLhQDOZ5CL5xh62-04jQa18/s640/angkor_5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> The first novel by George Groslier, the French writer who devoted his life to studying and documenting the Kingdom, is finally available in English, 92 years since its publication. The Road of the Strong, or La Route du plus fort, centres around a French administrator tasked with developing the road system in northwest Cambodia, as well as his intertwined fate with car manufacturer Roland Gassin and his wife Hélène.<br /> <br /> With Roland staying behind in Vietnam for business, Hélène visits the rural province of Battambang and is soon absorbed by its rural way of life and Cambodian culture – as well as by Ternier himself.<br /> <br /> In the novel, Groslier gives a vivid account of the cultural, historical and geographical aspects of Cambodia and its people, providing a truthful look at life in the early 20th century French protectorate, including its Royal Ballet.<br /> <br /> “Groslier was a talented artist and in his writing he began painting with words,” said Kent Davis, the publisher and editor of DatAsia Press. “His rich descriptive style added visual depth to all his books, including his non-fiction works.”<br /> <br /> The 396-page book also includes maps, 100 illustrations, the complete original 1925 French text, and an essay by Tom Kramer called Colonial Battambang Today.<br /> <br /> Davis encountered Groslier’s first novel when he was working with Paul Cravath, an expert on traditional Asian dances, on the project Earth in Flower about the Royal Ballet of Cambodia.<br /> <br /> Davis’s personal mission of bringing forgotten books back to life, combined with his discovery with Cravath, inspired him to translate Groslier’s works, with The Road to the Strong the last of four books published. Kent’s discovery of Groslier’s daughter Nicole, just 20 minutes from his house in Florida, helped in the process of restoring and reprinting the books.<br /> <br /> A grant awarded from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2012 allowed Kent to work with translator Pedro Rodríguez on In the Shadow of Angkor – Unknown Temples of Ancient Cambodia, a description of Groslier’s trek in 1913 and 1914 to document the country’s monuments; the novel Return to Clay – A romance of Colonial Cambodia; and Water and Light – A Travel Journal of the Cambodian Mekong, a record of his voyage on the river in 1929.<br /> <br /> Groslier was born in and died in Cambodia after spending most of his life in the Kingdom and was the first Western scholar to write extensively about Cambodia’s royal dance tradition, among many other topics.<br /> <br /> Like other books by Groslier, though this one is fictional, Davis sees it as an important historical document, which could help to understand the French view of Cambodia and its culture, and to piece together a picture of life in the protectorate.<br /> <br /> “For a true understanding of any era, people or culture, the most important accounts come from eyewitnesses who saw and experienced their topics,” he said.<br /> <br /> “How familiar is that person with the local culture? Do they speak the language? Groslier spoke Khmer and immersed himself in the culture.”<br /> <br /> Henri Copin, a professor of humanities at the University of Nantes and a specialist in French colonial literature, even calls Groslier “a Cambodian Author”.<br /> <br /> “Groslier built his fiction on his experience of reality and his vision of the colonial endeavour . . . This affords us a first reading of the novel as the reflection of a certain reality,” Copin writes in the foreword.<br /> <br /> “I reread this book many years after discovering it and am struck by the marvelous opportunities it provides to arrange symbols, or even create myths, that coexist with their differences, and their contradictions, and their contrary meanings,” he added. “Road versus path. Civilisation versus nature. Progress versus liberty.”<br /> <br /> The Road of the Strong: A Romance of Colonial Cambodia (396 pages) can be purchased on Amazon.com for $24.95.

Novel by Cambodia scholar now in English after 92 years

The first novel by George Groslier, the French writer who devoted his life to studying and documenting the Kingdom, is finally available in English, 92 years since its publication. The Road of the St…

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Music festival promises big stage, has even bigger hopes

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_vw2boObnFOzly61enB8byN5YD4albTVDuhhf_LXNx9aw1ikPXo0anXzx9Bqslk0WT5HA-u_4kmRmstDjgdVw8RhYDKxYHrDuNzs9UGG3BvpPAPQcZOAdROgUaYqg8kYRP9hdK6ngT4/s1600/hypnotic-fist-technique-pictured-performing-at-the-golden-street-festival-will-be-closing-out-the-night-with-their-performance.-steve-porte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="546" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_vw2boObnFOzly61enB8byN5YD4albTVDuhhf_LXNx9aw1ikPXo0anXzx9Bqslk0WT5HA-u_4kmRmstDjgdVw8RhYDKxYHrDuNzs9UGG3BvpPAPQcZOAdROgUaYqg8kYRP9hdK6ngT4/s640/hypnotic-fist-technique-pictured-performing-at-the-golden-street-festival-will-be-closing-out-the-night-with-their-performance.-steve-porte.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> With a line-up of local and international artists, and a massive outdoor venue booked on Koh Pich, or Diamond Island, Saturday’s Diamond Moon Festival is aiming to showcase contemporary musical and artistic talents at a scale rarely seen in the Kingdom.<br /> <br /> But the idea for the festival, which has 13 musical artists slated to perform from the early evening late into the night, was born from a simple gig one March night at Tusk, which drew the unfortunate attention of the police for being just a little too loud.<br /> <br /> “At about 9 o’clock at night we were closed down because we were being too loud,” recalls Casey-Leä Campbell, the director of the festival. “So we decided let’s have a big party . . . with three bands and three DJs one night here, and then it just became a little bit bigger, and a little bit bigger.”<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEGG9AcgiYsYqJEaNrK90fKSotNI43qklCIFLMiLmEzLe6OV3Kp02c6ODTu7sBmePd6SZJbtC7sc_YibPH8kGywXwNG7lg2iF-NXCigYqwRUJtvKn5LXRkFynYwp-TSWL0UGEtP2vPVRc/s1600/vartey-ganiva_golden-street-festival_phnom-penh_cambodia_25_february_2017_0114-edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="225" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEGG9AcgiYsYqJEaNrK90fKSotNI43qklCIFLMiLmEzLe6OV3Kp02c6ODTu7sBmePd6SZJbtC7sc_YibPH8kGywXwNG7lg2iF-NXCigYqwRUJtvKn5LXRkFynYwp-TSWL0UGEtP2vPVRc/s320/vartey-ganiva_golden-street-festival_phnom-penh_cambodia_25_february_2017_0114-edit.jpg" width="213" /></a></div> So Campbell, along with her friends Peter Downey, who manages the band Complicated Business, and band member Ronan Sheehan – who doubles as the festival’s music director – began reaching out to artists and planning the festival, which snowballed from a passing thought into a massive project.<br /> <br /> “It’s something that came up very, very fast, it was something that came up on a whim, and the great thing about whims, is they tend to build into something great and awesome,” says Sheehan.<br /> <br /> Fast-forward about eight months and the organisers have booked a 6,000-person “arena tent” outdoor venue with a 16-metre wide stage in the large lot in front of the Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center. They also arranged a 50-man security staff and brought in 30 portable toilets from Vietnam. (There wasn’t a supplier who could provide enough in Cambodia.)<br /> <br /> The driving concept is to showcase local talent, as well as provide a platform for foreign acts, and for local Khmer and expat artists to play together. “We basically went for artists who are doing their own music – that’s a big thing – not just doing the covers,” says Sheehan.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuLNSoMakHWYC_RxgbjpkCrTCtmUFVHHctRM4Lp0A4miW58cz8fIxgkY4KX1bicBi6tBLG48cLCPr7dWPRmGGSH0_h3VOOCM4rQkDlPQ37_lHfgwPbKGjnwKfFwwJWpiBlUj0Zyk7XWc/s1600/headshot_misssarawan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="225" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuLNSoMakHWYC_RxgbjpkCrTCtmUFVHHctRM4Lp0A4miW58cz8fIxgkY4KX1bicBi6tBLG48cLCPr7dWPRmGGSH0_h3VOOCM4rQkDlPQ37_lHfgwPbKGjnwKfFwwJWpiBlUj0Zyk7XWc/s320/headshot_misssarawan.jpg" width="213" /></a></div> The line-up features an eclectic mix of artists, from the golden-age throwback stylings of Miss Sarawan, to the hip-hop lyrical assault of MC Lisha, to the feminist Khmer punk-rock of Vartey Ganiva.<br /> <br /> Making their Asian debuts at the festival is French electro-pop artist Romea (Nadaje Teri) and London-based duo Willy Wang and Dick Johnson (John Wild and Peter Pahor), who play acoustic rock mash-ups and composed a song for the festival titled Down in Phnom Penh.<br /> <br /> Also in the mix is a “live-painting” show that starts at 5pm and will go on adjacent to the concert area featuring some of Phnom Penh’s most renowned urban artists: Theo Vallier, YSK Crew, Mate 2 and David Myers from the recently opened Kbach Gallery.<br /> <br /> This way, Campbell says, festival-goers can admire the art if they want to take a break from the music, and as they go in and out of the concert area to get food and drink, which will be provided onsite by Tusk.<br /> <br /> According to Campbell, over half of the tickets have already sold, and at $7 each, they cover the operational costs with additional proceeds pledged to the Cambodian Children’s Fund.<br /> <br /> “I decided if I was going do it [a festival] it would benefit charity, so that’s when I reached out to Scott [Neeson] at the Cambodian Children’s Fund,” she says.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFossS8EwwhWfO4-nlhLO_2Mjmv5NPn8r08gM0b4HetE8djpPZhqgIOfHO17pdpJj3FZPcu6DrQJvEiDDx_PkwCTDrrF-ndk7UIkBy329MLqnE1LBSvzgOtiXK9uEwZ8KlOJdRW1QhvIE/s1600/artists-from-kbach-gallery-will-live-paint.-hong-menea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="546" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFossS8EwwhWfO4-nlhLO_2Mjmv5NPn8r08gM0b4HetE8djpPZhqgIOfHO17pdpJj3FZPcu6DrQJvEiDDx_PkwCTDrrF-ndk7UIkBy329MLqnE1LBSvzgOtiXK9uEwZ8KlOJdRW1QhvIE/s640/artists-from-kbach-gallery-will-live-paint.-hong-menea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> But the long game for Campbell, who has prior experience organising large events everywhere from Vegas to Papua New Guinea, is for Diamond Moon to just be the first of a recurring annual music festival that will help put Cambodia’s music scene on the map.<br /> <br /> “This is our trial run. Next year we’ll be a little more organised and promote a little earlier and see if we can get in some bigger names from overseas as well, but we really are here to showcase the local music scene and show what they can do,” she says.<br /> <br /> Diamond Moon Festival takes place on Saturday November 25 on Koh Pich from 4pm to 2am. Tickets can be purchased for $7 at Tusk House, The Stage Bar and Kbach Gallery or at the venue on the day of the festival. Proceeds go towards the Cambodian Children’s Fund. For more information, see: <a href="http://www.diamondmoonfestival.com/" target="_blank">http://www.diamondmoonfestival.com/</a>

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Music festival promises big stage, has even bigger hopes

With a line-up of local and international artists, and a massive outdoor venue booked on Koh Pich, or Diamond Island, Saturday’s Diamond Moon Festival is aiming to showcase contemporary musical and a…

Read more »