Ships Log: star date Friday 22 April 2011
Finally, we’re back in Cambodia after whirlwind tour to Australia, Hong Kong, China, Macua and Texas to Seattle, USA. So much seems to have happened in the first 16 months of The Cambodian Space Project. CSP really kicked-off in Phnom Penh on xmas day 2009, a memorable occasion, not least because of the terrible case of food poisoning I suffered that day. I’d treated myself to a unsettling spaghetti bolognaise at a restaurant down on the riverside, turned a whiter shade of pale and eventually exploded into a volcanic eruption of bologna. Later that night, now feeling better and more than able to down a few healing mojitos, I borrowed a big red guitar from a fellow Tasmanian and strummed out the first few chords on a musical journey that was already dubbed The Cambodian Space Project. A great name for this loose assembly of Phnom Penh musicians but not so easy for our Khmer members to pronounce. Srey Thy spoke no english and did not know what the band name was or even if it was a band she was fronting from the corner of La Croisette.
Whisky Cambodia flyer for La Croisette
A few songs into it, it certainly felt like a band to me, Srey Thy captivated the small audience immediately with her natural ease and surprised us all by announcing in English “Hello… I no speak English little bit, I’m very happy to be here”. So there you have it, born on Christmas day, with our Khmer starlette Srey Channthy wooing our first audience, the CSP was ready for lift-off.
Gig offers came in thick and fast. Already booked for boxing day by the guys from the Alley Cat, we took to the high seas of the Mekong. Belted out a few of the covers of 60′s Cambo rock and bewildered a few local fishermen. The event was caught on camera by Phally Choy and uploaded to youtube, it’s a shakey version of Ros Sereysothea’s classic I’m 16. Our first video clip, right now, it’s clicked up about 10,000 hits, not the best representation as the band to come but an honest document of our first stumbling jam session live show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr_WjxpLUVw
Looking back at this video I can’t help but cringe at the wonky beats but I’m proud of the sounds we’re pulling, just from a bunch of junkshop 10watt peavey amps. This set the tone for more to come and also shook-up the stagnant murky music scene around us. The motivation with The CSP at this early stage was simply to create a band that bridged the racial and cultural gap that seems to exist is Phnom Penh. When I first arrived in PP in 2007, I was surprised that there really wasn’t any music venue where I could find musicians or bands mixing up the cultures and bridging the gap between Barang (khmer term for foreigner) and Khmer tastes. Around town there was a bit of blues, western covers, a bit of reggae and if you ventured into Cambodian venues, a whole lot of Karaoke or Khmer wedding bands playing a mix of old and new Cambodian songs. Some of this was great, but I just felt it’d be fun if there was more of a cross-over.
The chance to mix it all up came a few weeks later. Playing on the roof of Metahouse, Cambodia’s media arts centre, meant we could really test out some new music and not just the handle of covers we already knew, on a cool, mixed audience and get some feedback on the whole CSP kit and caboodle. At green night, we were able to add Bun Hong on space clarinet and Irene Choun on lefty guitar. By this stage, we were well on our way to shaping our own sound. Srey Thy out the front was unstoppable though, on this occasion, she did stop and broke in to tears after just three songs. I really didn’t know what was going on but Thy told the audience “i’m sorry, I’m just so happy to see many new people here tonight”. Thy had been singing to support her family, for many years in Karaoke clubs and had never performed to an audience that applauded by cheering and clapping, and indeed the audience at Metahouse represented the exciting, fresh, young, vibrant arts scene that exists in Phnom Penh right now. It was a successful night for CSP, we were on our way and by the end of the night it seemed we’d picked up a few additional musicians, and some new fans. It seemed like a good idea to think about making a recording.
