Andy's Cambodia: www.andybrouwer.co.uk

In the line of fire

2012-01-31T23:22:00.015+07:00

It's all going smoothly for the MC, and the end is in sight

Today was the Phnom Penh Crown pre-season press conference, organized and MC'd by yours truly. If anyone is interested in hearing what took place, click here. I'm sure most of you couldn't give a toss, but it's important for the club to maintain their presence as the most professional outfit in Cambodia and it works. I switched on the tv tonight and the event was covered as the first sports item on the Bayon TV news, before the Barclays Premier League, which in my book is a result. If we can continue to get top billing for football and sport in Cambodia, then we're on the right track. Eight television stations covered the press conference today, jostling with numerous printed and online media attendees. We had to pay most of them to attend, but that's how it's done here in Cambodia, until we can get the reporters out of their entrenched 'envelope journalism' mindset. We will but it won't happen overnight. Amongst the photographers at the event, Huy Darith was kind enough to send me through some of his snaps, which he took during the hour-long conference. Enjoy, or not, as the case may be.

"I think this chap at the front is next."

Water swilling is always a good idea when filling in the time

Passing the mike to Crown coach David Booth

A look at the top table from the journo's perspective

"It's okay David, I don't think anyone can lip-read."

Vann Piseth and myself are both on the mike. No, it's not a DJ challenge.

Don't swallow the pen top by accident. It'll be very embarrassing.

David and myself practicing the 1,000 yard stare

A look at the assembled throng from the top table perspective

Diversification

2012-01-29T22:35:00.001+07:00

The Phnom Penh Crown headquarters and home to the Academy

Nothing much to report this weekend that isn't linked to football. I know when I mention that word, then anyone reading this blog automatically switches off. Hence why I have a separate football blog here. However... one of the interesting aspects of the local club I'm involved in, Phnom Penh Crown, is the diversification that's taking place. Its a professional football team with its own training headquarters outside of town in Tuol Kork, and where the club have 22 full-time Academy youngsters at u-14 age level, who are learning the trade of being a professional footballer, and at the same time receiving a private education, all out of the pocket of the club's wealthy president. We also have a club office on St 200, opposite the Bophana Center. In addition, there's the Crown Sports Bar, also on St 200, where we will hold our pre-season media press conference this coming Tuesday at 11am. Now, a new Phnom Penh Crown Restaurant is just about to open, directly opposite the main entrance of the Olympic Stadium, where all of the country's professional football takes place. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we don't open a club shop selling merchandise in the not too distant future, and anything else you care to think of. These are standard fare for top professional football clubs in other countries, but for Cambodia these are all '1sts' as Phnom Penh Crown attempts to pull Cambodian football kicking and screaming into the professional era.

Early morning sunrise over Crown's Tuol Kork training headquarters

Sothy's insight

2012-01-27T09:21:00.010+07:00

Detail from Chhim Sothy's dramatic painting, Angkar With Pineapple Eyes

Chhim Sothy's current exhibition, From Darkness to Light, at Meta House focuses on the trauma caused by the Khmer Rouge which he experienced in his childhood years, having been born in 1969. Chhim Sothy specializes in painting traditional Buddhist themes but in recent years, his abstract contemporary style has come more to the fore in his exhibited work, which is plenty. Here are a few examples of his art from his current exhibition, which switches between dark images of the Khmer Rouge nightmare to more hopeful and peaceful scenes.

The more upbeat Song After Civil War

More positive scenes in New Life

A cry for help in Call For Peace and Freedom

A map of Cambodia soaked in blood in The Darkness of Cambodia

Detail depicting a Khmer Rouge soldier in Prison Without Walls

Comedy Club 13 Feb

2012-01-26T17:21:00.004+07:00

Hopefully not unlucky for some. The next Comedy Club Cambodia offering. Tickets $10 from The Flicks as usual. It'll be bloody hard pushed to better the last comedy gig, but we live in hope. Tonight, Meta House have one of their 'green nights' and the selection includes Tom Fawthrop's Where Have All The Fish Gone? expose on dams and the Mekong River.

Packed house

2012-01-25T23:00:00.009+07:00

LtoR: Bou Meng, man holding book, Khieu Kanharith, Chum Mey, Tom Fawthrop, Helen Jarvis

A packed auditorium at ACE this evening, listened to four speakers at the book launch, in the Khmer language, of the examination of how the Khmer Rouge Tribunal came into being and the rocky road it's had to survive to get to where it is today, warts and all. Getting Away With Genocide? by Helen Jarvis and Tom Fawthrop was first published back in 2004. It's taken until today to make it into Khmer, thanks to DC-Cam and the translators. Fawthrop and Jarvis explained how they first came up with the idea of the book in 1999 and in their research, interviewed 44 people with knowledge on the subject, to add to their own extensive awareness. Fawthrop for example, first came to Cambodia in 1981, where he met one of the evening's other speakers, Khieu Kanharith, then a fellow journalist, now the Minister of Information and the government's mouthpiece. The event was twenty minutes late in starting as the Minister made us wait for his arrival. With speakers and questions in both English and Khmer, the launch was bitty and hard to follow at times, but the book remains an invaluable resource for Khmers to understand more about the trial process, and a serialization in the daily Rasmea Kampuchea newspaper for the past three months, has brought it to the attention of many citizens. The audience included two survivors of Tuol Sleng, namely Chum Mey and Bou Meng as well as ambassadors and tribunal staff members alongside many Khmer students.

The book's co-authors, Helen Jarvis and Tom Fawthrop

The first speaker was HE Khieu Kanharith, Minister of Information

Audio guides

2012-01-24T17:54:00.003+07:00

Victims at Choeung Ek - picture taken in 1998

If you weren't aware, visitors to the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek can now explore the site at their own pace with an audio handset. The broadcast is superbly produced and comes with an accompanying map of the site. You can use the audio tour in conjunction with your local tour guide for the best experience. Or simply take the tour yourself, on your tod. The tour begins with a general history of the Khmer Rouge rise to power and takeover on 17 April 1975. It continues with an intense interview with Chief Tuol Sleng interrogator Him Huy recounting his actions at the prison. Other sections deal with the mass grave sites and the foundation of key buildings that existed at that time. The podcast includes some harrowing survivor stories, including a lucid account from Youk Chhang, the Cambodian-American Director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam). It is possible to listen to highlighted sections of the tour and complete the moving experience in about 30 minutes. Visitors who choose to listen to the complete audio tour will need to set aside about one hour. It is possible to pause and rewind at any time if you want to hear something again or share some thoughts with a pal. The audio tour includes music from renowned Cambodian composer Him Sophy. The cost of the audio tour is $5 including your entry fee. I wouldn't be surprised if this is adopted by Tuol Sleng in the not too distant future. And for that matter, the National Museum, where the in-house guides leave a lot to be desired.

Shaz pens the Penh

2012-01-23T17:20:00.006+07:00

Shazia Mirza in action at Pontoon

The Comedy Club Cambodia (it's got a new name) will have it's third outing on Monday 13 February. Their first gig, back in December at Pontoon, included a Birmingham comic, that's a Brummie to those in the know, called Shazia Mirza, who is a writer (The Guardian, New Statesman) as well as a comic and she penned the following article in the Financial Times magazine here at the weekend, about her Cambodia experience. On the night itself, she was very funny. Whilst I'm on, the comics appearing on 13 February will be the compere Jonathan Atherton as well as award-winner Zoe Lyons from UK and Greg Sullivan, who has a beard.

Luke's look

2012-01-21T09:50:00.006+07:00

The Jar Lady on location in the Cardamoms. Courtesy of Nancy Beavan.

Photojournalist Luke Duggleby accompanied the Jar Lady, Nancy Beavan and her team into the Cardamom mountains recently to record their investigation of a remote burial jar site at Phnom Knorng Perng, the largest of its kind. The Mystery of the Jar People, is his latest story from that intrepid trip to see remains of people from over 600 years ago. See his photos here.

Open house for Aki Ra

2012-01-20T22:56:00.000+07:00

The first screening of a documentary film made about founder Aki Ra, will be shown at the Cambodia Landmine Museum in Siem Reap on Sunday 29 January, when the Center is putting on an Open Day for all visitors. A Perfect Soldier, by director John Severson, has already been seen widely across the United States, but will be making its Siem Reap debut at the Center, located 7kms south of Banteay Srei temple. Aki Ra is a former child soldier, who was drafted into the Khmer Rouge to plant landmines, subsequently turning full circle to become a one-man landmine eradicator, who later opened his makeshift mine museum on the outskirts of Siem Reap. Today, the museum has moved to bigger premises, welcomes thousands of visitors each year and allows Aki Ra to oversee the care of 20+ young children. His story has been told many times in the international media and on video. In 2010, Aki Ra was chosen as a Top 10 CNN Hero and has been feted by many. Find out more about the film here.

Monument Books are hosting a book launch on Wednesday 25 January at ACE on Street 214 from 6.30pm. It's the launch of the Khmer language edition of Tom Fawthrop & Helen Jarvis' book, Getting Away With Genocide? Elusive Justice and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Both authors will speak at the gathering, as will the Cambodian Minister of Information, Khieu Kanharith and former UN staffer Benny Widyono. The authors have updated their original 2004 manuscript to bring it up to speed with the recent trial of Duch and the start of case 002.

Sophea's lost love

2012-01-19T22:56:00.001+07:00

Already a big favourite of this blog, Sophea Chamroeun has joined forces again with the group Krom to sing their latest offering, Where Are You, telling the story, in Khmer, of lost love and its consequences. We know already that Sophea is a talented individual, having graduated from the Children of Bassac dance group and received her tuition under the umbrella of Cambodian Living Arts and at the Royal University of Fine Arts. She was until recently a regular dancer at Chayyam restaurant, as well as appearing on television in the national music competition as part of the Smiley Band.

Friends with Fabio

2012-01-18T10:13:00.008+07:00

Fabio takes his turn in goal at the Friends HQ

Did you think you'd escaped from the Fabio Cannavaro roadshow? Well, think again. His last official function during his brief stay in Phnom Penh, coming after he'd spent time coaching the Phnom Penh Crown Academy youngsters, was to visit the Friends NGO in the center of town, and to donate balls and playing kits to the disadvantaged kids there. Fabio got to find out about the great work that the organization Mith Samlanh do to give street kids alternative opportunities in life. He was accompanied by Rithy Samnang, the man responsible for bringing Fabio to Cambodia. Fabio's name has also been linked with a new high profile football league due to begin in India next month. Lots of money is being poured into the project and famous footballers like Fabio, Hernan Crespo, Robert Pires and others, have been booked to add their weight behind the new league.

Thumbs up for Fabio and his new friends

Fabio handing out specially-designed footballs and playing kits to the youngsters

One proud youngster with his new gift from Fabio

Taking Spain by storm

2012-01-17T17:54:00.006+07:00

Nam Narim, Sam Sathya and Belle in Persephone. Photo: © Javier del Real. Courtesy: Teatro Real.

Unless you live under a rock, you should be aware that four of Cambodia's finest contemporary dancers are currently strutting their stuff on stage in Madrid. This is a breakthrough first for the cream of the country's dancers, performing in world-class opera at the Teatro Real Theatre in the capital of Spain. The Fab 4 are joining forces with avant-garde director Peter Sellars, who is presenting Igor Stravinsky's melodrama Persephone for the first time. From 14-29 January for 10 performances, all 4 of Cambodia's finest - Belle, Sam Sathya, Nam Narim and Khon Chansithyka - will be showing Europe what they are capable of as part of this unique collaboration. Opening night on the 14th went swimmingly well by all accounts. Leading the way on stage in this contemporary opera will be acclaimed French actress Dominique Blanc and American tenor Paul Groves.

Back Home

2012-01-17T15:36:00.005+07:00

Time to go home. LtoR: Tim, Rumnea and myself.

No, it's not the official England World Cup song from 1970. My brother Tim is flying out at 6.30pm today to return to Blighty after his latest visit to Phnom Penh. He's had a pretty lazy time of it before finally getting his hands dirty with a bearkeeping session at Phnom Tamao zoo yesterday. Before coming to Cambodia he spent over two weeks in Bhutan. We had our last lunch today at Bistro Lorenzo with Rumnea joining us. We were still talking about last night's comedy show and the superb performance from Phil Nichol. We've seen many of the great stand-ups in the past and both rated Nichol very highly. It was certainly a good night to end his visit on.

Exceptional performer

2012-01-17T09:05:00.009+07:00

They don't come much better than Phil Nichol

Phil Nichol is a genius on stage. He vied with host Jimmy McGhie for top spot at last night's Pontoon comedy club but took the honours with a brilliant musical session to end his performance. I've seen enough stand-up comedians over the years to know that Phnom Penh will be hard pressed to witness such an accomplished comedian in the future. The Comedy Club Asia may've climaxed too soon, so to speak. McGhie, the cheeky chappie from London, but well-spoken, was an excellent compere. He started well and got even better. Definitely a young stand-up artist with a big future. The Wikipedia heckle was priceless. Aggressive Australian Brendon Burns was next up and misjudged the mood by simply being too confrontational. He certainly lagged well behind the other two on the night. He reminded me a little of Ian Cognito, one of the best of the aggressive comedians, but wasn't as funny. As for Nichol, he confirmed the pre-gig hype as a unique performer. Very funny stand-ups who can work the crowd as well as he did, and then include a series of guitar-accompanied songs are definitely a cut above the rest. And Nichol is certainly that. The guy in the front row, Lee, came in for much of his mock-gay innuendo and took it on the chin. Nichol began as a member of the trio Corky and the Juice Pigs and his star has never waned. On this manic performance, he will continue to wow crowds for a long time to come. Truly exceptional.

The measured tones of compere Jimmy McGhie - from Wikipedia

Phil Nichol gave an exceptional performance at Pontoon

Phil Nichol towers over his close personal friend Lee on the front row

Brendon Burns lagged well behind his comedy colleagues on the night

Steel Pulse - Chapter 12

2012-01-16T16:02:00.003+07:00

The author (front) with Steel Pulse at the Reggae Sundance Festival in 2003

Better late than never, here's Chapter 12 of the incredible Steel Pulse story. For a long while I had planned to author a biography of the world's best reggae band, Steel Pulse. It never happened but rather than let my notes gather dust, I am publishing each chapter on my blog, on a weekly(ish) basis, to give everyone an insight into this incredible music group. Here's the 12th of thirteen chapters.

STEEL PULSE - A Lifetime of Revolution

Chapter 12: Brand New Dawn (Equality, Liberty & Justice)

Pulse appeared on two tribute albums released in 2002. Here Comes The Sun: A Reggae Tribute to The Beatles featured their version of We Can Work It Out, with Jukie Ranks guesting, whilst Paint It Black: A Reggae Tribute to The Rolling Stones contained You Can't Always Get What You Want. A return trip to the Ivory Coast in West Africa took place in June 2002, initially without Donna. "I was having problems at home and I didn't turn up for the first gig in Abidjan. I had to miss a couple of days. I seriously considered stopping touring as it was affecting my family. It was very serious at the time. But I had a career and was doing what I always wanted to do. It was the first time I'd missed a Steel Pulse gig." She made it for the second concert and the follow-on tours of North America, some festival appearances in Europe including Sunsplash in Austria and the Chiemsee festival in Germany and rounded off the year with first-time visits to Costa Rica and Mexico. "Mexico was good, the land of small people - I really fitted in!" recalled Donna with a smile.

2003 kicked off with a short US tour where they collected a Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Bob Marley Festival in Long Beach. After their 30-date coast to coast Summer tour of the States, a visit to Peru and the Reggae Sundance Festival in Holland, the promise of a long-awaited new album from the band is in the pipeline for a mid-2004 release. There have been promises of a new studio album from the band for the last couple of years. Donna explains. "One of the problems felt by everyone in the band was doing the same songs and the lack of fresh material. David listened and started putting his new material into rehearsing during the last year. It's livened everyone up, and made a refreshing change. He got us learning more to see how we felt about them before choosing what he'd actually put in the show. Songs like Build A Nation and Global Warning were added to the set. There's other songs which will be on the new album, like one song based on the largest slave center we saw in Africa at Goree Island." The new album is scheduled to be out in the middle of 2004 and Donna likes what she's heard so far. "I enjoy all of the songs really. I like the new ones as they're fresher. I also like most of the older ones like Wild Goose Chase, Nyahbinghi Voyage, Macka Splaff, Taxi Driver. I find Tightrope awkward, its one that I find difficult. There are certain vocals and pitching of certain notes that I find hard. This is what makes David's songs so unique. When you're singing them and you do the high and low vocals it sounds weird to my ears, it sounds wrong but he says its perfectly fine. In putting the sounds together, he's so unique."

Selwyn comments, "For the last couple of years we've been working on a new studio album, on and off. The reason why it takes so long is that we normally take a long time to do our albums. The music has to be of a certain standard as far as the playing, as far as the production and the lyrics, it all has to sound right." And what direction are Steel Pulse headed? "Basically the same direction that we took when we started the band off, doing material that we believe in, material that deals with issues and certain injustices that we see happening throughout the world in all kinds of different ways." Grizzly sums it up with, "our theme and aim are still the same. It's to make people aware of what's happening all around them and to open their eyes to the inhumanity around the world." David's view concurs, "What keeps us going is that this kind of music still has a focal point with all kinds of groups in society, and everybody shares the same interest in the subject matter of equality, liberty and justice. We took seven years to make this record, because we wanted every song to tell a story and stand the test of time." The album, African Holocaust, was released in June 2004 and featured guest artists Capleton, Damian Marley, Jukie Ranks and Tiken Jah Fakoly. The band began a 15-date European tour in mid-June before crossing the Atlantic for a 33-date US tour immediately after. Hinds declares, "African Holocaust is a summary of the state of the world today from our perspective - which is a perspective of the black diaspora. Subject matters range from exposing the negative impact, politically and environmentally of super powers, to the nostalgia for our African heritage."

In recent years, the core trio of Hinds, Brown and Nisbett toured as part of a nine-piece ensemble that included long-time collaborators Alvin Ewen on bass and Sidney Mills on keyboards, Cliff 'Moonie' Pusey on lead guitar and Conrad Kelly on drums [with Grizzly Nisbett switching to percussion], and the addition, in early 1998 of two British female singers, Sylvia Tella and Donna Sterling. David states, "after going on tour for five years with the horn players, our audience was getting too accustomed to hearing Steel Pulse blowing down the walls of Babylon every time, so when the horn players moved on, we decided to concentrate more on improving our vocal presence. By including Sylvia and Donna, the sound has become a lot tighter and more tuneful, helping the band to stay in the pocket more rhythmically." For the last four years, Grizzly hasn't been able to tour because of health concerns and Sylvia Tella has concentrated on her solo career. "It is Selwyn and myself who put the music together and who produce the music in our own studio, which is called the dub factory," says Hinds, noting that the rest of the group are touring and performing members, who are not involved in the initial creative process. "I'm bringing them the music, they then add their parts. That's how it is generally, and there's lots of reasons for that. One of the main reasons is half of the band resides in the United States, they got family there. We construct the music back in England, between myself and Selwyn." Important contributions are also provided by the band's management and road crew. Richard Hermitage became their manager in 1996 though has been involved for much longer. When the band are on tour in the States, Rich Nesin is their tour manager, who's worked with the group for the last six years. Other key members during their live performances are Louis Yesufu, their long-time front of house sound engineer, stage monitor engineer Bob Carsten, guitar technician Travis Doering and two family members, drum technician Baruch Hinds and keyboard tech Derrick Brown.

For much of 2004, Donna will be missing from the touring line-up. Replacing her on backing vocals will be Melanie Lynch and Traciana Graves (replaced by Marea Wilson in August), who both hail from New York. The reason for her absence is that Donna's second child is due in September and to ensure her pregnancy is trouble-free, she's under doctor's orders to take a break from the stress and strains of flying and performing. At the same time, Donna and Selwyn are putting together an album of music in a variety of styles to showcase Donna's vocal talents. She described some of the behind the scenes ingredients that are vital to keep the band fresh and together as a unit. "We always rehearse before we tour, we rehearse over here with the British lot and then over in the States with the others. We'll rehearse songs that David thinks we've got problems on or the new ones. Then for the last hour before we go on, David will run through the whole show, especially the beginning of the show. When I'm with they band, they mother me, I'm the little sister. I cannot move without them telling me, don't do this, don't do that, where are you going, what are you doing. They are like big brothers to me, I need their support, I can't do it without them. In particular, Moonie and I get on very well, we're so alike, just like big kids. His heart is so good and so is his temperament. We both love movies, so does David, but if I have a problem, I go and see Selwyn. Touring is so exhausting. It takes a toll on your body, your family, the lot. I take a complete break from the band. They don't see me until we next need to meet up. I come back home and do my mother bit, that's most important to me, as well as being a musician."

An important element of who Steel Pulse are is their faith. For David Hinds it's fundamental. "Without Rastafari there wouldn't be me, there wouldn't be the real me, that's the difference. Rastafari is the development of the real me, or the real I and I, the one within myself. It's played a big part because its taught me to be strong, it's taught me to come to terms with a lot of things that I cannot physically change and also it's taught me how to relay what I know to others." Donna explains, "It's what the whole band is based on. I believe a Rasta is what you are inside. A Rasta to me is not only about the teachings of Rastafari but its also about whether your heart is good. I live my life in a good way and if your heart is clean and you believe in that specific faith, that's what you are. 'What does it mean to me?' - it means for me to be humble, my heart is clean, my heart is good, whether you have locks or not or black or white, if your heart is clean and good and you are kind towards people and don't have that harshness and nastiness towards others, and believe in a higher being, then you can be true to your faith, whatever that may be. As a band we chant a psalm before we go on stage. We stand in a circle and Selwyn has a bible and we chant a psalm and then we beat our fists down, which represents chanting down Babylon, and the amount of times represents the people in the band. The majority of the band only eat fish or chicken, David only eats fish and no dairy products." Grizzly also commented on the influence of their faith. "We are what we are and we became stronger through it and because of it. It made our music a lot stronger because of our belief. Me personally, I can't speak for the others, but for me I don't look on it as a religion. Because of the way people view religion throughout the world and because of what people do in the name of religion, I do not look on Rastafari as a religion. I prefer to call it a way of life. Something you do every day not just once every so often. It's helped us a lot, our inner strength, it's kept the band together, and strong. First and foremost, Steel Pulse is a band, we're musicians, that is our career, that's our job. Anybody is welcome, religion and colour is not a blockage. Our views, our strength, our inner feelings come out in the music. Personally, I stopped eating meat even before I joined Steel Pulse. Some of the guys don't eat pork or chicken, though I eat cheese and milk products. Its a way of life."

The band are a major force in world reggae music today, basing themselves primarily in the United States for much of the year. Remarkably, their popularity remains low-key in their UK homeland. As David explains, "As far as being popular in England, we're not. Those who do remember us often ask what became of us. As a matter of fact, from right since Steel Pulse has ever been together as a band, I think the States was the best reception we've ever had. We were playing to people who like the music, were curious to see the band and genuinely believe in what the band has got to say." Grizzly chips in, "it's a shame. The main reason is that the powers that be don't know anything about reggae, they don't understand reggae music, what its about and what reggae musicians are about. And with reggae music they don't make enough money as they do with other music. The music industry is all about making money. A fault in England is that they jump on and off a bandwagon too quick and too easy. They build you up and then the next fad comes along, you're left hanging and they forget about you. Whereas in other countries around the world, they don't do that - they don't drop you, they don't let you go. England is so far behind the rest of the world, they think they're up with it but they're not." It's a state of affairs that has puzzled Donna too. "I've always wondered to myself why Steel Pulse aren't known in England, other than in the black community. I was too young at the time but I've heard what they went through at the beginning. David has said he'd like the band to play in England but it hasn't happened yet. In the US, they're up there, if not top. To see the crowd reaction, above all the other reggae artists, is amazing. At Reggae On The River for example, its like mayhem when we come on. I think part of it's down to their collaboration with Bob Marley and winning the Grammy."

Their distinctive sound and success owes a major debt to Hinds, the band's creative core, their singer-songwriter and famed for his 'stovepipe dread' - a two-foot high vertical tower of dreadlocks. Born in Birmingham into a working class Jamaican family, Hinds first developed his musical interest through his roadie brother Gifford and his friendship with his schoolfriend Basil Gabbidon. Hinds explains the evolution of the music. "Obviously I was born in England, and the whole world knows that reggae music really evolved out of Jamaica. But, having said that, my parents were immigrants that left Jamaica and came to England in the mid-50's. During that period of time, they came over with the form of music that was happening on the island at that time, which was Calypso and blue beat. Blue beat was more like a be-bop type of thing, a form of jazz. At that time, Jamaicans tuned into the New Orleans radio stations and it had the little grooves where the bass line is very much jazz orientated - that was blue beat. Then that music sort of transformed into ska. I sort of got affiliated with the different forms of music that was happening in Jamaica, at that time, because of my brothers and sisters that were coming over each year, as my parents could afford for them to come. So, they came over with the latest forms of music and blue beat slowly came into ska, which was more of an accented form. Then ska became more of an accented type thing where the bass line had more of a variation as opposed to the be-bop.Then when you get into the ska era, Bob Marley came on to play with his type of songs. And then that transformed into rock steady, which was more - instead of going on the upbeat, you go on the downbeat. So, blue beat went into ska, and then ska into reggae, as we all know it today."

Hinds continues. "This is where Bob Marley, once again, along with Burning Spear, The Abyssinians and Third World, just to name a few - those guys sort of evolved out of that kind of a period. Along with the music format, there was also a spiritual connection with it, where people were talking about the whole philosophy of Rastafari and also the ideology of Marcus Garvey, the 'Back-to-Africa' movement. So, like I said, we had the rock steady and then it became reggae, as we know it. Now along with the reggae there was a lot of spirituality, as far as the lyrical content, and it was also the political attribute as well. At that time, in Jamaica, what was happening politically with the governments was a big issue, where one like Marley, Burning Spear, Peter Tosh, and all these others, were airing their views and literally using reggae music as a vehicle to air their views. So, as a result, the music slowed down in tempo somewhat from ska. I think it was an essence where the bass line became more hypnotic. It became slow in tempo so that one could get a chance to digest what's said lyrically, because of the political attributes. Reggae, as we know it, was very popular for a good 15 years, I'd say from the turn of the 70's right into the mid-80's. Then after Marley passed on, it became dancehall, where things became a lot more up-tempo, the rhythmic side of things, especially the rhythm guitar. It started to lose its popularity when it came to the dancehall strain of the music, where strictly drum and bass was concentrated on with samples. And also the lyricist, the ones who said things vocally, melodically - the singers - were also phased out and the deejay started to come in, and they started bouncing around a lot of rhythms that were faster in pace, so to speak. So, from my standpoint, that's the evolution of reggae." These formative years were to shape the future for Hinds and his fledgling band and to steer them towards becoming one of the leading exponents of reggae music over the next quarter of a century.

Where did it start for the author? It was Friday 2nd June 1978 and the predominently white audience at the Cheltenham Town Hall had assembled to see an all-black British reggae band, Steel Pulse, who'd burst onto the music scene earlier that year with their anthemic single Ku Klux Klan and their soon to be released album Handsworth Revolution. What they saw and heard took their breath away. Rebelling against inequality and prejudice and extolling the virtues of truth, rights and justice, Steel Pulse gave a masterclass in winning over the impressionable youngsters with their raw power, their mastery of melody and harmonies, their boundless energy and their hypnotic stage performance, complete with costume changes and white Klan hoods. Standing just a few rows from the stage, I was hooked and the band have remained at the top of my diverse musical tastes ever since. In a roller coaster career spanning the next two decades and more, Steel Pulse have consistently surprised and delighted me with their innovative and infectious style of conscious reggae music, led from the front by the melodious tones of David Hinds. No-one else does it better.

[This chapter was penned in 2004]

Chapter 13: Keeping on Track - will follow soon.

Mind the trap

2012-01-16T14:46:00.005+07:00

A powerful new documentary film, 26 minutes in length and put together by American professor Tim Sorel, is now out and available by contacting the filmmaker. The film's blurb highlights the following: The Trap of Saving Cambodia, is part of the international dialogue about the dilemma facing America and the world. The film follows NGO leader David Pred who is trying to put a global spotlight on troubling issues facing this country: forced evictions; corruption on a massive scale; the underground trafficking of women and children. Equally disturbing, could the World Bank, joined by global superpowers such as the United States and China, be funneling billions of dollars in aid to the government with little or no accountability? History will remember the Khmer Rouge and their notorious Killing Fields that followed the Vietnam war as one of civilization's darkest moments. Genocide on a grand scale, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians perished. The Trap of Saving Cambodia serves as a wake-up call to the world, and forces us to question our role in what is really happening in this beautiful, tradition-rich corner of Southeast Asia. Included in the film are interviews with David Chandler, Elizabeth Becker, Youk Chang, Vann Nath, Joseph Mussemelli, Robert Petit. Find out more at the film's website here.

Footy wedding of the year

2012-01-15T17:14:00.013+07:00

A photo on arrival with Rumnea and myself alongside the happy couple

More pictures from the football wedding of the new year, Kouch Sokumpheak with Oeu Ravy, at the New World Restaurant last night. Sokumpheak has been the country's best player for the past few years and had another successful season last year with Phnom Penh Crown, as well as being a regular fixture in the Cambodia national team. Everyone who was anyone was at last night's party.

After another costume change, it's the happy couple with teammate Tieng Tiny and his wife

On stage, preparing for the speeches. He usually does his talking with his feet.

Approaching the cake cutting ceremony

Rumnea with Crown coach Bouy Dary and his family

Some of the Phnom Penh Crown squad enjoying the occasion

Teammates and pals, Khim Borey and Sokumpheak

A less boisterous photo with some of the Crown team

Football-mad fan Marady with Rumnea

The happy couple's picture at the entrance to the party

Calm and collected

2012-01-14T23:07:00.000+07:00

A manly hug for the bridegroom, looking resplendent in his white suit

After Cambodia's 1-nil loss to Malaysia at Olympic Stadium this afternoon, not the expected drubbing and Cambodia even fluffed the opportunity to win the match, everyone and their dog in the world of football made their way to the New World Restaurant to celebrate the wedding party of Kouch Sokumpheak, Cambodia's best footballer bar none, and his new wife Oeu Ravy. 500 guests, most of them footballers or wearing dresses, and a good time had by all. The food was good fare by normal wedding party standards and the Cambodian players who'd played in the afternoon, were the last to arrive at the celebration. It went exceedingly well. Sokumpheak looked calm and collected as he usually does on the playing field, dressed impeccably in a white suit, with his bride looking just as radiant alongside him. His Phnom Penh Crown teammates were out in force to celebrate the big occasion, as were the club's staff members and a myriad of faces from rival clubs and the national team camp. Let's just say there will be a few sore heads in the morning. Rumnea came along as she already knows many of the Crown players and staff and she looked great in another of her own creations. My best to Pheak and Ravy for their future together. More photos to follow.

Rumnea and me at the party

Bride and groom ready for their walk through the flower petals and foam spray

Proud parents and happy couple on the stage

Into the light

2012-01-14T09:44:00.004+07:00

I missed the opening of the new Chhim Sothy exhibition at Meta House last night. Grrr. I always enjoy his work, with a particular leaning towards his traditional style I must admit, but he is a fabulous artist whether its traditional or contemporary. His latest showing, From Darkness to Light, can now be seen and focuses on the trauma that he experienced during his childhood. I will get there pronto.
Meanwhile, tickets for Monday's 2nd comedy club asia night at Pontoon have gone on sale at The Flicks, the only venue in town where you can buy them. You can also pay on the door, on the night. The 2nd show, without compere Jonathan Atherton, shouldn't suffer too much according to the organisers, as 3 excellent funnymen have been booked to raise the roof. Aggressive Australian comic Brendon Burns and Canada’s surrealist Phil Nichol, will be supported by rising stand-up Jimmy McGhie of England. It costs $10 a pop with a free beer thrown in and doors open at 7pm. If it matches the 1st gig, it'll be well worth it.
This afternoon the Cambodian U-21 football team are scheduled to get a thrashing at the hands of the successful Malaysian U-23s. Well, that's what it looks like on paper. Malaysia are very much top dogs in the region when it comes to this age-level of football. Next month they will begin life in the Singapore League and will use today's game as a warm-up for their upcoming campaign. They recently topped the class in the Asean region by winning the SEA Games. At the same time, Cambodia came home with their tail between their legs losing all four games and looking a sorry sight. I don't expect any better today either.

Catching up

2012-01-13T14:00:00.004+07:00

LtoR: Tim, Vy and myself at Bistro Lorenzo

One of my best pals, Vy, popped up from Sihanoukville today for a quick visit to the capital, combining a couple of business meetings with lunch at Bistro Lorenzo with Tim and myself. We go back quite a few years as good friends and though she's not in Phnom Penh too often, we keep in touch via skype. So it was lovely to see her and to catch up. She's now working for the power company in the coastal city after two jobs in the hotel industry and a stint working on the production of the film, Wish You Were Here. It seems like an age ago (actually it was Oct 2008) since the three of us went to Ream national park for the day, but I remember it as though it was yesterday.
Tim and I will be off to the Olympic Stadium tomorrow afternoon to catch the Cambodian U-21s footy team in a friendly against the Malaysian U-23s, who are the best of their age in Asean football. I expect a drubbing for the Cambodian team, but we shall see. Straight after that is Kouch Sokumpheak's wedding party, which should see the good and great of the Cambodian football world turn out in force. On Sunday morning the Phnom Penh Crown Academy boys have a match, so I don't want to miss that, and Sunday evening, I have another wedding party invite. Tim will join so he can experience his first Khmer wedding party. For Monday, he'll be getting his hands dirty as a bearkeeper for a day at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Park with the Free the Bears team, which he's really looking forward to. Monday night, its the 2nd of the Comedy Club Asia gigs at Pontoon and then he'll be winging his way back to Blighty on Tuesday at the end of his two-week non-stop-fun visit.

Arrivederci Fabio

2012-01-12T17:40:00.005+07:00

Fabio Cannavaro testing out his new boots, one for each foot

Fabio has left the building. His brief visit to Phnom Penh ended yesterday morning when he flew to Bangkok. Funny story. He brought his football boots with him on the trip, but didn't realise he'd bought two left boots by mistake and so had to go out and buy a new pair of size 8 Nike boots when he arrived in Phnom Penh. Normally, as a top pro, his kit would've been looked after by a designated kit man; now he's retired he has to look after his own. It's a tough life after football. Of course, he didn't make the trip purely out of the goodness of his own heart; there was a financial incentive to come. Nevertheless, he never gave less than 100% when he was here, signing every autograph that he was asked to sign, stopping and smiling for every click of the camera too. A total professional. Top footballers sometimes have a reputation for being prima donnas but for Fabio Cannavaro, there was never any hint of that, he was on time, immaculately groomed and had time for everyone he came into contact with. He'll be welcomed back anytime he chooses. I know the same can be said in Vietnam too. He left quite a favourable impression in both countries. What did the visit achieve? Hard to evaluate aside from the newspaper coverage in the international and domestic press. It's hoped that someone with his standing in the game, coming here to offer his support for football, will be a positive thumbs up for the sport in Cambodia; certainly I know the Phnom Penh Crown Academy boys got a big lift out of his presence at their training session on Tuesday. I'd say a feel-good factor will be one of the main benefits. A lot of positive press and happy, smiling faces were some of the obvious outcomes. Of course, it may wear off quickly but the fact that he came, met as many people as possible, spent time with the Academy youngsters and the national team squad, is a bonus for those people that met him.

Sokumpheak's big day

2012-01-11T16:19:00.009+07:00

Sokumpheak with Fabio Cannavaro, flanked by teammates Khim Borey and Sok Sovan

Kouch Sokumpheak is acknowledged by most football fans to be Cambodia's number one player for the last few years. He was an outstanding member of the Khemara Keila team before joining Phnom Penh Crown last season and top-scoring with 19 goals as Crown won the league championship and reached the final of the AFC President's Cup. He's been a nailed-on certainty in the Cambodian national team since his debut in 2006. And this coming Saturday will be another big date in the calendar for him, his marriage to Oeu Ravy. Yesterday he warmed up for the big occasion by meeting one of his footballing heroes, Fabio Cannavaro. He also took his dog to yesterday's training session, so will appeal to dog lovers as well as football fans. 500 guests have been invited to celebrate the wedding party on Saturday, for one of the nicest guys you could meet. Have a great day Sokumpheak and Ravy.

Sokumpheak gets to shake hands with Fabio Cannavaro yesterday

Sokumpheak takes his dog to yesterday's training session

Sokumpheak and his future wife Ravy enjoy the beach

Fabulous Academy

2012-01-10T18:11:00.010+07:00

Fabio Cannavaro and the PPCFC Academy

Phnom Penh Crown were the focus on Fabio Cannavaro's third day in the capital. With the Crown president Rithy Samnang being the person who invited the ex-Italian World Cup-winning captain in the first place, it was only right and proper that he should show off his own youth football Academy, the only one in the country, to the world superstar. Fabio arrived on time at the club's Tuol Kork headquarters and quickly donned his football boots to join the U-13s on the pitch. He took part in shooting and ball control practice and then watched them at close quarters as they played a 20-minute match between themselves. He then took questions from the youngsters, the best in the country at their age group, and gave his answers in English. Both the Academy and the Crown first-team, who'd just completed their early morning training session under coach David Booth as Fabio arrived, posed for team group photos before Fabio once again, as he has everywhere, made sure he signed every autograph or picture that was requested of him. His willingness to oblige the football fans he's encountered has been a key feature of his visit. And his time spent at the PPCFC Academy will certainly be an inspiration to the Crown youngsters, who shared the spotlight with him this morning. Handing over a playing kit and footballs to the charity Friends International will be the last official tour event with Fabio due to leave early tomorrow morning.

Sath Rozak meets his new football hero

The Academy youngsters listen intently to Fabio's answers

Academy head coach Bouy Dary poses questions asked by the boys

The Academy boys rest after their training session with Fabio and ask him questions

Time for a Q&A session with the former Italian captainFabio greets the PPCFC Academy and a few U-16 players

Chhuot Senteang plays keep up with Fabio

Fabio meets the Academy youngsters upon arrival

Back in play

2012-01-09T18:49:00.009+07:00

The Cambodia U-21s with a new addition, Fabio Cannavaro, center back row

Fabio Cannavaro's whistle-stop trip to Cambodia took to the playing field this afternoon, as the former Italian World Cup winning captain got back to basics with the Cambodian U-21 national team squad at the Olympic Stadium. A few hundred fans turned up to witness one of the world's greatest players joining in with the national team's training session in the full glare of the media, without exerting himself too much. He was introduced to the players and coaching staff including South Korean head coach Lee Tae-Hoon before Fabio joined in the quick passing session and then the 5-on-5 games, lasting more than an hour. Not so much a coaching clinic, as an opportunity to meet the country's future senior internationals and give them a boost by his presence and support for Cambodia's footballing future. After a quick wash and brush up, he made his way over the road from the stadium, to the soon to be opened Gold Dragon premises for a traditional eight dragon blessing ceremony. He looked suitably impressed. For the next 30 minutes, Fabio signed every picture or jersey presented to him, and posed for every photo that he was asked to, like the total professional he is. And each time, he did it with a smile.

Fabio stretches for a ball during the 5-a-side games with the Cambodia U-21s

Is Fabio a politician in disguise? Here he meets the children of his host, Rithy Samnang

Fabio is trying to get a good shot of the 8 dragon ceremony

It's all smiles at the autograph-signing session at Gold Dragon

Three happy youngsters with their signed Fabio photos

Press interval

2012-01-09T13:38:00.012+07:00

The latest from the Fabio Cannavaro bandwagon was the press conference at the Sofitel Phokeethra, that went without a hitch after more dummy-runs than you can shake a stick at. Fabio walked into a packed conference room and into a wall of flashlights, before taking his place on the stage. With three languages in use throughout, the conference got a bit chaotic at times without a three-way translation, but after a few speeches and a handful of questions from journalists to the guest of honour, it was soon over and Fabio made time to have his photo taken and sign autographs for everyone in the room. He then did a couple of 1-on-1 interviews for the television cameras before heading for lunch. The former Italian captain said he was very happy to come to Cambodia, to pass on his experiences as a top player and to promote football to the youngsters especially. Confirming that winning the World Cup was the biggest highlight of his career, not just for himself but for his whole country, he also said that his medium height was never a disadvantage against the best strikers as he played with his head and his heart. And this would be his advice to young players today.

Fabio meet the football federation Vice President Khiev Samet

Fabio alongside his host and President of Phnom Penh Crown FC, Rithy Samnang

Fabio spoke in Italian and English during the press conference

Has Fabio signed on from PPCFC? Unfortunately not! But he has his name on a shirt nonetheless

I'm not one to pass up the opportunity to have a photo with a gaggle of beautiful ladies

Fabio meets the Brouwer brothers once again (Tim's in red), this time at the press conference. Picture courtesy of Sabay.com

Fabio on parade

2012-01-08T23:03:00.011+07:00

Fabio Cannavaro (on right) with host Rithy Samnang (white shirt)

Here are a few more photos from the arrival of Fabio Cannavaro in Phnom Penh. The welcome at the airport went well, the fans saw their hero, some even got his signature, the press got their pictures and everyone went home happy enough.

Fabio is under the camera glare

Fabio signing autographs for fans at the airport

I'm pictured with some of the Crown Academy boys waiting for our guest of honour at the airport

Inspecting some of the posters and placards ready to welcome Fabio

You can just make Fabio out amongst the scrum of cameramen

Inside the Fabio cavalcade rushing through the streets of the city

My brother Tim (in red jersey) gets in on the action. Picture courtesy of Sabay.com

Meeting Fabio

2012-01-08T22:21:00.006+07:00

The Brouwer brothers say hello to Fabio Cannavaro at Fish

Fabio Cannavaro arrived in town this afternoon, caused a storm at the airport, sped through the city to rest his head at the Sofitel hotel before dinner at the Fish restaurant. It all went to plan for the organizers and the real fun begins tomorrow with an early-morning press conference, followed by a day's worth of events. The cavalcade sped through the streets behind a military police escort, with Tim and myself sat in the third car of the six-car procession, as we headed to the airport. The Phnom Penh Crown Academy boys were already lined up, holding posters, banners and enlarged photos of the former Italian football captain, World Cup winner and FIFA Player of the Year, at the arrivals door. The television cameras and press photographers were soon joined by a throng of excited football fans as Fabio arrived on time, uttered a few words of welcome in Khmer, met the Academy boys, willingly signed autographs and beamed that famous smile of his. Within a couple of minutes, he was ushered into a waiting mercedes and whirled his way through the afternoon traffic to his suite at the Sofitel Phokeethra hotel. After an hour or so's rest, he was back out again, this time for an informal dinner at the Fish restaurant on Sisowath Quay with members of the Crown management team and friends. Friendliness personified, Fabio met every request for a picture or an autograph before returning to his hotel, ready for a busy day tomorrow.

Tim's excellent camera-phone shot of Fabio at the airport

On holiday

2012-01-06T23:21:00.004+07:00

After-gig photo with me, Jonathan and Tim (right)

Aussie comic Jonathan Atherton takes to the stage

Jonathan Atherton is a well-travelled stand-up comedian. Even on his holidays, he can't stop himself from grabbing the mike and doing a stint. That's what happened last night at Equinox during a family visit to Cambodia. Okay, it was only a shortish 20 minute set but with his rapid-fire delivery he managed more jokes than most comedians would reel off in twice that time. Atherton was the successful host for the first Comedy Club Asia gig last month at Pontoon but admitted he can't make the next one, booked for 16 January. So tonight's appearance was effectively an apology for not being available on the 16th and just so that we didn't forget him and his accomplished comedy skill with languages. Nice job Jon.
Talking of holidays... Italian football hero Fabio Cannavaro arrived in Saigon yesterday and judging by the press photos, he was mobbed by happy Vietnamese football fans on arrival, dressed in Italian football shirts and carrying placards with his handsome face plastered over them. I just don't see the same happening when he exits arrivals at Phnom Penh airport on Sunday at 4.30pm.

Fabio Cannavaro is mobbed by a large crowd on arrival in Vietnam

Sarah's dream

2012-01-06T10:31:00.003+07:00

This is the latest video trailer for the Winds of Angkor musical project. The lady behind the project, Sarah O'Brien, is determined to proceed with both the theatrical and film production this year. A truncated version was first performed in Phnom Penh in August 2010. The desire is that the full production will be at Angkor in the future. If anyone can make it happen, Sarah can. More here.

Looking just Fab

2012-01-05T22:01:00.005+07:00

The Fabio Cannavaro visit, has been finalised. He'll be in Phnom Penh for three nights, lording it at the plush Sofitel after arriving on Sunday afternoon. Next morning will be a press conference, though Fabio's faltering English will mean a three-way translation will be required. He'll also be doing television interviews before a trip to Friends to donate footy kit and footballs to some of the street kids; with a 'sport is better than drugs' message. Without time to breathe, he'll be whisked off to the Olympic Stadium for a session on the pitch with the Cambodian U-21 squad, who are currently in training camp. Then its a meet-the-fans session at the Gold Dragon shop, opposite the Olympic Stadium front entrance, before a breather and then a cocktail dinner with sponsors and guests. He's allowed to sleep before an early start at the Phnom Penh Crown HQ in Tuol Kork next day (Tuesday at 9.30am), where the Crown Academy boys will benefit from a football clinic from the maestro, and the first-teamers will be on hand as well. Fabio has asked for an afternoon off so he can take in the sights of the city and he will take his leave the following morning. The trip will allow him to promote and support the emergence of football in the Kingdom, especially amongst the youth and disadvantaged. The hope is that someone as big a name as Fabio, will make more people sit up and take notice of the game here. Without doubt, he's the brightest star to come to Cambodia on a football gig, having won nearly every major honour in the game, including captaining Italy to the 2006 World Cup and getting the FIFA Player of the Year award from his fellow pro's in the same year. They don't come much bigger than that.

Free laughs

2012-01-05T01:15:00.004+07:00

Tomorrow night (Friday) get along to Equinox for a Comedy Night special (from 9pm and it's free) with a very funny stand-up comedian. I'm sworn to secrecy but if you went to the comedy night at Pontoon last month, you won't be disappointed. Don't forget the 2nd comedy night at Pontoon will take place on Monday 16 January. PhnomPenh will never be the same.
Joining me at Friday's comedy night will be my brother Tim who arrives from a holiday in Bhutan later tonight. He's been to Cambodia quite a few times now and he says it feels like a 2nd home. I just hope he remembers to pick his clothes off the floor and close the toilet door, whilst he's staying at my apartment. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks with Mr Eyebrows (Fabio Cannavaro) arriving on Sunday and Tim expecting me to fill his visit calendar with a bevvy of interesting things to do.

Green footprint

2012-01-04T14:44:00.007+07:00

My tree - January 2012 version

My thanks to Sharee who sent me a picture she took at the weekend. Back in August 2009, I visited the island of Koh Trong, near Kratie and in the middle of the Mekong River. And I took part in a tree-planting scheme, designed to replenish the tree stocks surrounding the pagoda at Wat Ty Param Kbal Koh Trong. I joined a bunch of other travel agents to plant my own tree, complete with name tag. Though I've been back to Koh Trong I haven't revisited my tree, so I was pleased to see that Sharee has confirmed it's alive and well, and flourishing, to an extent. Long may its roots and branches continue to deliver my green footprint.

My tree - August 2009 version, in the middle of the planting process

Bring it on

2012-01-03T22:43:00.000+07:00

Prepare for another dose of the Comedy Club Asia, set for Pontoon on Monday 16 January, with another bout of hilarity almost guaranteed. The reason is that Canadian Phil Nichol has been booked and the word is that he's seriously funny. Okay, so it's his website that says that, but I'm assured he's like a machine-gun comedian, working at a frantic pace and pumping out expertly observed anecdotage. I'm also not sure what face he'll have on as he's an acclaimed actor, producer, presenter, writer and musician, so be prepared for the works. Also on the bill is the more thoughtful and relaxed English comic Jimmy McGhie, who will bring his array of accents with him, whilst MC for the evening will again be the incisive Jonathan Atherton. Looks like another winner. Tickets are $10 with a free beer thrown in. The first comedy club gig on 6 December was a hit, so I'm expecting this one to be even better. Is that possible?

New works

2012-01-02T20:49:00.000+07:00

This coming Saturday evening (7 January) at 6pm, there's an opportunity to see a newly commissioned contemporary dance piece, in a new location. It will be performed at the Pre-School Teacher Training Center on Norodom Boulevard and will showcase the work of choreographer Eko Supriyanto from Indonesia, who's been working with six Cambodian dancers for the past three weeks. The show is called Para-Human and has been commissioned by the Singapore National Museum for a performance in July. Tickets, as always, available in small numbers from the Amrita office. And of course, next week the Fab 4 (Belle, Sathya, Narim and Chansithyka) will begin their ten performances in Peter Sellars contemporary opera Persephone in Madrid, Spain. I've seen the posters promoting the piece with Belle and Sathya's faces plastered over the advertising boards. A fantastic two-month experience for the four of them.

Kicking off 2012

2012-01-01T22:12:00.000+07:00

10 members of this family received a monk's blessing for 2012

I enjoyed a pretty varied start to the new year, kicking off with watching the Phnom Penh Crown Academy boys in a friendly match at Tuol Kork this morning. They won, obviously. Let's hope it's an omen for the rest of their season. On the way home I saw this blessing of a family by a monk, in front of their home on the busiest street in Tuol Kork, with the monk pouring water over the heads of everyone and then throwing numerous clay pots onto the floor to deliberately break them. I was told it was a ceremony to reverse the run of bad luck this family had suffered, so that 2012 would be more successful. Can't argue with that sentiment. This evening I went to Meta House to watch a film about the private life of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi in Land of No Fear. A very interesting portrait of a remarkable woman whose house arrest in 1989 effectively ended her life as a wife and mother and turned her into a political leader. I came away feeling sorry for her two sons, who she left behind in the UK when she decided that her country needed her more than they did. She must've felt it was worth the sacrifice. I don't think everyone would agree. After the film ended, it was nice to meet up with media-savvy Kounila Keo, who has just started a job with BBC Media Action, the BBC's international charity that was until recently called the BBC World Trust. They are just about to launch a series of projects aimed at the youth of Cambodia and she's been called in to help them out, as one of the leaders amongst Khmer youth in mass communication and journalism. On the subject of Meta House, most events there now cost a $2 entry fee, so be aware. Later this month, Golden Slumbers, the Davy Chou documentary on Cambodian cinema, will get a screening on Thursday 19th; if you've never seen Lord Jim - filmed in Cambodia in 1963 - it's showing on Sunday 22nd; and there's a night of Cambodian music and video excerpts with the team from Dontrey magazine on Friday 27th. A new Chhim Sothy exhibition of paintings, From Darkness to Light, will open at Meta House on Friday 13th - Sothy is one of my favourite artists in the country - whilst the night before, Burma is again the focus, for a documentary on the trials and tribulations of Ross Dunkley, the publisher of the Phnom Penh Post, in the film Dancing With Dictators.

Up close and personal

2011-12-31T22:53:00.010+07:00

Backstage photo with Meas Soksophea before she rushed off to another performance

I headed for Koh Pich tonight to get a flavour of the New Year's Eve celebrations, where two stages had been set up with another, much larger one in close proximity to NagaWorld. The main aim was to catch a performance from my favourite female Khmer singer, Meas Soksophea and I wasn't disappointed. She appeared on time, sang six songs, backed by some less than effective dancers before dashing off to another stage to perform. She had time for a quick hello and chat as she came off stage before she was hurried on her way by her make-up artist. It was lovely to finally say hello in person and she was as nice and accommodating as I thought she would be, under the pressure of appearing on three stages in one evening. I can certainly understand why she's the most popular female singer in the country as she has a great voice and a personality to match. Koh Pich and the road in front of Naga was awash with humanity and the surrounding streets were chock-a-block, as I popped into NagaWorld with Rumnea, who'd never been through the doors before, just to satisfy her curiosity before we headed back to see out the old year.

Meas Soksophea belts out one of her signature tunes

Giving the Koh Pich crowd what they came to see

There was a strong wind blowing across the stage, creating havoc with hairstyles Meas Soksophea is a more restrained mode

The most popular female singer in Cambodia, Meas Soksophea

Fabio on display

2011-12-31T10:47:00.005+07:00

Fabio Cannavaro, he of the short height, bushy eyebrows and tattooed torso, is popping over to Phnom Penh for three days in a little over a week to bring his Italian charm and panache to promoting Cambodian football, and himself of course. Fabio is no ordinary ex-pro footballer, he happens to have a pretty impressive cv that includes lifting the World Cup in 2006 as captain of the winning Italian team, as well as getting the nod over the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho to collect the FIFA World Player of the Year trophy in that same year. Now 38, but with a youthful visage that belies his age, the Italian, described by some as the sexiest man in a pair of football shorts, will be in town for two nights, 8 and 9 January, during which he'll be in high demand. It's expected that he'll don his playing kit for a coaching session with Cambodia's U-21 team on the Olympic Stadium pitch at sometime on 8 January, alongwith a host of television and media photocalls no doubt, personal appearances (no doubt in the high-class fashion boutiques), sponsor's events, a gala dinner perhaps, generally spreading goodwill and his winning smile to all and sundry. In his playing days, he revelled in the bright lights of Parma, Juventus, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, won the European Player of the Year award, a bagful of domestic league and cup titles before finally calling it a day last year due to a persistent knee problem. Certainly not one of the tallest defenders around, his desire to win, his anticipation and his single-mindedness were his key attributes that made him one of the very best defenders on the planet in the last 20 years. He's certainly the biggest name from world football to ever grace these shores and his imminent arrival is already creating quite a buzz.

Steel Pulse - Chapter 11

2011-12-30T22:51:00.001+07:00

It's early, but here's Chapter 11 of the incredible Steel Pulse story. For a long while I had planned to author a biography of the world's best reggae band, Steel Pulse. It never happened but rather than let my notes gather dust, I am publishing each chapter on my blog, on a weekly basis, to give everyone an insight into this incredible music group. Here's the 11th of thirteen chapters.

STEEL PULSE - A Lifetime of Revolution

Chapter 11: Leaving A Legacy

In August 1999, Steel Pulse were back on the road with Donna and Sylvia providing the backing vocals as the band returned to join a second Spirit of Unity Tour. Donna recalls, "David had said he wouldn't do another one because of the problems we'd had. All of a sudden another one came up and an opportunity to recoup some of the money we'd lost on the first one. We did it. On the second tour was Maxi Priest again, Third World, us and Monifah, a really good soul singer. We headlined again most nights, it was then that I really understood how big Steel Pulse were." The group headlined the world TEVA Spirit of Unity tour alongside Third World, Maxi Priest and Culture, visiting no less than 44 cities. To promote the event, they teamed up with Maxi Priest, Ras Shiloh, Joseph Hill and Third World to perform a medley of Bob Marley hits on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. After completing coast to coast gigs in the States, the tour took in Barbados before moving across to Europe for a few concerts.

Pulse joined up with cable tv network BET in America for a series of tv commercials and on 17 August released a second live album, Living Legacy, for the WMD and Tuff Gong labels. The album, recorded at live concerts in France, Holland and Puerto Rico over a three year period, is a collection of their work over the last twenty years and was again nominated for a Grammy, their seventh such nomination. As Hinds expounds, "we deal with positive forces. It means putting aside the guns, the drugs and all of the things that are ailments of society. We're not here to start a physical revolution, we're just here to open everybody's eyes and let them check for themselves." When asked about the band's longevity, Hinds responded, "The secret is not so much the band, it's the concept. It doesn't matter who's in the band; in fact, there's been so many changes from day one til now, what's kept us together is the concept. There's three general backbones to the band - myself, Selwyn Brown and Steve Nisbett. As of late we've been introducing ourselves to a new audience, new as in going to new places, like in Africa. It has given the band a new lease of life, to be honest with you. We've been knocking around in the Western world through all that bureaucracy in the music business. Performing in Africa was more like a relaxing period for us. There was no industry to convince what we were about. It was just the hardcore fans living, eating, drinking, sleeping the music of Steel Pulse." Hinds was forthright in his views on reggae music. "We love Bob Marley, don't get me wrong. I'd say we love him more than most people do, because we toured with him, we spoke with him on his death bed. We lived his music, everything else, but reggae music doesn't stop at Bob Marley. The actual reality of it is, Marley was fortunate to get his foot in the door and there's been no stopping him or his family ever since. It's a shame no one else has looked at other acts in that light, as if Marley was the only one capable of writing lyrics. There's so many good lyric writers that have come through the reggae domain - Dennis Brown in his own kind of way, Jimmy Cliff with Vietnam and Harder They Come. There's other artists that aren't commercially viable, some of the old-timers, not to mention Burning Spear, who played a big part in moulding and inspiring Steel Pulse."

Much of 2000 saw the band touring extensively in the USA with stops in Anchorage, Alaska and two dates in Hawaii during a gruelling 40 date tour in 46 days. They also appeared at the Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay, Jamaica for the first time in three years. This included a first-ever visit by Donna to Jamaica, the home of her parents. "We went to play the Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay, my first time in Jamaica, with Morgan Heritage and Joe, an RnB singer. It was a two day festival in August. I'd heard all about Jamaica from my family, though I didn't get to see much of it on that trip. I remember that by the time we got on stage, it was nearly 4 o'clock in the morning, we were due on stage about six hours earlier. I know it was then because after we came off and changed, it was light and morning had arrived. The whole atmosphere was just terrific." They also joined the Bob Marley celebrations in Washington DC, at Reggae Sundance in Holland and a flying visit to La Reunion in the Pacific Ocean - touring and live shows remaining an integral part of Steel Pulse's repertoire. 2000 also saw the departure of Sylvia Tella to pursue her own solo career. "Sylvia had finished her own album (Tella Like It Is). We went to Dominica, then at the next rehearsal there was no Sylvia and Sidney told us that she'd gone to do her own stuff and that was that. I panicked even worse then. I realised I was on my own. Sylvia was the main vocalist out of me and her... I followed in her footsteps and at certain parts of the set, David would have her sing, like Blessed Is The Man, as the main vocalist. She hit some high notes that I could never reach, she hit them every night or at least she tried. When she left, David asked me to do it. I was like, 'no way, I can't do it' but he said 'Donna, be yourself, do your own thing.' The doubts returned. It was hard for me. I couldn't do it her way so I did it in my own RnB way, where it related to the youth of today, my age group and younger." It was Selwyn who gave Donna much needed support at that time and who'd taken on the role of mentor and her coach. "It gave me the opportunity to work more closely with Selwyn, who worked really hard with me. He gave up his free time and we did a lot of practicing, rehearsing and moulding that specific song to me, so that it suited me, made me unique in my own RnB way."

"David was going to bring in another female vocalist to replace Sylvia. I think his intention was to have three female singers. There was a girl called Monique, we clicked straight away, who joined us for a gig in Barcelona and a couple more in France. She was from Handsworth and had been with the group Black Voices. She also did a memorial with us in Birmingham at the Irish Center in Digbeth. We did three songs, Black & Proud, Black Enough? and Islands Unite. That was a nervous night for me, I was on home territory, people knew me and I was very nervous. A few local artists played. It was my one and only British gig with Steel Pulse." That was at the beginning of 2001 and they were in France and Spain, in June they appeared in Switzerland (Caribana festival), Belgium and France, and at the Montreal and Womad festivals in July. The Womad event in Seattle saw 40 artists from 22 countries take part including Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant and the Neville Brothers. Grizzly Nisbett's final concert with Steel Pulse took place in San Diego in August 2001. He picks up the story, "towards the end of that year I started feeling chest pains on tour, but didn't feel them at home. I went to see a Doctor as they were bothering me. I had tests and he said is was Angina, too much pressure causing the heart to swell and I was told not to tour. I wasn't allowed to tour until they found out exactly what it was, and its been like that since. I was expecting him just to say have a rest, I didn't expect him to say stop touring full stop. The way we tour was too dangerous, rest periods were nil so he wouldn't allow me to tour. That was it. When I got home I cried. I enjoy being on the road, its a hell of a shock not touring. Even now I'm still eager to go back out there, but I'm more chilled now and involved in this whole record business and production and I find I'm enjoying that just as much. The only thing I'm really missing are the friends and contacts I've made out there. I don't miss all the crap that goes with touring, believe me I don't miss that. Stuck in an airport for a couple of days, sweating my balls off, I don't miss that. Its all part of the adventure and the fun. I'm still getting pains if I exert myself and I've got a test coming up soon, then I'll know if I'll need surgery or not."

Grizzly had been on the road, with Steel Pulse and other bands, for thirty-five years and its a career that he's very proud of. "Steel Pulse are very popular around the world. What the band is about, people don't see us as a band in it for the glory, we're a band that believes in what we're doing, believes in what we're saying and the fan knows it, feels it and believes it too. Whether in Paris or New York and points in between, everyone knows and loves Steel Pulse. Its a fact." He pays tribute to the fans of Steel Pulse. "Our fans throughout the world are great. Everybody we've met is like that. Nice people, who want us back and we want to go back. Lots of good, genuine friends, met lots of people, Kings and Presidents you never thought you'd meet. From the richest to the poorest and everybody in between. You learn about life. I would advise anybody to travel, you learn a lot more by travelling, about who you are and what's out there." A visit to Lima in Peru for a reggae festival, "it was freezing cold and I'd taken all my Summer clothes to wear!" brought an end to the first half of their coast to coast Stateside tour, as Donna recalls. "We'd landed back in Britain the day before September 11th after flying out of Newark airport," with the band immediately cancelling the second half of their tour as a mark of respect for the victims of the New York and Washington terrorist attacks. Concerts in Holland & France did take place but they cancelled scheduled visits to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Johannesburg (South Africa) as 2001 drew to a close.

Chapter 12: Brand New Dawn (Equality, Liberty & Justice) - will follow next week.

Spanish dance invasion

2011-12-29T15:41:00.006+07:00

On location in Madrid. Ladies LtoR: Sam Sathya, Nam Narim, Belle...with Khon Chansithyka up top

The Fab 4 in Madrid. From 14-29 January for 10 performances, all at the Teatro Real Theatre in Madrid, the capital of Spain, 4 of Cambodia's very best dancers - Belle, Sam Sathya, Nam Narim and Khon Chansithyka - will be showing Europe what they are capable of as part of a unique collaboration with avant-garde director Peter Sellars, who will present Igor Stravinsky's melodrama Persephone for the first time. This is a fabulous opportunity for Cambodia's finest, who've been there for a month already, practicing and enjoying the Spanish lifestyle. Leading the way on stage in the contemporary opera will be acclaimed French actress Dominique Blanc and American tenor Paul Groves. In their absence, 7 January will see a contemporary dance show, at a location in Phnom Penh still to be announced, of a work in progress with an Indonesian director, whilst March will bring a performance after a workshop with an American choreographer.

Out of the Dark

2011-12-29T01:05:00.004+07:00

Sam Keo has a story to tell. Like many Cambodians who survived the Khmer Rouge regime and found a new life in America, his story is one of triumph over adversity. In Dr Keo's case, he has turned his own experiences into helping others, as a clinical psychologist working in Los Angeles, and helping sufferers to deal with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as he himself had to. As a child in the 70s he was sent with other children to work on farms. His father and sister were killed and four of his younger brothers died of starvation and disease before they reached the age of ten. But Sam refused to submit and he made it to the United States to begin his new life. Out of the Dark - Into the Garden of Hope is his story, published by iUniverse this month. 172 pages.

Vanda get it badly wrong

2011-12-28T12:17:00.010+07:00

Rumnea puts a brave face on it

I felt gutted for Rumnea this morning. It should have been her big day. Graduating in her accounting BA after 4 tough years studying at the Vanda Institute and receiving her diploma alongwith her proud classmates. Instead, she was dejected and upset that her big day was completely ruined by the ineptitude of the education authorities. With over 3,000 students graduating today, 80% of them women by the way, the hall at the University of Cambodia next to the Independence Monument was woefully inadequate. The main hall, where prime minister Hun Sen handed out a few diplomas, could cater for just a few hundred students, hundreds more sat outside under an awning watching proceedings on a video screen, whilst another 2,000 were milling around, under the hot sun, wearing their graduation cloaks and hats, unable to do either. There was no handing over of diplomas to the majority of the students, only the chosen few inside the main hall. And they were just the ones who had studied during the daytime. If students studied at night, they weren't even allowed in the hall. It was a complete shambles. And incredibly frustrating for Rumnea and the others. Their big day, the day they'd looked forward to for so long, was a wash-out. Rumnea fired off two angry text messages to the principals of the institute. She was red-faced with anger. Her mum had come all the way from Kompong Thom for the big day and was initially refused entry into the school compound by one of Hun Sen's bodyguards. Give someone a uniform and they think they have power over life and death. She eventually got in but there was nothing to see, so she left again after taking a few photographs. The saying, they couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery, was very apt for the education authorities in this instance. Rumnea overcame a lot of obstacles to complete her studies and get good marks, she and the other students deserved much better than this.

Rumnea with her proud mum, sister and friend

I get in on the act as well, with the graduating student

Rumnea was so disappointed that she took off her cloak and hat, but still managed a smile

Ladies talk show

2011-12-27T23:33:00.001+07:00

LtoR; Nancy, Soma, Suwanna

I listened to the PUC Radio talk show with the Jar Lady, Suwanna Gauntlett and Soma tonight with interest, especially as Nancy will be flying into the Cardamoms in a few days time to begin what might be her last investigation into the mysterious jar burial sites in the mountainous region, which is under threat from commercial plantations, Chinese-built hydroelectric dams and pretty much anything else you can think of. For those who don't know, the Jar Lady is Dr Nancy Beavan, a good pal of mine, who has spent the last eight years studying these burial jars, which contain the bones and ornaments of highland peoples who died between the 14th and 16th centuries. Suwanna, as the chief of Wildlife Alliance, has been working in the Cardamoms for years on trying to negate these threats and help sustain the wildlife populations and help the locals. She'll be flying Nancy and her team to their next, very remote, fieldwork location by helicopter. The team will be working on a cliff ledge, tied together by ropes for safety, for about eight days. Funding is a problem, so that was mentioned of course. As was the individual who gave her the nickname of Jar Lady - he shall remain nameless. An interesting programme, all three ladies can talk, without a breath, for hours. The final talk show gig of the year, at 7pm on 31 December, will be a re-run of the session I did with Soma. The topics we covered were varied from football to sci-fi, Vann Nath to my book. Tune in if you dare.

Steel Pulse - Chapter 10

2011-12-26T10:35:00.003+07:00

It's Steel Pulse time again - Chapter 10 of their incredible journey. For a long while I had planned to author a biography of the world's best reggae band, Steel Pulse. It never happened but rather than let my notes gather dust, I am publishing each chapter on my blog, on a weekly basis, to give everyone an insight into this incredible music group. Here's the tenth of thirteen chapters.

STEEL PULSE - A Lifetime of Revolution

Chapter 10: Inna Rage

The beginning of 1997 saw the release of Reggatta Mondatta, a reggae tribute to The Police with Pulse contributing Can't Stand Losing You, alongwith tracks from Aswad, Pato Banton and Ziggy Marley. February saw the release of a 30-track compilation, Sound System: The Island Anthology, showcasing their three albums for Island Records and a couple of rare unreleased tracks. Steel Pulse released another Grammy-nominated album, Rage & Fury, in August 1997, recording the 13-tracks at the Dub Factory in their hometown of Birmingham with co-producer Graham Dickson. The quintessential protest album, Steel Pulse recruited some of reggae's most creative rap and dancehall artists and it includes vocal contributions from Ruby Turner, Kevin Batchelor, Michael Franti and DJs Mega Banton, Jukie Ranks and Prezident Brown. It reaffirmed the group's commitment to fighting racial and social injustice and featured Conrad Kelly, a recruit to the Liberation Posse from their home city of Birmingham for the first time. Jamaican-born, Conrad was another former Handsworth Wood pupil who knew the band from their earliest days and joined them after serving his musical apprenticeship with Cornerstone, Ben Okafor, Ijahman Levi, Culture and Freddie McGregor. His first gig, on percussion, was in November 1994. Grizzly remembers the album, and Conrad. "I remember long sessions, lots of changes. We were pleased with the outcome but never really satisfied. After its mixed and finished there's always something that you could've done different, better. Graham Dickson was the producer, he has an ear for any type of music. We wanted a different flavour, that's why he came in. He became a friend of the band. As far as computers, a lot of what I know now as far as sampling, is from him. If someone said, who would you use to do a drum program pattern, I'd say Graham." As for Conrad. "He was in a band called Cornerstone, who used to rehearse across the road from us. He used to come over to see us. We're two drummers, I'm older than him but we've learnt from each other. His style is very similar to mine. We've known each other for years, he grew up with Steel Pulse, almost a member of the band long before he joined us. Came in on percussion to begin with and then we did the two drummer thing, half and half, I'd do one set and then swap over." It's a partnership and friendship that has remained strong since the two first met in the rehearsal basement at Linwood Road.

Their main single release from the Rage album was a bouncy cover version of Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl. The album contained another cover, of their own classic protest song Ku Klux Klan, updated for a new generation of listeners. Tunes like House of Love, Spiritualize It and Peace Party were light and danceable. House of Love was about repairing a relationship and finding a deeper love. Spiritualize It, a beautiful, multi-influenced, reggae dance tune, with strong protest lyrics infused with hope and happiness, whilst Peace Party is a call for unity. Songs like Emotional Prisoner, Role Model and The Real Terrorist are more direct about their protest. Emotional Prisoner highlights slavery, describing the emotional chains that still exist even without slavery. Role Model laments the death, murder and falling down of good African American role models that has marred the past decade. Real Terrorist tells us that politicians working within the system, lying to get votes and power are the real terrorists of the world. I-Spy identifies one of the bad apples of society whilst Blame On Me describes the harrowing effects of false accusations. Rage & Fury showcases Steel Pulse's versatility and also includes two tracks that rejoice in black history, culture and identity, namely Black & Proud and Black Enough.

Another single release was their own cover of Dr Hook's When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman. Extensive touring continued apace and included appearances at fundraising events like MTV's Board-Aid and Los Angeles' environmental Waterman's Ball. They performed in Europe where they hooked up with tour manager Rich Nesin for the first time in Nijmegen in October 1997. Nesin had previously managed artists like Herb Alpert, Kiss, Peter Frampton and Blue Oyster Cult. Kenneth 'Toots' McLean provided backing vocals on the tour. By February 1998, the horn section of Jerry Johnson and Kevin Batchelor had departed to join Big Mountain, to be replaced by vocalists Sylvia Tella and Donna Sterling as the band kicked off the Spirit of Unity tour, alongside Shaggy, Buju Banton and Maxi Priest, playing 34 shows in a 50 day tour of the United States. Handsworth-born Donna Sterling came from a cabaret and RnB background, whilst Sylvia Tella had previous experience with Boney M, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Blow Monkeys and as a successful soloist. Grizzly recalls, "everyone always said why not try female vocals, so we said okay. Sylvia is an artist in her own right. The horns weren't there so the girls gave us a different flavour. It worked well, both are excellent singers, they added another dimension."

Initially it was Donna and a friend, Slim Banton, who'd auditioned at the band's Dean Street, Digbeth studio and had impressed David and Selwyn so much that they were taken on as backing singers for the group's impending three month tour of the United States in March. Up to that point Donna had no real experience of reggae, she was much more into soul and RnB and had not really heard of the band either, let alone being aware of their impressive history in the music business. Problems with his visa meant Slim was not able to take up the offer so a second female singer, Sylvia Tella was called into accompany Donna on vocals and the two met at rehearsals. It was a tough introduction for Donna, who takes over the story, "I was shitting bricks. This was way out of my league, as I'd not done reggae before... Slim, who's a fantastic singer, and I complimented each other so well, we'd been singing together for so long. It was both of us they wanted." As it turned out Slim Banton didn't make the trip but Sylvia Tella did, as Donna's vocal partner. "...I cried a lot of the time, I was homesick, it was hard... I met her at the rehearsal studios for the first time on the third day, we did a lot of rehearsing for a straight week or two, twelve hours a day, in a nice studio in Hockley. At first I thought she was great, I've got no problems, this woman is experienced, she knows what she's doing, she can teach me a lot, as I'm green. I didn't know what the hell I was getting myself into... Selwyn gave me a CD a week after the audition, music and words and everything. I learnt my bit, the words and remembering where I had to come in and not come in. Then I had to learn the nuances of the words and my pitching..."

"It was a hard three months on tour. I'd never experienced anything like it. Never. We're talking day in, day out. You get a break and you sleep. On my day off I'm in bed sleeping as I'm knackered. Rehearsals were in the afternoon, then catch some more sleep, then the buzz on stage and afterwards, from 9pm til probably 6 or 7am the next morning." Donna found the switch from cabaret performer in the Midlands into the harsh spotlight of a nationwide Spirit of Unity Tour with high-profile bands playing to audiences of thousands, very hard at first. "Vocally I was out of my depth, out of my league. Many times at the beginning I wanted to pull out. I said it was too much for me, but I stuck at it. I'd made a huge jump but I'd had so much practice at the stage work, cabaret work had taught me to be professional on stage and to be the person I am today." The tour kicked off in Hawaii with Steel Pulse part of a Spirit of Unity Tour of the States that also included Maxi Priest, Buju Banton, Shaggy and Beres Hammond. Donna already knew the legendary Maxi Priest as a friend of her family, had met him many times before and she felt a little less homesick when they embraced on the pitch at the stadium venue before the opening show in Hawaii. "I remember that Buju played football to relax and had his own cook, and we used to go to his room for food. All the different band members mingled and mixed together, that's a fun part of touring but behind closed doors its very political on a tour like that. Originally the tour was for three months, but everything abruptly stopped after two and a half months as there were money problems with the organisers. David vowed never to do it again." This first taste of the reggae world made a lasting impression on Donna. "It wised me up. It made me grow up. At the time I didn't realise how big Steel Pulse were. I thought Maxi was the main name but then I saw that Steel Pulse headlined the majority of the shows."

It had been a tough introduction for Donna, who recalls, "after the tour ended, I went home and cried my eyes out." Whilst a daunting prospect for the twenty-five year old, she had proved her worth to the band and teamed up again for their own tour of the States before they closed the year with a visit to Africa. It was the band's second visit to the continent after their ill-fated trip to Nigeria in 1982. For Donna it was a momentous occasion. "My first time in Africa, a real culture shock. I'd never seen so many black people in all my life in one place. My first Christmas in Africa, we were in Ghana on Christmas Day, we'd gone to the slave center where they'd shipped the slaves to America. We did a bit of sight-seeing, it was safe to go out by ourselves with no problems at all. We stayed for about two weeks playing in Abidjan in Ivory Coast, Dakar in Senegal, where we met the actor Danny Glover, and Accra in Ghana on Christmas Eve. We had a good crowd reaction. They knew every single word, in French, of our songs." Originally the band were due to play eight dates but reduced it to four as their trip coincided with the religious festival of Ramadan. David Hinds commented on their return to Africa, "it was a tremendous sight to behold and the ecstatic moral boost to our existence was so energising." Their visit to Senegal also included an emotional visit to the slave center at Goree Island.

Chapter 11: Leaving A Legacy - will follow next week.

Festivities

2011-12-25T22:59:00.000+07:00

I had a pretty quiet Christmas Day aside from watching the Crown Academy boys playing first thing this morning - they won again, pretty much as they do in every game they play. They really play the game the way I want to see, pass, pass, pass, but they occasionally overdo it and should take the effort on goal when it presents itself, rather than unselfishly pass, again, to another teammate. The futsal pitches being constructed at Crown's Tuol Kork ground should be finished in about a month and will give the youngsters, and the club, an invaluable training facility that will be the envy of every other football team in the country. Rumnea and I then joined the Jar Lady, Nancy, at the Aussie XL pub on Street 51 for a Chrimbo lunch with all the trimmings. I even had a couple of glasses of bubbly but my headache this evening reminded me why I don't drink champagne. That was about it, the rest of the day was spent relaxing. It's back to work tomorrow, no such thing as a public holiday for Christmas in Cambodia, though they have a holiday for pretty much everything else. But if you think Christmas hasn't arrived here, think again. The teenagers and youths have taken the gift-giving and gift-receiving side of Christmas to their bosom in no uncertain terms. The commercial side of the festivity is here to stay.

A novel thriller

2011-12-24T23:25:00.006+07:00

A novel that has just come to my attention, though it was released earlier this year, is Tom Knox's The Lost Goddess, published in March in the UK as Bible of the Dead. It's a gripping thriller that takes the reader from caves in deepest France, to Cambodia and onto the Plain of Jars in Laos, combining history and archeology, politics and neuro surgery, with a series of terrifying murders and the Khmer Rouge at its throbbing heart. The book is the author's third novel and you can read more about London-based Tom Knox (real name Sean Thomas) here. the Lost Goddess is published by Viking in the USA in February 2012. Note: It shouldn't be confused with Trudy Jacobsen's scholarly tome Lost Goddesses: Denial of Female Power in Cambodian History.

Thumbs up for the Doucs

2011-12-23T21:08:00.001+07:00

Doucs galore in Mondulkiri

There's good news for wildlife lovers in Cambodia. Two projects are just about to be launched in the north east provinces of Cambodia which will provide visitors with a good chance of getting close to some of the country's rapidly disappearing wild animals. With the forests of Cambodia vanishing faster than you can shake a stick, as plantations and commercial mining demand more and more space, its great news that there are still pockets of wildlife in numbers sufficient to entice conservation groups to set up these programs. In the Seima Protected Forest in Mondulkiri, WCS and Sam Veasna are working with the villagers of Andong Kraleong to set up one, two and three-day treks that will take you amongst the world's largest known population of Black-shanked Doucs (estimated to be around 40,000), while other monkeys such as macaques, yellow-cheeked crested gibbons and langurs, together with larger cattle like Banteng and Gaur, and night-viewing of loris and wild cats are also a possibility. And that's not to mention the elephants and the abundant birdlife including giant hornbills. The project, using villagers as guides, aims to provide the local community with sustainable employment in tourism in return for not hunting the wildlife and for forest conservation. The treks around Andong Kraleong will take visitors through pristine forest and to a series of 20-meter high waterfalls. A second project, this time with Conservation International to the fore, is looking to benefit from the groups of yellow-cheeked gibbons and red-shanked Doucs that inhabit the fringes of the Virachey National Park in Ratanakiri near Voen Sai. They are working with locals to allow limited access to these closely-related cousins of the proboscis monkey a reality. Other animals such as macaques, sun bears and wild dogs are known to inhabit the same area.

In full swing

2011-12-22T22:50:00.001+07:00

Bride Anny and guest Rumnea hog the camera, and rightly so

The Khmer wedding season is in full swing and Anny, my favourite supervisor at Cafe Fresco on St 51 was the center of attention at the Mekong Russey Keo restaurant tonight. Having tied the knot earlier in the day, the party went with a bang including on-stage karaoke from the bride and her bridesmaids later in the evening. They sounded pretty good as well. I hope she and her hubby have a Christmas to remember. I've just had some news that will bring me less grief in 2012 but I'll report on that when it's all done and dusted sometime in the next few months. Let's just say that it gave me many headaches over the course of this year but will be one less tie to my former life back in Blighty.

Fancy getting inspired? Soma Norodom will be giving a hour-long lecture to students and the public at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Department of Media & Communication, on Friday 6 January 2012 (9.30-11am). The lecture will cover her experiences, both professional and personal, back in the USA, as a writer, journo, sports commentator and actress, and now as a talk show host in Cambodia. She currently hosts the PUC Talk Show every evening on 90.0FM from 7pm. Soma is a consummate pro and I speak from experience. She certainly did her homework when she invited me onto her radio talk show back in September and made me very comfortable. I felt we could've chatted for much longer than the show's one and half hours. My appearance on the show will be replayed on 90.0FM from 7pm on New Year's Eve (Saturday 31 December). A nice way to see out 2011.

Anny and hubby in the middle of the food-giving ceremony

The lights are bright as Rumnea and I arrive and are greeted by Anny and her mum

Vaddey's Shadows

2011-12-21T16:45:00.004+07:00

I'm a glutton for new books on or about Cambodia. A new novel, not due out until August next year, comes with much praise before its release by Simon & Schuster. Vaddey Ratner's novel, In The Shadow of the Baynan, about a young girl's experiences in war-torn Cambodia will come from the heart. The author (pictured) was five years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. After four years, having endured forced labor, starvation, and near execution, she escaped while many of her family members perished. In 1981, she arrived in the US as a refugee not knowing English and, in 1990, went on to graduate as her high school class valedictorian. She is a graduate of Cornell University, where she specialized in Southeast Asian history and literature. In recent years she traveled and lived in Cambodia and SEAsia, writing and researching, which culminated in her debut novel. You can read more about the author and her forthcoming book here.

Enforced rest

2011-12-21T09:39:00.004+07:00

It's all gone tits up in the last day or two with access to my Blog. Essentially, a network problem at the office has disrupted my accessibility to the frontpage (signing-in page) of my Blog and we're hastily trying to resolve it. Bottom-line, it may take some time to fix, so please be patient.
Postscript; Panic over (this time around). Access restored.

Steel Pulse - Chapter 9

2011-12-19T01:50:00.004+07:00

The 3 core members of Steel Pulse included Steve Grizzly Nisbett on drums, alongside David Hinds and Selwyn Brown

It's Steel Pulse time again - Chapter 9 of their incredible journey. For a long while I had planned to author a biography of the world's best reggae band, Steel Pulse. It never happened but rather than let my notes gather dust, I am publishing each chapter on my blog, on a weekly basis, to give everyone an insight into this incredible music group. Here's the ninth of thirteen chapters.

STEEL PULSE - A Lifetime of Revolution

Chapter 9: Roots Resurrection

Steel Pulse released their tenth album, Vex, which proved to be their last for MCA, in September 1994. Determined to return to their spiritual roots, the album was recorded in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and featured Diana King and deejays Tony Rebel, Macka B and Jukie Ranks. Kevin Batchelor rapped on Better Days and Micah Robinson took over trombone duties. Many of the tracks were mixed by Dennis Thompson, who'd worked with the band at various intervals over the years. Grizzly recalls, "we wanted a different flavour, different producer (Stephen Stewart), different setting, different everything and where else to go to record reggae but Jamaica. Some others helped out like Jukie Ranks and Macka B from Birmingham, who did their vocals over here." He points out, "if a track was not used on one album, it might be used further down the line. There's a cupboard full of unused songs written by David and Selwyn. Putting an album together was like putting a story together or like painting a picture. If some songs didn't fit, they wouldn't be used. In the early days, we'd do a show based on the album and would put in a couple of extra tracks that the audience hadn't heard before. Steel Pulse was and always will be an album band." Selwyn declared, "We reached a stage with the albums where we tried and tried and tried this crossover thing and basically got tired of it. When it didn't work, when it didn't cross over in a big way, we thought, 'this don't make no sense so let's just go back to what we're more accustomed to doing,' which is stuff like we're doing now on the Vex album...all those kind of tracks represent Steel Pulse more." This stance was echoed in the lyrics of the album track, Back To My Roots. 'We took that commercial road/searching for some fame and gold/and gained a whole wide world/and almost lost our souls./Some say we should have led the way/take it over from Bob Marley/got brainwashed by the system/what a heavy price we paid./It's time to go back/the way it was...back to my roots.' In May 1994 they'd appeared on the Late Night Show with Conan O'Brien and performed Let Freedom Ring, a tribute to Martin Luther King. Steel Pulse also spent that Summer headlining the 10th Reggae Sunsplash tour of the US with Maxi Priest, Europe, Japan with Big Mountain, visiting islands like Aruba, Lesser Antilles and Guam and a successful tour of Brazil and Argentina in July and August.

In 1995, a live performance of Blues Dance Raid alongwith another two dozen Reggae Sunsplash artists was captured on the documentary film, 'The Reggae Movie'. In April they played the Cayman Islands and during their end of year Caribbean tour were again refused entry into Dominica. Long-time manager Andy Bowen departed after thirteen years and following a period of reflection and a strategic rethink, David 'Dread' Hinds assumed control of the band's affairs, and alongwith the remaining core members, drummer Steve 'Grizzly' Nisbett and Selwyn 'Bumbo' Brown on keyboards, reactivated the Wise Man Doctrine (WMD) label and upgraded their rehearsal studio in Birmingham to recording premises to lay down their definitive Rastanthology compilation album in 1996. "Rastanthology was tracks that everyone liked. We put out a few feelers about what people would like to hear and that was the result," explains Grizzly. Earlier in the year Pulse toured extensively in the Caribbean and in January appeared at the 7th Hollywood Rock festivals in Brazil, in Sao Paulo (at Pacaembu Stadium on 21 January) and Rio de Janeiro (Apoteose Square on 26 January) alongside Page and Plant, The Cure and Smashing Pumpkins. They also contributed the track Franklin's Tower to the Fire on the Mountain: Reggae celebrates the Grateful Dead album and I-Spy to the film soundtrack, Klash, a romantic thriller set in Jamaica. The group had been invited to play at the Atlanta Centennial Olympic celebrations on 27 July that year but Hinds cried off with a ruptured tendon in his shoulder and they fortunately avoided the deadly bomb blast that killed one and injured dozens as they listened to an open-air music concert in the early hours.

Chapter 10: Inna Rage - will follow next week.

Sak shines, again

2011-12-18T22:06:00.001+07:00

Sak and his family in 2007. lLtoR (back row); Theara and Sak; (front row) Chamnap, Holly, Chakrya and Borromey.

I love it when someone I've known for many years gets a thumbs-up from an unlikely source. This time its my pal Sak in Battambang who gets the seal of approval from the New York Times no less. If you are going to impress, then do it with one of the biggest names in the newspaper business I say. One of the paper's writers decided to pop over to Battambang for a looksee and they just happened to encounter Sak, something I've been recommending for years here. Anyway, enough of the build-up, here's the story.

A Pocket of the Past in Battambang - by Naomi Lindt, The New York Times, 15 December 2011.
Under an electric blue sky, with the morning sun already beating down, Som Sangva Sak stood on a narrow, two-lane bridge over the Sangker River and surveyed his hometown, Battambang, in northwestern Cambodia. “When we talk about heritage conservation in Cambodia, people only think about Angkor Wat. But we also have something special here, something we need to preserve,” said Mr. Sak, 41, gesturing toward the river’s banks, which are lined with a stunning variety of historic structures: French colonial shop houses with arched windows and ornate iron balconies; grand, century-old villas with burgundy-tiled roofs; imposing pagodas with intricate bas-reliefs. Chattering schoolchildren in navy blue-and-white uniforms cycled across the bridge, while fishermen in rickety wooden boats occasionally floated by. “These buildings recall the evolution of Khmer civilization — they connect the past to the present,” he continued. “They symbolize our culture and need to be kept for younger generations.”

For the last seven years, Mr. Sak, an adviser to Battambang’s urban planning team and a part-time tour guide, has acted as a liaison between the German government and the local municipality to build awareness of Battambang’s architectural treasures. (Germany has offered the city assistance and expertise in creating new infrastructure, while protecting its old architecture.) Mr. Sak’s task is particularly relevant in today’s climate, as mass development, largely driven by Chinese investment and wealthy officials, transforms Cambodia’s towns, roads and landscapes.

In Battambang, the local government has taken matters into its own hands, with measures like an educational campaign that focuses on cultural heritage. Meanwhile, private financing is responsible for most building restoration, with the goals of attracting tourism and preserving this gem of a town. With a population of 140,000, Battambang is the country’s second-largest city, though few tourists make it here. Those who do are rewarded with one of the country’s greatest collections of historic structures, from decaying Angkorean temples surrounded by lotus ponds to modernist cinemas built during the country’s 1960s construction boom. They also gain access to one of the country’s richest artistic communities: Battambang has produced generations of artists, a legacy that residents are busy building on. “People are starting to feel proud of their city again,” said Mr. Sak.

I first visited Battambang in 2006 and fell in love with its crumbling charm and lush, picturesque countryside. Its dark, potholed streets and seedy guesthouses, though, weren’t so lovable. But when I heard that a preservation movement was under way, which included new boutique hotels, art galleries and restaurants, many housed in historic buildings, I decided to go back. The floods that hit Cambodia in the early fall delayed my plans. Though Battambang was mostly spared, several streets in the city were underwater, as were sections of the 180-mile route from Phnom Penh, the capital. (Conditions have since improved.) When I finally arrived in November, I spent my first night swathed in Old World charm at La Villa, a seven-room boutique hotel in a stunning two-story home built by a wealthy local tradesman in the 1930s and restored in 2005. Antique armoires, four-poster beds, richly patterned floor tiles and vintage ceiling lamps fill the space. Each night, the hotel’s restaurant serves tender steaks and fish curries to a mature European crowd seated at candlelit tables shaded by hundred-year-old trees.

The next morning I headed to the other side of the river and explored the Heritage Protection Area, a compact district defined by the municipal government in 2009. It’s populated by about 800 historical buildings, the largest collection in the country. I ducked into a squat, roughly 150-year-old Chinese temple with curved gables; the roof was partly collapsed but it was still active. Since most worshipers come in the afternoon, though, I had it to myself, snapping photos of the tattered red Chinese lanterns and colorful paintings on the walls. Nearby is Psar Nath, the city’s main market, housed in a faded yellow Art Deco edifice with a tiered roof and clock tower built in 1936. Shoppers closely inspect goods from glittering wedding apparel to recently killed chickens.

Peaceful as the town might be today, Battambang’s architectural vestiges bear testament to a tumultuous past. Over the last two centuries it has been ruled by Thailand and France. It enjoyed a brief period of freedom during the heady, post-independence days of the 1950s and ’60s before the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. Battambang province was one of the regime’s last strongholds — peace wouldn’t arrive until 1997, when the city began to pick up the pieces. Nevertheless, Battambang has produced some of the country’s most famous artists: the 1960s chanteuse Ros Sereysothea, whose popularity persists decades after her death; the late painter Vann Nath; and Chhom Nimol, the frontwoman of the Los Angeles-based indie rock band Dengue Fever.

“Even during Angkorean times, there was a strong, talented group here who wanted to create their own kingdom,” said Theanly Chov, 26, a painter who manages the nine-month-old Sammaki, one of the new galleries that exhibits young local artists. “The combination of cultures — Cambodian, Chinese, Thai, French — makes the city open-minded to art.” Last year, the local government restored a majestic mansion built for the last Thai governor in 1905. On the city’s narrow streets, private owners are sprucing up 1920s and ’30s shop houses and corner buildings and turning some of them into bars and cafes. And a few of the early 20th-century traditional wooden houses on stilts in and around the city are now open for tours.

In 2001, an Australian-Khmer couple, John and Sinouin Parker, transformed one of those homes into the Riverside Balcony Bar, which features an all-wood, open-air veranda. At sunset, a symphony of crickets mesmerizes, as the fading light bathes the surrounding river and towering palm trees. Anna Milligan, originally from Washington State, runs Café Eden in a renovated riverfront shop house. A year ago, Ms. Milligan opened the boho-chic nonprofit cafe, boutique and art space.

While snacking on French fries and peanut butter bars, visitors can gaze upon works by local artists, many of whom are graduates of Phare Ponleu Selpak, an arts school established in 1994 by a group of young Cambodians who met in a refugee camp during the 1980s. Tourists are welcome on the school grounds, a 10-minute tuk-tuk drive from the city center down a narrow road on the city’s outskirts, where teenagers play traditional Cambodian instruments and sinewy boys and girls practice juggling, tumbling and modern dance moves for the public performances the school hosts several nights a week. Phare has also become renowned for its fine arts program, which has trained many of the country’s rising young painters and sculptors, like Mao Soviet, who opened the Make Maek Gallery with his wife, Phin Sophorn, also an artist, in September. “Many local artists graduate from Phare and produce a lot of work, but then go to Phnom Penh or Siem Reap because there has been no space to show art,” said Mr. Soviet, a 31-year-old with disheveled hair. Make Maek is out to change that, organizing eight shows throughout the year for local and visiting international artists. The gallery has also spawned an artist-in-residency program.

To raise local awareness about the arts and to lure visitors to the gallery, Make Maek holds an event called “Make Light” every Saturday night, distributing sparklers to neighborhood children and curious passers-by for a half-hour street party, raucous by sleepy Battambang standards. (The city’s street lighting still leaves much to be desired). One of the guests at a recent “Make Light” event was Darren Swallow, a 46-year-old Welshman who has lived in Battambang since 2005. An active promoter of the local art scene and a founder of Sammaki, Mr. Swallow has organized several exhibitions of the city’s artists around Cambodia. “There’s still a ways to go here, but there’s such talent and energy,” he said. “It’s not hectic — you can really live for the moment in Battambang. And that moment stretches into a week for a lot of people.”

If you go: Battambang is a four- to five-hour drive from Phnom Penh by private car ($60; arrange through your hotel) or a six- to eight-hour boat ride from Siem Reap, starting at $20. (The U.S. dollar is the de facto currency in Cambodia.) The small, pedestrian- and bike-friendly town is easy to navigate. Note that local drivers generally know the name of a business, not the street address.

Where to stay: La Villa’s spacious rooms ooze history and charm (855-53-730-151; lavilla-battambang.net) and start at $60 per night. The year-old Bambu Battambang Hotel (855-53-953-900; bambuhotel.com), a 10-minute walk from La Villa and a few minutes’ drive from the town center, has a resortlike feel. The 16 rooms, from $80 a night, are spread across four raised wooden houses. At the eco-friendly Sanctuary Villa (Chrey Kong Village; 855-972-167-168; sanctuaryvilla.derlengtours.com), just outside of town, the seven silk-accented bungalows surround a saltwater pool; rates from $86 per night. A mile from the town center, the eco-hotel Au Cabaret Vert (855-53-656-2000; aucabaretvert.fr), opened a year ago, has a restaurant that serves French fare. Doubles, $66.

Where to eat: Khmer Delight (one block south of Psar Nath; 855-12-671-911; entrees from $3) is a reliable spot for cheap, well-made local food, while Pomme d’Amour (63 Street 2.5; 855-12-415-513; entrees from $5) offers creative French-Khmer fusion cuisine. Café Eden (85 Street 1; 855-53-73-1525; entrees from $2.50) serves some of the best comfort food you’ll find in Cambodia. The Riverside Balcony Bar (about a mile south of the town center along the west bank of the Sangker River; 855-53-730-313) is easily Battambang’s most atmospheric spot for dollar drafts.

What to see and do: For a self-guided walking door of Battambang’s buildings, download the two free maps released last year by the nonprofit organization Khmer Architecture Tours. Som Sangva Sak (855-12-599-890) conducts private architectural city tours and trips to outlying temples in the countryside starting at $20 for a half day. The old wooden houses of Wat Kor are three miles outside of town; visitors can tour two homes with the French-speaking owners. English speakers should bring a guide. In January, the village’s first boutique hotel opens, Maisons Wat Kor (855-98-555-377; maisonswatkor.com; doubles from $70). Its eight rooms are in three buildings modeled on their historic neighbors. Check out works by local artists at Sammaki Gallery (87 Street 2.5; 855-17-968-050) and Make Maek Gallery (66 Street 2.5; 855-17-946-108). Visitors are welcome at Phare Ponleu Selpak (Anch Anh Village; 855-53-952-424); hourlong circus performances take place five times a week, starting at 7 p.m.; tickets are $8.

Golden memories

2011-12-17T23:10:00.008+07:00

Davy Chou (left) with his main characters, Yvon Hem, Dy Saveth, Ly You Sreang and Ly Bun Yim

It was sad to see that much of the Golden Age of Khmer cinema from the Sixties and Seventies remains only in the memory of a few survivors from that time. But Davy Chou's 90-minute documentary Golden Slumbers shines a light through the window of time onto a fifteen year period where more than 350 films were made, Phnom Penh audiences flocked to thirty cinemas, nearly a dozen film studios flourished and fifteen leading actors were the gods of the silver screen. All that ended with the arrival of the Khmer Rouge in 1975, actors and directors were executed, cinemas destroyed, and the film prints themselves, mostly lost forever. In this documentary, shown tonight for the first time in Phnom Penh at Legend Cinema as a part of the international film festival, we were privileged to recall those heady days through the testimony of a handful of survivors, three filmmakers and one of the leading ladies. But at times it was a painful experience for the main characters to recall their moments in the limelight, some forty years ago. Their lives forever changed by history.

Dy Saveth is the living embodiment of the glamour and style of those glory days of the Sixties and Seventies. She is the most famous Cambodian actress of all time. After being crowned Miss Cambodia in 1959, she starred in her first film two years later. She collaborated more than ten times with male lead Kong Sam Oeun over a five-year period from 1965 though her greatest roles were perhaps alongside Chea Yuthorn and filmmaker Tea Lim Koun. Dy Saveth made nearly 100 films, including 10 with King Father Norodom Sihanouk and even launched her own film studio producing 17 films, before moving to France in May 1975 and escaping the devastation wrought by the Khmer Rouge. She returned to live in Cambodia in 1993 and has made a significant contribution to rebuilding the Cambodian film industry. Joining her in recounting the Golden Age in Davy Chou's film were filmmakers Ly Bun Yim, Yvon Hem and Ly You Sreang.

Dy Saveth recalling her memories of the Golden Age of Khmer film

Director Yvon Hem had his own studio called Dragonfly

Rub-a-dub

2011-12-16T22:53:00.005+07:00

Kosal working the crowd at Equinox tonight

A big crowd gathered at Equinox tonight for the return of Dub Addiction, after a break of about five months since the band last played live. The name says it all as to what the band are about, with Kosal leading from the front with the vocals, taking a break from his day job as a producer and director for Khmer Mekong Films and a freelance music producer. It's good to see his constant progression since I first met him a few years ago. He's a multi-talented individual and played a gangster in the opera, Where Elephants Weep. If you like your dub, and a puff on some wacky-backy, then you'll enjoy Dub Addiction.
I'm off to the Cambodian Film Festival tomorrow night for the premiere of Golden Slumbers at the Legend Cinema. It's a look back at the Golden Age of Khmer film in the 60s and 70s and I'm really looking forward to it. The film starts at 7pm and is free. I hope Dy Saveth, who appears in the documentary, is there as she's the torchbearer for the good old days and is still in remarkable nick. She promised to teach me how to dance the ramvong when we met previously but I never kept her to her word. Such a shame. There's lots of other films being shown over the four-days of the festival which closes on Sunday with a screening of Dancing Across Borders at the French Institute at 3pm.

Hotel madness

2011-12-15T23:10:00.001+07:00

Advertising for Sokha Beach Hotel where the Vegas Casino gets top billing

If they can hear the chink of the cash register, then some people have no compunction in turning their prize cash-cow into a dog's dinner. Take Sokha Beach Hotel in Sihanoukville. They have the top 5-star resort on the south coast. Whilst it's not everyone's cup of tea, it attracts the crowds because it's the best on offer in the top range, and they have a private beach. So what do they go and do. They open up a glitzy gaming casino at the front door, guaranteed to turn off and turn away most western guests. The Sokha Vegas Casino proudly offers blackjack, baccarat, roulette and slots in its advertising literature. Someone pass me the sick bucket. I can't think of anything worse. Though I'm sure they are already counting the wads of cash from their Asian market customers. It's the same Sokha group who are building 560 rooms on O’Chheuteal beach in the same city. That's not to mention the 14-hectare Chrouy Changva monstrosity with 798 rooms (and an Irish pub) that is blighting the view across from Phnom Penh's riverfront. Oh and of course, there's their Bokor Hill development project, just outside of Kampot. On the drawing board are a casino resort (12 storeys and 652 rooms), eco-villas, entertainment parks, cable car and 18-36 holes of championship golf designed by Arnold Palmer. And there's supposed to be a conservation plan for wildlife. What wildlife - the construction workers will have gobbled up everything well before they've finished laying the final brick.
Whilst on the subject of bird-brained hotel development, can someone explain to me why Hotel de la Paix in Siem Reap needs to close its doors for nine - yes, 9 - months come 1 July 2012? Currently envied by all the other hotel GMs in Siem Reap for their high occupancy and glowing reputation, those in charge have decided to close the doors for a spate of room renovations ahead of a new branding, that will kill off their next high season and beyond. It beggars belief to be honest, and everyone I've spoken to, finds it hard to fathom as well. Why would you close your doors, at the height of your success and fame, to add a lick of paint to your walls and move the bed around the room? I'm sure its more than that, but you get the picture. It's potentially financial and reputational suicide. The new branding, Hyatt, has 450+ properties across the globe. HDLP will be their first in Cambodia. They already have 2 in nearby Vietnam.

The future of Bokor Mountain is this Las Vegas-style 12-storey monstrosity

The King's Stupa

2011-12-14T23:00:00.001+07:00

The King's Stupa surrounded by trees and undergrowth in O'Svay village

A young and distinguished portrait of the then-Prince Sihanouk

In the overgrown garden of a small house in the village of O'Svay, close to the border with Laos and next to the mighty Mekong River, stands a monument to a time long forgotten by most. The locals call it the King's Stupa. In the early 1960s the then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk initiated a project which was called "the colonization of new lands," which aimed to develop rural aresa and reduce poverty in Cambodia's remote provinces like Stung Treng and the northeastern areas. The town of Borey O'Svay was established in the early 1960s close to the border with Laos, reflecting a concern about Lao traders and fishermen encroaching on Cambodian territory. The military were sent to clear the jungle and build an access road, fifty concrete houses, a school, a hospital, a market, a pagoda, a military camp and a sugar cane factory. On 1 January 1964, 300 families of retired military officers and soldiers mainly from Takeo, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Kandal provinces, as well as refugees from Kampuchea Krom, were offered housing, land, cattle, seed and trees to settle there. Prince Sihanouk personally inaugurated Borey O'Svay in 1967. At the time, dense forest was very close to the rice fields and homes and the villagers did not venture into the forest for fear of tigers, elephants and other wild animals. In 1970 Khmer Rouge troops took over O'Svay and in 1972, bombing raids by the United States destroyed much of the town. In 1975 families from Phnom Penh were sent to live in the area and a year later people were forced to leave the village to clear new rice fields some 40kms away. In 1979 the villagers returned and found their homes in ruins. Today five villages make up the O'Svay commune with a total population of 445 families, some 2,340 people. The King's Stupa is still there, if you can find it amongst the undergrowth, with concrete panels showing Prince Sihanouk in all his glory. And if you ask around you can still find one or two of the original inhabitants.

This narrative panel shows the Prince working the land

Another panel on the monument shows the Prince building a house

Here the Prince is stepping out forcibly across a new bridge

Another of the local inhabitants, attached to the stupa, which I spotted just in time

Bochan debut

2011-12-13T20:52:00.000+07:00

If you haven't heard the music of Bochan, she has released her first album today, Full Monday Moon, and you can get a feel for it here. It's an eclectic collection of eleven tracks from this fast-rising Cambodian-American indie-pop solo singer songwriter and includes a remake of the famous 'Chnam Oun 16' track. Born in Cambodia and now living in California, she grew up travelling around the US, singing in her father's Cambodian rock band. Now she's doing her own thing in collaboration with pianist and producer Arlen Hart. Enjoy.

Clapperboard at the ready

2011-12-12T17:02:00.004+07:00

On location at Phnom Krom with Om Tuk

On the subject of capturing images on film... the Hanuman Films team have been a busy bunch recently. Kulikar Sotho was Executive Director on a c0-production with an Australian movie project, filmed in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap for a future Festival-bound film called Om Tuk. It's a love story between two Cambodian teenagers. The style of film-making allows a lot of invention as the story unfolds. That was followed by a high-end New York men's fashion photo-shoot with two well-known photographers in Siem Reap and the capital, a BBC Scotland production of a blessing ceremony at one of the lesser Angkor temples and a 3D Discovery Channel shoot. There are four more projects lined-up for the early part of 2012 as the variety of filming projects in Cambodia continues unabated. One of the films Hanuman completed work on earlier this year, Wish You Were Here, makes its debut at the prestigious Sundance Festival in the States next month.

Ultimate Angkor

2011-12-12T10:48:00.004+07:00

My happy snapper friend, Eric de Vries, Siem Reap resident and ace photographer, has just published the third in a trilogy of new photographic books, titled Ultimate Angkor, from his aptly named series The Works of Eric de Vries. The book contains 250 pictures of temple sites from Angkor, in black and white, colour and sepia. Some of the photos will be shown in an exhibition next year in the capital (at the Intercontinental Hotel in March) and in Siem Reap. You can purchase the book from LuLu as a printed book or e-book, or find out more at Eric's website www.ericdevries.nl. Print versions of the books are $60, e-books are $8. The first and second books in the trilogy were entitled Street and Series. He's also just published a 2012 calendar called All Eyes on Cambodia.

Steel Pulse - Chapter 8

2011-12-11T22:42:00.000+07:00

Steel Pulse 1991 vintage - one of the last times Phonso Martin was pictured with the band (front row far right)

It's Steel Pulse time again - Chapter 8 of their incredible story. For a long while I had planned to author a biography of the world's best reggae band, Steel Pulse. It never happened but rather than let my notes gather dust, I am publishing each chapter on my blog, on a weekly basis, to give everyone an insight into this incredible music group. Here's the eighth of thirteen chapters.

STEEL PULSE - A Lifetime of Revolution

Chapter 8: Victims of the System

Steel Pulse toured the States alongwith Special Beat at the same time as their latest album Victims was released in June 1991, with contributions from Stevie Wonder (harmonica solo on Can't Get You) and Pato Banton (We Can Do It). Assisting on keyboards was fellow co-producer Paul Horton, Jimmy Haynes and Melvin Brown shared lead guitar duties and the horn section came courtesy of Paul Simm (trumpet), John Battrum (sax) and Frank Mysan (trombone). Soul of My Soul was released as a single from the album. "I recall a lot of re-writing and re-arrangements for Victims. David has very good ears. They're spot on. If he says something's wrong, he's right. It may be the timing, the groove, the feeling or the tuning is not right. He's a perfectionist, he hears things you don't and when he points it out to you, he's always right. You can't argue with him. We spent long hours in the studio, but its ours so we could come and go when we liked, sometimes 10am til 6am the next morning. Co-producing with the band was Paul Horton from Birmingham, who'd been a good friend of the band for a long-time. A musician who plays guitar, we knew he had studio skills and had his own studio no less," recalls Grizzly. The album was nominated for the Reggae Grammy award, which eventually went to Shabba Ranks.

In the same year, the group said goodbye to vocalist and percussionist Phonso Martin after fourteen years with the band. Grizzly believes, "he became business-headed. He'd always liked dabbling on the business-side of things, he went into a managment company and wanted to concentrate on that. I think he had a record label, a management company as well a boutique in London. Once he left the band he spent most of his time in the States but came to see us at a few shows." Meanwhile, Hinds took the New York Taxi & Limousine Commission to court for discrimination against black citizens and penned the single Taxi Driver as a permanent reminder. The $1 million lawsuit spawned a popular video at the time that included cameo appearances from Rev. Al Sharpton, Jay Leno, Branford Marsalis, C Thomas Howell, film-maker Robert Townsend and Sunsplash founder, Tony Johnson. Grizzly explains, "David tried to get a cab one day, something happened and he said I'll sue you guys. We did the whole Taxi thing and it took off. Everybody got involved, Al Sharpton, Jay Leno, everyone. No one had gone that far with the Taxi Commission in New York. It happens all the time, so we'd decided to do something about it. It was in the papers and on the tv, everything." Behind the publicity juggernaut that broke the story nationwide, that evetually saw the band playing at the White House, were publicity agents Lobeline, the company who also promoted the Reggae Sunsplash festivals.

Speaking in 1991 about the reasons for their success, David Hinds told High Times, 'If you go back into the '70s and count all the reggae bands that existed then and still exist today as reggae bands - and I don't mean artists with a reggae backing band - you can probably count them on one hand. As opposed to following the trend, we've been a trendsetter. We've always had our own type of groove. We've worked upon it over the years and also adapted different styles along the way. So we've had a strong following and been respected as a group that's been around for some time saying something.' Hinds continues, 'Obviously subject matter is going to differ because of where one originates. One can only speak of one's environment and peers within that environment. Also, British reggae artists tend to feature a lot more instrumentation, especially around the mid-range, where there are more keyboard and guitar fills and a lot of harmony stacks. Where Jamaica leans more towards rhythm, English reggae tends to lean more towards melody and harmonies. Jamaican reggae is drum, bass, probably one countermelody and a skank with a lead vocal that very rarely has harmony added to it.'

Still under pressure from their record company to produce more commercially-acceptable crossover music, the band continued to tour extensively in the USA, the Caribbean including Reggae Sunsplash in August and the French Caribbean, a second visit to Japan, a first time trip to Australia (where in New Caledonia their equipment was confiscated and auctioned by customs) and Europe and produced a live album, Rastafari Centennial, recorded over three nights in Paris in January 1992, for which they received a third Grammy nomination on its release in September 1992. Lead guitarist Cliff 'Moonie' Pusey, with experience with Paula Abdul, The Family Stand, Aftershock and Maxi Priest, made his debut appearance on the album, having first joined the band in 1989, alongwith the horn section of Kevin Batchelor (trumpet), Jerry Johnson (sax) and Clark Gayton (trombone), who toured with the group at that time. Here's Grizzly's take on it. "Loony Moonie - we needed a guitarist. We'd seen a video of him play and we wanted a guitarist who was different. Sidney introduced him, he came along, showed us what he could do and we said yes. But we found out what he could really do when he got on stage. That's when Moonie really comes into his own. Kevin and Jerry are a good horn section. They'd been together for a long while. We used horns in the studio but not live. It made it more dynamic, a whole new range to the show, a new melody, new rhythm section and was an added attraction on stage. It took the show to a new level. Musically, it added so much to us, they were performing, playing, they were singing. Kevin sings, raps, dances, he does everything."

In October 1992, Pulse guested on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, performing Taxi Driver. They then appeared at US President Bill Clinton's inauguration party on 20 January 1993, the first reggae band to attend such a prestigious event, alongside Barbara Streisand, George Clinton and Salt 'n' Pepa. Grizzly explains, "Steel Pulse and Salt 'n' Pepa were in Washington next door to the White House. [Bill] Clinton was trying to get back for our show but was held up. We played for him on the way to and from the inauguration. Al Gore was there though." The day before they were invited to the Jamaican Embassy in recognition of their fundraising efforts on behalf of the Hurricane Gilbert Appeal. Recording for their new album took place in Ocho Rios, Jamaica in September 1993. It was during their time in Jamaica where they met the Prime Minister P J Patterson.

Chapter 9: Roots Resurrection - will follow next week.

Eye eye

2011-12-10T15:23:00.005+07:00

Rumnea wants to be noticed with her new pair of specs

She'll hate me for posting this photo, but Rumnea looked a picture when she went for an eye test and a new pair of glasses at lunchtime today. Somehow I don't think this style will catch on in Cambodia, where what you look like is a national pastime, and unless it's being worn by a Korean pop star then it isn't in vogue. After the eye test she realised why she kept walking into things. Her final choice of glass frames was a little less flamboyant.

The Phnom Penh Post carried a looking-back story yesterday that will be of interest to film-buffs, as it included an interview with Daliah Lavi, the female lead in the 1964 film, Lord Jim, filmed at Angkor and starring the famous Lawrence of Arabia actor Peter O’Toole. You can read it here.

Double-whammy

2011-12-09T22:03:00.000+07:00

Fans of Phnom Penh Crown will be scratching their heads at today's bombshell news that their favourite club have sacked six of their 1st-team squad of players for disciplinary reasons. The players concerned have been found guilty of serious misconduct and brawling and the club felt it must set an example and terminate their contracts immediately. The misdemeanors were carried out at what should have been the club's finest hour, the AFC President's Cup Final in Taiwan in late September. Instead, Crown went down 3-2 and not without a fight, quite literally. Three players were red-carded for pushing the match referee in the chest and then as the final whistle blew, players from both sides joined in a free-for-all brawl on the pitch. All of the action was caught on camera and that was just the evidence the AFC Disciplinary Committee needed to charge six Crown players with fighting. All 9 Crown players were deemed to have tarnished the club's reputation, and that of Cambodian football, and have now been shown the door by the club's management (3 of them having already left). For the fans, they feel hard done by. The television coverage showed a blatant penalty in the closing moments, which triggered the pushing of the referee, but in the official's report, he said he had already stopped play for a handball. So with the AFC backing him to the hilt, it was the Crown players who didn't have a leg to stand on. As for the brawling after the game, though it was clearly started by the Taiwan team, there is no word on whether the Taiwanese will be punished, so the Crown fans can only see their team put upon again in their eyes. The unusually strong stance taken by the Crown management just makes it even harder to bear. For their part, Crown feel they must set an example that this lack of self-control and rowdy behaviour amongst the players will not be tolerated, even if it means the club have dismissed some of the country's best talent. That is the price they feel is worth it, if it sends out a message to Cambodian football, to clean up its act. For many fans they feel it's a double-whammy, losing the final in controversial circumstances and now losing some of their stars. Certainly it's a tough lesson to learn for all.

A hat-trick for Loung

2011-12-08T14:09:00.003+07:00

Lulu in the Sky will be the third book by renowned author Loung Ung, when it hits the bookshelves in April 2012. Feted for her two previous memoirs, First they Killed my Father and Lucky Child, Lulu will be another personal account, this time hosting a series of stories about her life in the States and going back to Cambodia, not only as an activist, but as a sister, an aunt and a daughter. Subtitled as A Daughter of Cambodia Finds Love, Healing and Double Happiness, it will be an upbeat collection of tales, published by Harper Collins.

Buddhist heroine

2011-12-07T23:35:00.000+07:00

There are many French scholars who've made a real difference in Cambodia. One such scholar was Suzanne Karpeles (1890-1969), who played an important role in the revitalization of Buddhism in Cambodia.
After graduating in oriental studies from the University of Paris with a triple degree from the University of Paris in Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan, she was posted to the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient in Hanoi in 1923 where she collated Sri Lankan Pali manuscripts with Khmer ones. Two years later she moved to Cambodia, soon befriended many monks, scholars and intellectuals and went on to develop a deep love of Cambodian religion and culture. Her main interest was in trying to raise the level of Buddhist scholarship. With the help of King Sisowath, Karpeles she established the Royal Library in Phnom Penh, now the National Library, and supervised the collecting, cataloguing, preserving and later the disseminating of Cambodia’s ancient literature. She published the country’s first Buddhist periodical, started a mobile library project and arranged for the distribution of the Tipitaka in Khmer script in all the country’s monasteries. She also arranged for regular programs on Buddhism to be broadcast on state radio. With her urging and encouragement the Cambodian Buddhist Institute was founded in 1930 which was to publish and distribute dozens of works on Pali Buddhist philosophy and traditional Cambodian culture. This helped the educated class to distinguish the Dhamma from Cambodian animistic and folk beliefs and to diminish Thai influence, allowing the Cambodian Sangha to emerge as a distinct and independent body. The Institute also became a meeting place for Cambodian writers, poets and intellectuals, several of who became leaders of the independence movement. In 1940 Karpeles was one of 15 Jews living in Cambodia dismissed from their posts by the pro-Nazi Vichy-French government. After the war she divided her time between her homeland and Cambodia and continued to make important contributions to Buddhism. Amongst her later works were French translations of the Dhammapada published in 1960 and Nyanatiloka’s Buddhist Dictionary, published in 1961. You can read a lot more about this extraordinary woman in Penny Edwards' book Cambodge: the Cultivation of a Nation 1860-1945. My thanks to Shravasti Dhammika from Singapore for the insight into Suzanne Karpeles.

Make us laugh

2011-12-06T23:45:00.002+07:00

The 3 stand-up comedians take the audience applause at the end of the set

Near the knuckle humour was the order of the day as international stand-up comedy made its debut in Phnom Penh tonight in front of an appreciative expat audience at Pontoon. Compere and final act of the evening, Aussie Jonathan Atherton milked the language angle for all it was worth, including his smattering of Khmer, as he opened and closed the show. He certainly knows how to work an Asian audience and will prove to be a popular frontman if the Comedy Club Asia can make this event a regular feature on the calendar. British Pakistani Muslim comedienne Shazia Mirza went down a storm as she rattled off her observational one-liners and self-deprecating humour, with a definite British bias, whilst American Ward Anderson got into his rhythm after a slow start to complete a line-up that kicked-off the Cambodian leg of the Asian comedy circuit in rip-roaring fashion. A word of warning to anyone planning to sit at the front; be prepared to have your age, sexual orientation and personal habits discussed amongst the audience, while hecklers beware of the savage comic put-downs. The three-hour show dragged on a bit with two extended intervals and this is something the organizers will have to look at in the future. However, the comedy gig gets a definite thumbs-up from me.

Shazia Mirza and her "all white women are sluts" one-liner

Jonathan Atherton relies heavily on his penchant for languages

Free films, 90 of them

2011-12-06T09:54:00.003+07:00

I'm a bit slow on this one but I've only just seen the program. 5 days of cinema, screening 90 films, all for free, is the sum of the upcoming Cambodia International Film Festival 2011, hosted by the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center. The films - features, shorts and documentaries - will be screened at four locations including the Legend Cinema and Bophana itself between 15-18 December. The highlights for me are; Golden Slumbers, Davy Chou’s first feature length documentary about the memories and tracks of the golden age of Khmer cinema; Rithy Panh's latest feature shot in Siem Reap called Shiiku, The Catch, a 90-minute story of a black American pilot captured in 1972 by the Khmer Rouge; and The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan, an investigation by filmmaker Henry Corra of the mysterious case of Private McKinley Nolan, who vanished 40 years ago on the Cambodian/Vietnam border. There are lots more films to enjoy, from a range of countries, and you can read more about it here.

Sorel's look at Cambodia

2011-12-05T11:44:00.009+07:00

Filmmaker Tim Sorel

Tim Sorel's film is finished but not yet available for general viewing. He's cut it down to an easily-digestible thirty minutes and called it, The Trap of Saving Cambodia. I helped out a bit on the production of the film a while back, connecting Tim to a few people who appear in the film, obtaining permissions and getting in the way rather than helping when Tim interviewed the late Vann Nath and Em Theay. Initially the film was to look at Cambodia thirty years after the end of the Khmer Rouge regime and focusing on efforts to educate and inform Cambodians, especially young Cambodians, about what happened in the country in the 1970s. That was the original plan but over the course of the filming and interviews, University of Florida telecommunications professor Tim Sorel, the filmmaker, who has more than twenty years experience in television and film productions, changed the film's direction. The final version heavily features human rights and Sorel told me that "a trip to visit the people who were evicted from Dey Krahorm changed the film and in several ways my life." It shows in the film which he intends to show at human rights festivals and across the United States to organizations working in Cambodia. It may find its way onto the internet in due course.

Tim Sorel interviews the late Vann Nath, artist and survivor of S-21, in 2008

Davy's big day

2011-12-04T23:30:00.000+07:00

The traditional photo on arrival. LtoR: Rumnea, Vibol, Davy, me

For a very pleasant ending to the weekend, I enjoyed a wedding party in the company of Rumnea, with the Cambodian wedding season now firmly in full swing, at the home of contemporary dancer Yon Davy and her husband Vibol, this evening. 350 guests were invited to the celebration that took over the road in front of the family home, a block away from the Russian Market, with singers and a band blaring loudly into the night and the invited guests, many of them former dance students, eating and drinking their fill. I didn't realise until the end of the evening that Davy's mother had passed away just a couple of days before, hence a very brave decision for her and the family to go ahead with the ceremony and party.

Vibol and Davy circle the table laden with fruit, with attendants in tow

Time for a photo with Rumnea

Confetti, petals and foam spray greet the happy couple

If the dresses and skirts of the female singers get any shorter, they'll be above their heads

Steel Pulse - Chapter 7

2011-12-04T16:39:00.002+07:00

Steel Pulse in 1988. Back Row; Selwyn Brown and Steve Nisbett. Front Row; David Hinds and Phonso Martin.

It's that time of the week again for the next episode, Chapter 7 of my own Steel Pulse story. For a long while I had planned to author a biography of the world's best reggae band, Steel Pulse. It never happened but rather than let my notes gather dust, I am publishing each chapter on my blog, on a weekly basis, to give everyone an insight into this incredible music group. Here's the seventh of thirteen chapters.

STEEL PULSE - A Lifetime of Revolution

Chapter 7: State of Flux

Signed to MCA in 1987, their travelling included Europe and a trip to La Reunion in the Indian Ocean. In a rare break from touring, they recorded and released the blatantly commercial State of Emergency, to a mixed reaction, at the beginning of the following year, 1988. Tyrone Downie and Errol Reid (keyboards) and Derrick Johnson (lead guitar) guested on the album, alongwith Tim Atkins (drum programming) and Carl Atkins (synthesizer programming), whilst Adam Bomb, recording in a nearby studio, dropped by to add his lead guitar to the track Hijacking. Godwin Logie, an old friend from their Karl Pitterson collaboration, co-produced with the band, with Hinds explaining, "We've never been afraid to experiment and try things out. We've gone in new directions this time, to give the album a more worldwide feel. We used synthesizer for the bass this time - that hasn't been established in reggae yet. It gives another dimension to the music. Plus we've mixed and balanced the love songs with the controversial songs. We've tried to keep the music as modern as possible, with different sounds and chord progressions, more than the basic reggae musical structure. We're going for a sound that will appeal to new audiences, especially in America." Grizzly has this view on the album. "It didn't seem commercial to us at the time. Two brothers, jazz musicians from Brixton, Tim and Carl Atkins helped out in the studio. Some of the drums are programed, though we overdubbed it live. In those days you couldn't get me to like drum machines. I didn't like the sound, or the feel, but we're an experimental band and we're willing to try anything. The good thing about Tim is that we were both drummers, which meant we didn't overplay or play very stiff as non-drummers tend to do. It was a learning point for us. I'd never sat round anything like that before and then to see Tim work it, I said wow! After that I went out and bought a machine. In this business you have to keep up with it or you'll get left behind if you don't learn quick enough."

MCA's promotion of the album said, 'Reaching Out, the album's first single, is a calypso-flavoured tune dedicated to the Caribbean Islands. Other tracks cover considerable musical and lyrical ground. The title track, Dead End Circuit and Hijacking deal with global struggles while riding powerful rhythms. Steal A Kiss and Said You Was An Angel are festively romantic tunes. Melting Pot and PUSH pay tribute to activists the world over with an optimistic spirit.' However, David Hinds later admitted, "I was thinking video with Disco Drop Out...we were really thinking commercial and thinking where we could be more exposed as opposed to selling just a few hundred thousand units for each album." The accompanying video for the Reaching Out single, written and sung by Phonso Martin, was directed by Spike Lee, who also included their track, Can't Stand It in his film, 'Do The Right Thing' alongwith cuts from Public Enemy and Al Jarreau. In June 1988 they toured the US and Canada, in 21 shows, as support to INXS on their 'Kick World Tour' without Hinds at the helm after an immigration mix-up left Phonso Martin to share the lead vocals with Selwyn Brown just two days before the tour began. Grizzly thinks back, "Phonso, I don't think ever really wanted to be out front, he was content in the background. Phonso had an amazing voice, a wicked voice. To get him out front, you had a job. He and Selwyn had to do vocals when David wasn't allowed into the States. We were on tour with INXS and it was brilliant. It helped popularize us with the rock crowd. I think it did a lot for us."

Included in the tour line-up for the first-time were Sidney Mills on keyboards and Melvin 'Ciyo' Brown on lead guitar. London-born and raised in Jamaica, Sidney Mills is an adopted New Yorker who played with the Calabash and A-Team bands before joining Steel Pulse. As a producer and arranger, he's been the guiding light behind numerous bands and individual performers and runs his own Living Room studio in New York when not on tour with the band. Pulse, who'd completed their own State of Emergency tour of the States from June to September, supported Robert Palmer in Memphis in August 1988, Bob Dylan the following month and then a month later performed a benefit gig in Washington DC for the Jamaican victims of Hurricane Gilbert and toured Europe. They also contributed to a Pato Banton and Ranking Roger release called Pato & Roger Come Again and to Banton's album, Never Give In.

In 1989 they played the 12th Reggae Sunsplash in Montego Bay, Jamaica, were then part of their first US Reggae Sunsplash tour alongwith Freddie McGregor and Half Pint, where ex-Wailer Al Anderson guested with them on lead guitar at The Ritz in New York. Their live performance was captured on video in 1990 for Central Music in the UK and supplementing the band's usual line-up was the horn section of James Renford (sax), Al Francis (trumpet) and Steve Morrison (trombone). In August 1990 they played three dates as support to veteran guitarist Carlos Santana, a confirmed Bob Marley fan, before spending the latter part of 1990 recording their next studio album in their hometown of Birmingham at the Dub Factory. David Hinds also took time out to duet with Pato Banton on the title track of the toaster's Wize Up! No Compromise album that year.

Chapter 8: Victims of the System - will follow next week.

Trade of Innocents

2011-12-03T23:00:00.000+07:00

Yet another movie about the sex trade is scheduled for release early in 2012. It's set in Cambodia, though filmed in Thailand, and called Trade of Innocents. It stars Academy Award-winner Mira Sorvino and Dermot Mulroney and tells the story of a couple who after the loss of their own child seek to protect those threatened by the child sex trade in Siem Reap. Canadian filmmaker Christopher Bessette is the man behind the movie that weaves together the stories behind the world of trafficking, from the cop who turns a blind eye to the crimes to the mother who sells a child to provide for the rest of her family. It's an issue close to Mira Sorvino's heart as a UN Ambassador on Drugs and Crime. "It just has to be something that we as a world of caring individuals, of moral people, say no to and really get active about it rather than just deploring it and then walking away," said Sorvino.

Director of Photography Philip Hurn shed some light on their decision to film in Thailand. "We decided to shoot on location in Thailand (as Cambodia). The art department, lead by production designer Mona Nahm, had this enormous task of building a realistic replica of one of the temples of Angkor Wat in Siam Reap, Cambodia. We nicknamed it “Foam Core Wat”, because it was primarily built out of bamboo framing and carved foam and took one month to build for one day of shooting! It pained me to see a detail that must have taken hours to carve, just out of frame, but the story and action had to come first. Most of our shooting took place in and around Bangkok and our goal was to find locations that would pass for the small city of Siam Reap, Cambodia. We did a lot of shooting in the French Quarter and China Town that had early French colonial influences. One location in particular was the old bicycle shop. This involves the little girl who has befriended the couple who live upstairs from her. The building was at least 150 years old and when we shot upstairs we were limited to about 20 cast and crew together for fear the floor might collapse!"

Pity that the man in charge of photography didn't take the time to check the correct spelling of Siem Reap. If the film plays a part in highlighting and reducing sex slavery, then it'll be worth it. Though disappointingly, no one in Cambodia, the backdrop to the film, benefited from the production, as far as I can tell. You can read more about the film at their website.

On the hunt

2011-12-02T11:27:00.007+07:00

I'm currently searching for a new place to live. I don't have to vacate my exiting flat - where I've spent the last four years - but they want to increase the rent fairly substantially, so it's time I got off my fat arse and sussed out what else is out and about. I've seen a few places already and they don't come up to scratch - too cramped, bathrooms not up to the required standard, too many steps, in the middle of a local market and so on - so I'll continue my apartment-hunting with my requirement for two bedrooms (one for me and one for all my junk and invited guests) in and around the Boeung Keng Kang 1 area of the city. Of course, I don't make things easy on myself by wanting to live in the most expensive area of the city. It's where I work and in essence, I'm a lazy bugger. I'll be attending another wedding party this weekend, with contemporary dancer Yon Davy tying the knot on Sunday at her home. I should be back to normal dancing duties as my groin tear seems to have nearly healed itself - until it goes again of course. Probably on Sunday night, while doing the madizon.
Postscript - looks like I'll be staying afterall, as the houseowners have seen sense and taken pity on me by considerably reducing their rent demands. Result!

Mydans on War Remnants

2011-12-01T21:03:00.000+07:00

In his Missing Arms, Legs, Fathers and Mothers article for The New York Times today, Seth Mydans reviews the new photographic book by renowned photojournalist Maureen Lambray. The book title is War Remnants of the Khmer Rouge, 136 pages with sixty tri-tone photographs.

Seth Mydans: The scars of Cambodia’s wars and genocide are more than psychic: this little nation in the heart of Southeast Asia is one of the most densely mined places on earth. And like those mines, the legacy of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge exacts a constant — and hidden — toll, leaving the country mostly poor, politically repressive, corrupt and violent. It was only last month that a trial of the three surviving Khmer Rouge leaders got under way, reviving buried memories for many traumatized Cambodians.

In her meditation on the scars of war in Cambodia, "War Remnants of the Khmer Rouge" (Umbrage Books, October 2011), the photographer Maureen Lambray has chosen to emphasize portraits of badly maimed victims of the land mines that were mostly laid during the wars that preceded and followed the Khmer Rouge rule. The quiet mood of her carefully composed and lit portraits of land-mine victims, as they stare intently into the camera, belies the horror of their mutilation. “I began documenting the people and haunted sites,” she wrote in the book’s preface. “It seems half the population are still missing arms, legs, fathers and mothers.” Over the last three decades, land mines have caused more than 63,900 deaths and injuries, Helen Clark, the development chief of the United Nations, said at a major international conference on landmines now under way in Phnom Penh.

Apart from these broken bodies, Ms. Lambray’s camera also captures the desolation of ruined buildings and forbidding forests in a land populated by ghosts. In a more direct reference to Pol Pot’s atrocities, she shows an empty corridor at Tuol Sleng Prison, where thousands of people were tortured and sent to a killing field, enclosed by barbed wire to prevent them from jumping to their deaths.

Like her other work, Ms. Lambray’s photographs combine journalistic coverage — sometimes at personal risk — with artistic composition. In 1979, Yassir Arafat invited her to Beirut for an in-depth look at the Palestine Liberation Organization. The following year, she covered the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, disguising herself at one point as an Afghan man. And in 1994, she was caught up in the Zapatista uprising in Mexico during a project to document obscure Indian tribes.

Her first encounter with Cambodia came in 1979 when she chronicled the lives of refugees in camps along the Thai border where hundreds of thousands of people had fled as the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed. She returned to Cambodia in 2003 and said she was stunned to see how little the country had recovered. “The government has begun spiriting away the maimed Cambodians as more tourists flock to their country,” she wrote in her preface. “We need images as reminders of how quickly genocide can happen, and the past become the present.”

Wish You Were Here

2011-11-30T20:40:00.001+07:00

On location in Kampot with the stars of Wish You Were Here

A mystery drama feature film that Hanuman Films worked on at the beginning of this year, Wish You Were Here (aka Say Nothing) has been selected to screen at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and will have its world premiere as the opener of the World Cinema Dramatic competition on 19 January in Utah, USA. At the time, Kulikar Sotho, who runs the film company, said the feature film was, “the biggest Southern Hemisphere shoot we have done, a complex 10-day shoot in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville with a somewhat sensitive script. The shoot included several crucial night scenes, but everything went very smoothly. Everyone involved in the production loved Cambodia, especially Director Kieran Darcy-Smith.” The Director himself agrees, and has said he was thrilled beyond words. "To have been given the opportunity to make the film in the first place was an immeasurable gift - and it has been, quite truthfully, a wild and wonderful ride from start to finish." Wish You Were Here is a psychological drama that follows four friends on South East Asian holiday. When only three of them return, a desperate hunt for answers begins. The film stars Joel Edgerton, Antony Starr, Felicity Price and Teresa Palmer and was shot in both Sydney and Cambodia. The film was shot on location in Cambodia and didn't get off to the best start when Darcy-Smith fell into a sewer on the first day. “I was walking across what I thought was a rubbish dump on a location scout and I went straight through and it turned out to be about three feet of rubbish, but after that three feet layer there was nothing but liquid, pure raw sewage. And I fell straight though and it was just that I happened to grab onto this stick that was fortunately there that saved me from going head under.” However, despite starting off on the wrong foot, as well as issues with illness and relocating his young family to a new country, the director speaks fondly of the experience. “The Cambodian stuff is pretty amazing and the cast we dug up and the Cambodian people, everyone we worked with was great – it was such a great experience.” You can find out more about the film at their website.

On the radio

2011-11-29T09:15:00.004+07:00

The December schedule for the PUC Radio Talk Show on 90.0FM (everyday from 7-8.30pm), hosted by Soma Norodom, has been published and my appearance on the program (originally played live on 7 September) will be replayed a second time on Saturday 31 December. So I'll be seeing the year out. With my "um's and ah's." A few days before, my archaeologist pal, affectionately known as the Jar Lady, Nancy Beavan will be on the show, on 27 December, together with Suwanna Gauntlet of Wildlife Alliance, discussing amongst other things, burial jars in the Cardamom Mountains. And I've just heard that Geographical Magazine want to feature Nancy and her search for the answers to her burial jar puzzle. Great news.

Steel Pulse - Chapter 6

2011-11-28T17:22:00.003+07:00

The Grammy awarded to Steel Pulse in 1986 for Babylon The Bandit

This week it's the turn of Chapter 6 of my own Steel Pulse story. For a long while I had planned to author a biography of the world's best reggae band, Steel Pulse. It never happened but rather than let my notes gather dust, I am publishing each chapter on my blog, on a weekly basis, to give everyone an insight into this incredible music group. Here's the sixth of thirteen chapters.

STEEL PULSE - A Lifetime of Revolution

Chapter 6: Commercial Crisis

Recorded in Coventry and Farnham, Earth Crisis was co-produced by Jimmy 'Senyah' Haynes, lead guitarist on six albums with Aswad, and released in early 1984. Grizzly recalls the album. "For Earth Crisis, it was recorded in Farnham and we lived on the studio premises for a few months. It was a good experience. There was no disturbance, we could get on with what we needed to do. Jimmy Haynes came in with a different flavour. Steel Pulse is a band that likes to experiment. Every time we get a different producer we're looking for a different sound and feel. Jimmy was someone we knew from way back and we knew he was a very good musician. We thought he could enhance what we were doing at the time, especially with certain guitar flavours, and his production skills were good. He also did a few live shows with us, a Caribbean and US tour I think." The band had visited Japan and the Far East for the first time in January. "Japan was amazing. The first time we did Japan you'd think the Beatles came to town. People on the streets. Very, very good reception. We didn't realise we were so popular. It wasn't just the music, it was also the culture and history it deals with and the lyrics. They take the music very seriously. They couldn't understand why reggae wasn't so popular in England," recalls Grizzly.

The author was present at their sell-out gig at London's Venue which climaxed the band's UK tour to promote the album, in February 1984. Bob Marley's former art director Neville Garrick was responsible for the album cover concept. Steppin' Out was the only single release from the album and earned the band their first Grammy nomination. In an interview with James Weeks, David Hinds gave an insight into one of the tracks from the album, Wild Goose Chase. 'That was a tune that I was very happy that the words came to me to write it. I've always been happy about it. It took me a long time to really get the lyrics together, at the same time it was not a tune where I sat down and said, let me write the lyrics and I've got to finish it by 4 o'clock. I'm not like that. If my heart is not ready and my mind together to put some words together for that particular song in the time I've got to do it, I don't bother with it. It was a tune where the vibes reached me at various times over a period of months and as I got new words and ideas together I put it down in note form until I had a collection of words that could put a sensible song together. I thought there was a need for the Wild Goose Chase experience 'cause we're in times now where science and technology is really taking over the natural habits of man.' In August they toured with jazz legend Herbie Hancock, opening themselves up to a new type of audience.

Commenting on that period in their history, Hinds recalls, 'By the mid-'80s, our style of politically conscious, spiritually-aware reggae music was being phased out. We had to try to get ourselves strengthened within the American market to stay alive, and we thought it was necessary to have a combination of politically-oriented songs and songs we called 'bait music,' songs that had a pop aspect to it so we could stay in the mainstream.' Grizzly explains. "There was no conscious decision to go to the US. We just got more offers to play over there, or in Europe. Not much was happening in England, apart from the festivals, it just kinda petered out from the mid-80's. You'd had to go to America or Europe to see the top reggae bands. We went where the demand is. We had music in us, we had to play and if we'd stayed we would've died as a band. England helped us in a big way in the early days, but the press didn't help. They build you up to knock you down. Its a shame that the powers that be are only catering for one section of the public as well as catering for themselves." Supplanting the Rasta-inspired roots and culture style of reggae were the deejay and dancehall trends that became so popular in the clubs and sound systems both in England and elsewhere. The concept of a reggae band first learning and then plying their trade was replaced by backing tracks and fast-spoken lyrics as British interest in Steel Pulse's message was on the wane. Hinds recently offered up this view on dancehall; "The advantage of dancehall is that I think there came a time where the music needed more pep to it and also a different type of energy. I think that's beneficial as far as reggae music. I think we need to go into the direction where we are able to stay alive as a music and go mainstream. But, lyrically, dancehall leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to informing the people about reality and spiritual consciousness. As you know, what's going on right now is that a lot of the acts out there are being abolished in certain venues because of their derogatory statements against one's sexual preferences. That's the stage its at right now. We've [Steel Pulse] taken a different twist on things and we're all about elevating the masses to more of a level of consciousness and awareness of what's going on in society today."

In December 1984 a Caribbean tour included stopovers in Antigua and Bermuda as well as Jamaica to perform at Reggae SuperJam in Kingston and to finalise the recording of their next album, Babylon The Bandit at the Music Mountain studios. Pulse explained their reasons for recording in the Caribbean thus; 'Jamaica is our spiritual home, part of our families live here, there are some very special vibes here... The new album is being recorded digitally, which is one of the cleanest sounds obtainable, technology-wise. This is one way, but the whole personal vibration and feel of the music is terribly important and we thought we could get that here, which is more important on this occasion. We also wanted to see our families, take a little irie holiday! We feel this is an important time for us...we'll probably have to leave England but retain a base there. Some of the band may even move to the US. Our personal label, Wise Man Doctrine, is in abeyance since it doesn't have the financial backative to promote the new album, but we do hope to develop this in the future.' Whilst in Jamaica, David Hinds and Grizzly took part in recording Land of Africa, alongwith a host of Caribbean reggae artists, in support of Ethiopian famine relief.

Whilst on a seven month tour of the United States in 1985 the band were augmented by Tyrone Downie of The Wailers on keyboards. At their Hollywood Palace gig in Los Angeles they were joined on stage by Stevie Wonder for a fifteen-minute jam session. That year saw a strained relationship with Elektra after the record company refused to print lyrics on the sleeve of their sixth album release, Babylon The Bandit. The band insisted and paid for the extra themselves but the fall-out was terminal and their contract was torn up with bad feelings on both sides. In a perverse twist to the story, the album earned the band their first Grammy music award for Best Reggae Album, despite a mixed reception from the public at large and the music press. Hinds remembers, "...in all honesty, when Babylon The Bandit won the Grammy, deep down inside I knew that the album before, Earth Crisis, should have been the album that won the Grammy...Babylon The Bandit is not one of our strongest albums...The album had flaws in its overall delivery. A track like School Boys Crush, if that's not bubble-gum, I don't know what is." The album wasn't a favourite of the critics either. Donald McRae from NME commented, 'The Save Black Music, Not Kings James Version and Babylon The Bandit song titles suggest that Steel Pulse have retained their edge...But it contains the first hint of dullness....The real disappointment is that the admirable sentiments and the more militant assertions are blunted by musical mediocity...The robotic vocal used near the end of Save Black Music is an especially absurd embrace of the hi-tech trickery used to smooth out reggae and funk's purer sounds....The Love Walks Out single is mild enough to enjoy extensive Radio One airplay while the abysmal School Boy's Crush and Sugar Daddy hardly deserve a mention. But, in the deepest irony of all, the Babylon The Bandit conclusion is made meaningless by their reliance on DMX/Emulator/Fairlight gadgetry and by their apparent admiration for a very Babylonian rock guitar sound. Steel Pulse have lost their way...'

Bassist Alvin Ewen and Carlton Bryan (lead) again took up the guitar duties for the Babylon The Bandit album and on tour. Grizzly recalls, "Jimmy Haynes was in charge again. Every time we go into the studio we want a different flavour or an extension of the last flavour you'd heard and we worked well with Jimmy. Different producers give you different flavours, different moods, different minds. We experimented more with electronics, computers and things like that. For me, I prefer the feel of the earlier albums, that's where my head is. At the time our shows were geared towards the American market, so when we went into the studio we continued those live shows into the recording sessions. With the Grammy, it was nice to gain recognition for reggae music and reggae musicians. We were surpised and pleased." Godwin Logie mixed the album and Neville Garrick was again responsible for the album cover concept. To coincide with the album's release in February 1986, Pulse toured Britain and I saw them at Oxford Polytechnic. Jimmy Haynes and Ronald Butler (lead) and Errol Reid (keyboards) joined the band that same year as they toured Europe (including Amsterdam in May when Aswad were their special guests) and the US including a first visit to Hawaii. The band were awarded their Grammy at the 29th Awards ceremony in February 1987, having fended off the attentions of Black Uhuru, Jimmy Cliff, LKJ and the Itals.

Chapter 7: State of Flux - will follow next week.

On the verge

2011-11-27T22:51:00.002+07:00

The Children of Bassac show returns to the National Museum on Thursday

The 4th edition of the PhotoPhnomPenh festival is taking place this week. It's a French-inspired event so there's no Brits involved amongst the 16 international photographers and 8 Cambodians who will exhibit their work around the city. There will also be evening screenings of various works. You can find out more at their website where I was surprised to find the website has an English translation. That must've stuck in the gullet of the French organizers. One of the exhibitions caught my eye, a unique collection of glass plate photographs by George Groslier, of the postures of the dancers of the royal ballet, recorded for posterity in 1927 and only recently restored and digitized. The collection will be on show at the National Museum.
On the subject of the National Museum, I had a feeling in my water that the excellent weekly traditional dance performances by the youngsters from the Children of Bassac group, and sponsored by Cambodian Living Arts, will return to the Museum very soon. I've just had it confirmed that they will resume this coming Thursday, 1 December at 7pm (tickets $18pp). If they get enough support, they will take it through until April next year but shows like this need the support of the public to continue, as it's not cheap to put on. Their shows are a great combo of classical and traditional dance, with music, under floodlights on the steps of the National Museum. Well worth the investment of your time and money.
A performance that looks guaranteed to draw a big crowd is the forthcoming Comedy Club of Asia show at Pontoon on Tuesday 6 December at 7pm, tickets $10. Three international stand-up comedians will perform, for 1 night only, though if it's a success, I hope it will prompt the organizers to do it again. I was an addict for stand-up comedy at Cheltenham Town Hall in the 1990s where some of the funniest people on the planet often came to perform. Frank Skinner was our compere for more than a year and he was a class act. As were the likes of Jeff Green, Ed Byrne, Jo Brand, Alan Davies, Kevin Day, Lee Evans, Paul Merton and the legendary Steve Coogan.
Finally, back to classical dance and the Khmer Arts Ensemble team at Takhmao will present three dances, from the Ramayana epic, by three different choreographers from Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia, at their headquarters on Saturday 3 December from 7pm, admission is free. Following the show, the dancers and masters will take part in a ten day exchange of ideas and practices. Sounds like a great idea.

Sombo's big day

2011-11-26T23:00:00.000+07:00

Sombo's big day

The wedding invitations have started coming in, though it's been a mite slow so far this wedding season. Tonight I was off to Mondial, one of the most popular wedding venue's in town, for my good friend Sombo's wedding to her hubby Pov. I met Sombo when she was a stewardess on the Mekong Express bus route from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh back in 2007 and we've been pals ever since. It was great to see her tie the knot and she looked radiant all night long. With my groin injury not fully fixed, I gave the madizon a wide berth on this occasion.

Photo opportunity with the bride

Pov and Sombo thank their guests

The dreaded snow foam spray that is the bane of all weddings

Sombo with one of her best friends

Improv dance

2011-11-25T22:10:00.001+07:00

The 7 dancers at Lyla Lagoon tonight

A double-header tonight with an improvised contemporary dance, and a lecture on a little-known French painter. But it's all art isn't it. The dance, with Belle, Narim, Leak and Tonh, together with three female artists from the States, was contemporary and free-form and looked like the dancers were emulating various forms of wildlife in the forest, but to be honest, that's just a guess. There was no introduction and the programme didn't give a clue either. A few animal style noises from the dancers and some obvious postures were the giveaway but as to whether there was a story taking place before my eyes, goodness only knows. That's the thing about contemporary, you either understand it, or its a mystery. I asked a few others and they didn't get it either. So I wasn't alone. To be honest I like to see something I can understand or relate to. Just makes it easier for my simple brain to absorb it. I thought the Khmer dancers were more fluid in their movement, more relaxed and flexible than their American colleagues, but just my observation. Nevertheless, it was a whirlwind of motion from the seven performers. The dance was at Lyla Lagoon and was well supported. There's another dance performance, from Epic Arts, tomorrow night but I'll be at a wedding party. I left immediately it ended and headed across town for Meta House, just in time to catch the start of Joel Montague's lecture on the Indochina paintings of the French artist Jean Despujols from 1937. One of the largest collections of its kind, the paintings and sketches are held in a small museum in America and have never been seen over here. Despujols painted portraits of hill-tribes and others, the Cham in Cambodia and so on. He was a talented artist though his Indochina adventures were just a small part of his portfolio. Joel's talk was interesting and well received, though he did run through his slides pretty quickly.

With Joel Montague after his lecture at Meta House

Gina's observations

2011-11-24T23:21:00.000+07:00

Gina Wijers talks about her book at Monument this evening

A nice mix of Khmers and foreigners gathered at Monument Books tonight to join Gina Wijers in the launch of her book, Swimming in Uncharted Waters, published in English, having been originally available in Dutch from 2009. Gina spent a couple of years in Cambodia as a volunteer with VSO and the book is a collection of her personal thoughts and views, which were originally intended as blog posts for her family. Her observations show the humorous side of life in Cambodia for a newbie, coupled with the frustrations and self-doubts, as she describes everyday situations at home, with friends and in the workplace. I enjoyed the book.

An enriching time

2011-11-24T16:35:00.027+07:00

The bears are great but to get so close to the tigers was a privilege

The idea behind Tuesday's visit to Free The Bears at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Center was to get the gen on their Bear Keeper for a Day project. It's a great program and Pesei filled me in on all the details including making enrichment toys, filled with food, to help brighten up their day and to give the bears activities that encourage them to use their natural talents. Going behind the scenes with the bear keepers, vet and volunteers was an eye-opener as to exactly how much work is involved in looking after more than 120 bears every day. There are seven 'houses' to maintain over a vast area of land and it's a tough job. You don't get to have direct contact with the bears, that's the domain of the real bear keepers, but you get privileged access to areas that visitors are not allowed to see and watching the three small bear cubs at play - or squabbling as it turned out - was one of those 'aren't they lovely' moments everyone would enjoy, but few get the chance to see. The project is allowing the bears, both Sun bears and Asiatic Black bears, to live a happy and healthy life in their forested sanctuary and it works a treat. Top marks to Matt, Nev, Pesei and the rest of their staff and volunteers who make Free The Bears such a success story. Pesei also took time to show me around a few of the other animal enclosures, passing on interesting tips about each of animals we saw, and gaining access to more behind-the-scenes sections of the zoo, including the tiger house, where I was literally inches away from three gorgeous tigers eating their food and relaxing, and therefore paying no attention to me. Up close the tigers are perhaps my favorite. I could've stayed there for hours. It was a great experience, and between Free The Bears, Wildlife Alliance and the forestry authorities, all of the animals I saw looked well-fed and cared for, healthy and in good spirits. I was suitably impressed. I enjoyed lunch with the volunteers and staff and later in the day, called into the Angkorian temple at Tonle Bati for my temple fix. Neat and tidy as always, the flower girls at the site were on good form though the old ladies with their incense sticks were a mite too persistent, probably because it was a slow day at the temple of Ta Prohm. I was the only visitor.

An inquisitive Sun bear in the quarantine area

A Sun bear cub having fun with his friends

This coconut is proving a tough nut to crack for this cub

This pig-tailed macaque reminded me of a hermit

This clouded leopard was as inquisitive as I was

An adult leopard yawning, I think

The otters were as playful as ever, splashing in and out of their water poolThis lion-tailed macaque looked sad because he had a wound on his leg which he showed us

I think Lucky's handler enjoyed the bath as much as the elephant

One of Cambodia' s best known elephants, Chhouk, with his prosthetic foot

This elephant was kept away from the others due to mood swings

Churning of the Milky Sea lintel from Ta Prohm temple at Tonle Bati

The dying Buddha reaches Mahaparinirvana at Ta ProhmWorshippers up close from a lintel at Ta Prohm

The small Prasat Yeay Peau next to the modern pagoda at Tonle Bati

Collaborations in the air

2011-11-23T11:56:00.005+07:00

As well as Joel Montague's lecture at Meta House on Friday evening (7pm), on the paintings of Jean Despujols, there's a new contemporary dance workshop an hour earlier on the same night, at Lyla Lagoon Sports Center. Involving Belle and three other Cambodian dancers together with three artists from the USA, it's the result of a month-long collaboration and artistic exchange. Tickets are available, in limited numbers, from Amrita on Sothearos Boulevard. Lyla Lagoon is on St 508. The following evening, Saturday 26 Nov, again at 6pm at the same venue, disabled arts foundation Epic Arts join up with UK dance company StopGap to present an integrated collaboration called Admission. Free entry but limited tickets from Amrita. I can't make the Saturday show as I'll be at Sombo's wedding party.
Prior to the above, Monument Books will host a book signing this Thursday (24 Nov) at 6pm by author Gina Wijers for her book Swimming in Uncharted Waters, which documents her thoughts from her two years in Cambodia from 2006 when she worked as a volunteer. The book has just been published in English.

Man or machine?

2011-11-23T08:51:00.004+07:00

You cannot help but be won over by Joel Montague's enthusiasm and zest for life. Forget the fact that he's 78 years old. That doesn't stop Joel from giving his all for the many projects he's involved with at any one time. I had dinner with him last night and he left me in a daze. He's a machine. That never stops. This Friday (25 Nov at 7pm) he will give a lecture at Meta House on the Indochina artworks of artist Jean Despujols, who documented life in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in 1937. The French artist's 350 paintings, watercolours, drawings and photos will provide the backdrop to Joel's lecture. But the works of Despujols is just one small part of the man's interests. He's already published his Picture Postcards of Cambodia tome, available at Monument Books, and is now nearing the end of a book about the early life of celebrated photographer John Thomson, the first man to photograph Angkor Wat in 1865. Thomson is a fascinating character and a look at his early days spent in Asia, alongwith a reproduction of his 1867 book Antiquities of Cambodia, will be very welcome. In later life, Thomson's photographs of China, Cyprus and the streets of London would earn him much acclaim. As for Joel, I'm surprised he has any time to sleep with so many projects on the go at once including his personal collections of postcards, books, posters, shop signs and stained glass paintings.

Privileged access

2011-11-22T23:17:00.000+07:00

It's a tough life being a bear - two square meals a day and the chance to sleep

Much of today was spent at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center, getting my first behind-the-scenes look at the incredible Free The Bears operation that houses the world's largest safehouse for Sun bears and Asiatic Black bears. I couldn't believe how big the whole complex is, home to 125 bears and with the numbers growing on a weekly basis. Seeing the mounds of food needed for their daily diet brought it home to me, that a military-style operation by the bear keepers and volunteers is required around-the-clock to keep the center ticking along each day. The acreage needed to house the bears is humongous, twenty-one forested enclosures with males and females in separate 'houses' overseen by a dozen keepers and a foreign staff that includes a vet and handful of volunteers. You really have to see it for yourself to appreciate it. And what the public can see is just a part of it, with other restricted areas away from prying eyes, such as the quarantine house. With Pesei as my expert guide, I got a behind-the-scenes look at the bear sanctuary as well as other areas of the zoo, getting into areas that only staff usually have access to. It was quite a privilege. I'll bring you more details tomorrow. Suffice to say that it was a real eye-opener and a great pleasure to see how well the bears, and other animals at the zoo, are being cared for, by a combination of Free The Bears, Wildlife Alliance and the forestry administration. On the way back to Phnom Penh, I popped into Tonle Bati to refresh myself with the two Angkorian prasats and the nearby lakeside restaurants that usually see tourists, local and foreign, flocking there at weekends. On a Tuesday afternoon, it was as quiet as a mouse.

One of the more active bears came to say hello

This clouded leopard was playing peek-a-boo

"Are you looking at me?"

Flower girls at Prasat Tonle Bati. Channa in pink was adorable.