Guides & Reviews
It’s FRIDAY! Here’s What to Do in Phnom Penh This Weekend
Your guide to the very best things to do in Phnom Penh from Friday night to Sunday.
This weekend it’s all kicking off in the capital, with live music at every turn, plenty of great film, artist talks and workshops and the opening of an awesome new graffiti exhibition. Here’s your guide to the top things to do in Phnom Penh from tonight through until Sunday. Enjoy!
ARTS
If you’re looking for a little creative inspiration, there’s no shortage of art in Phnom Penh this weekend.
Last night saw the grand opening of Alias 2.0’s new street art exhibition at META HOUSE, showcasing some awesome prints and designs. The exhibition runs until the 20th May at META HOUSE on Sothearos Boulevard, and if you’re feeling really flush, much of the artwork is also for sale.
In fact, META HOUSE has an incredible line-up of events this weekend, centred around its Earth Day / Green Day event this Sunday from 2pm. In particular, Siem Reap-based artist John Melvin will host a special art exhibition called Curbing Entropy, using sculpture installations to explore ideas about plastic waste and damage to Cambodia’s wealth of natural beauty.
There will also be plenty of chances to learn about green/sustainable businesses in Cambodia, as well as a selection of film screenings about environmental issues in the region.
Daytime fun is also on offer on Saturday at D22, which is honouring the New Year with a very special Khmer Village Party-style bazaar, complete with traditional games and plenty of Khmer pop music.
Hoping for that little push you need to produce your very own masterpiece? In that case, get over to the Bophana Centre on St 200 tonight (Friday 21st) at 6.30pm, where the American artist Michael Keutemeyer is giving a talk for aspiring creatives.
Keutemeyer will be in Phnom Penh for the next month leading the American Arts Incubator in Cambodia, leading a bunch of workshops that mix together art and technology skills, including virtual reality and augmented reality – in particular, to look for innovative ways to combat climate change and deforestation.
What’s more, on Saturday at 2pm, writer and adventurer Thavry Thon will be giving a special talk on her autobiography, A Proper Woman, at the Justice Café and Library (St 53BT). It’s a unique opportunity for a Q&A with that rarest of unicorns, a real Khmer author. Budding writers: take note!
Ready to perform your own stuff? Cloud (St 9) is hosting Spoken Word in the Garden from 4pm-10pm on Saturday, inviting new and seasoned poets, rappers, spoken word artists and other performers of an experimental bent to take to the stage with their own material. Go ahead and take the plunge!
LIVE MUSIC
Whoa, now. When it comes to live music in Phnom Penh, this weekend is INSANE!
First up, tonight (Friday 21st), Phnom Penh’s pre-eminent glamour puss Miss Sarawan (Mealea Lay) is teaming up with partner Joe Wrigley to bring acoustic versions of 60s Khmer classics, as well as soulful originals, to Valentino’s Garden Terrace Bistro. A little slice of retro heaven…
Or, choose between soaking up the soothing sounds of the lovely Lisa Conception over at the ever-excellent Jazz Club on St 282, more great blues and Jazz from Rob Demasi at Taco Kokopelli on St 19z (where draft beers and tequila shots are $1 tonight, too), or swaying to some sexy South American rhythms with Carlos Latino at the FCC Mansion on Sothearos (behind the FCC Riverside).
There’s also toe-tapping tunes and gorgeous craft beers from 7pm with Complicated Business at Botanico (St 29), Rockabilly rhythms from the wonderful Kristen Ramussen at Farm to Table (St 360), and the Duha Jazztet over at Duplex (st 278).
As difficult a decision as it is, we kinda feel like everyone’s a winner here…
Moving on to Saturday, Brooklynite blues & hip-hop crossover king Stanford Reid is back at The Jazz Bar (St 282) at 9pm for another hotly anticipated set, and Phnom Penh punk rockers Phnom Skor are thrashing it out at Oscar’s On the Corner from 9.30pm.
If you miss them tonight, Duha Jazztet is also playing a second gig at Trattoria Bello (St 460) on Saturday, while you can catch Complicated Business at TUSK (St 278) from 9pm, too.
Meanwhile, calling all you secretly patriotic English types: Cambodia is celebrating your patron saint in style, with the creation of a very special St George’s Trio at Alchemy from 8.30 to 11pm. They’ll be covering the very best of English pop and rock for the past 50 years… bloody lovely.
FILM
There’s something very special happening this weekend at The Flicks. To celebrate the first anniversary of the animal rescue charity, Flicks 1 is holding an Animal Rescue Cambodia Film Night, complete with vegetarian buffet and screening of the acclaimed documentary COWSPIRACY (which will no doubt make you relieved there’s no beef on your plate!).
After that, there’s a screening of hilarious Kiwi mocumentary-horror What We Do in the Shadows… and then, if you’re still kicking about, the brilliantly trashy male stripper soft-porn fest Magic Mike.
The whole event, including your buffet dinner, costs $15 – a little pricey, but for a worthy cause.
Also at the flicks this weekend is the powerful, Oscar-nominated 2012 film Trishna – read our full writeup here.
What’s more, over at the Institut Francais (St 184), you’ll even have your very own chance to learn how to create stop-motion animation films from scratch, at their Atelier | Image par Image workshop. Tickets cost $10 and the class runs from 10am to 12.30 on Sat 22nd April.
THE AFTERPARTY
It’s been, what, a whole WEEK since you last went out raving for Khmer New Year? Time to get back on the horse (or back off the wagon)… and luckily, there are plenty of places to go out in Phnom Penh this weekend to dance your little socks off.
Tonight at Show Box you have DJ Remix playing 90s tunes, electro disco and classic hip hop, complete with $2.50 Espresso Martinis all night… so no excuse for slipping off early to bed! The set cools off at 10.30pm, though, so head over to Club Love (St. 278) to keep the party going until 4am.
Fancy belting out some tunes of your own? L Bar is hosting a huge Karaoke Party tomorrow from 6pm until midnight, with free shots on offer to performers to help get you in the mood…
But the REALLY big one this weekend is tonight’s monthly Cloud Block Party (Cloud, St 9), bringing together the very best in hip hop and street art, and always with some very special surprise guests. It’s gonna be a great party… make sure you don’t miss out.
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