AsiaLIFE

This month Meta House and the French Cultural Centre (CCF) join forces in organising the largest hip hop festival that Phnom Penh has ever seen. We spoke to the organisers about the capital’s growing hip hop scene, graffiti and the peculiarities of Cambodian rap.

“For sure it’s a struggle between generations and I guess it’s the same here as abroad. It’s a small revolution for the young generation to not have to listen to the same old songs as their fathers,” says Nico Mesterharm, Meta House’s director, of the rising popularity of hip hop in Cambodia. At 42, he doesn’t really consider himself the right target group for it, but observing today’s emerging Khmer hip hop scene reminds him of Germany 25 years ago. “I think that in every country it starts with listening to foreign hip hop and from there people start making up their own styles. In Cambodia now they have their own lyrics and they create some of their own beats.”

We Are the World

Together with the CCF, Meta House is organising the capital’s largest hip hop festival from May 16 to 24. The festival will start with a performance at the Chenla Theatre by French dance company Accrorap. Its choreographer, Kader Attou, has recently been appointed by the French Ministry of Fine Arts as director of one of its most prestigious contemporary dance centres (the ‘Centre Choreographique de La Rochelle’).

For Alain Arnaudet, director of the French Cultural Centre in Cambodia, one of the festival’s aims is to give Cambodian dancers an opportunity to perform with some of the best hip hop dancers in the world. “Tiny Toones [the first hip hop youth centre of Cambodia] is very active in hip hop culture, but their dancers could learn more from international dancers, and how to build choreography,” Alain says. They will be taking part in a workshop with German hip hoppers ‘Raphael’ and ‘Storm’ before showing off their skills at the Chenla Theatre.

It’s not only a question of hip hoppers learning from other hip hoppers. Khmer classical and contemporary dancer ‘Belle’, profiled in our previous issue, will be performing alongside French hip hop dancer Sébastien Ramirez. “We thought it could be a good opportunity for Belle to have the experience of mixing her dance with hip hop – she’s very enthusiastic about having such a chance,” Alain says. “It will be a kind of ‘mutual workshop’ as each of the two dancers will learn from one another.” He believes that it always takes time for people to become accustomed to new codes and references in any new form of art expression, including rap. This is no difference in Cambodia than anywhere else. “Contemporary dance has always been ‘unfamiliar’ to people all around the world, particularly at the beginning in Europe, if you remember the first steps of Martha Graham,” he explains.

The festival will end with a big open-air hip hop jam at Wat Bothum, organised by Meta House and funded by the CCF, the Goethe Institute/German Cultural Foundation, and the ‘Elysée Fund’. On stage will be Khmer performers whose names will sound familiar to hip hop lovers in Cambodia – DJ Sdey, MC Curley, DJ Illest, Khmer clarinettist Bun Hong and Cambodian percussionists Soum Phearum, Porn Samrith and Eb Vutha.

Spray ‘em up?

“What is still missing here is a graffiti scene,” says Nico. “It’s interesting, isn’t it? They have break dancers, MCs and DJs, but graffiti is completely neglected here.” According to Nico, graffiti is one of the four major components of hip hop culture and the missing link in the Cambodian hip hop scene. He’s had requests from local artists to organise a workshop but had to abandon the idea due to a lack of teachers. “Now, because we’re preparing the hip hop festival, we might have found a graffiti teacher,” he says.

Does that mean that soon Phnom Penh’s walls will be sprayed all over with graffiti creations? “No, for sure it’s different here than in the West,” Nico says. “They have a small graffiti scene in Vietnam but there too you cannot just spray on walls. They are art students – they just don’t do that.”

Da Gentlemen’s Rap

In the West hip hop is often associated with voicing social concerns. Nico has noted how certain social issues are being raised in Khmer rap lyrics. MC Curley, whose parents died of Aids, often raps about HIV, child labour and access to education for the poor. DJ Sdey chooses to educate kids about the Khmer Rouge period in his songs. “They need to bring across their message politely,” Nico says, referring to western ‘gangsta rap’ with its frequent use of swearwords, insults and tough language. “Here in Cambodia you cannot do that. The audience would hate the performers,” he says. “They need to behave and that’s what they do, they will not cross that border.”

For the Wat Bothum show, the emphasis will be on party songs as much as social issues. “We don’t want people to go home with a headache. They also should have fun, that’s clear,” Nico assures. In cooperation with the CCF, he wants to do what he has been doing for two-and-a-half years on Meta House’s rooftop, only now on a bigger scale. “In the end it’s just meant to be a good party,” he laughs, “where Cambodians and foreigners can have good fun together.”


Programme

May 16 – Acclaimed French dance company ‘Accrorap’ performs at Chenla Theatre.
May 17 – Hip hop screenings at Wat Bothum.
May 19 – Hip hop films at the CCF.
May 20 & 21 – Hip hop films at Meta House.
May 22 – Tiny Toones perform at Chenla Theatre followed by dancers Raphael & Sébastien in their show ‘Seul Ensembles.’
May 23 – Tiny Toones perform at Chenla Theatre followed by Belle & Sébastien and German performer Storm.
May 24 – Open air hip hop jam ‘Khmix it!’ at Wat Bothum

Meta House, www.meta-house.com, Tel. 023 224 140 / 012 607 465
French Cultural Centre, www.ccf-cambodge.org, Tel. 023 213 124 / 125