AsiaLIFE

May was a crazy month in the Penh, as AsiaLIFE Guide’s photographers, Nathan Horton and Conor Wall show.

Albeit it seemed to be all over before it had started, or at least it was for Ricky Hatton. For the Penh, May was far more pink than pugilistic as Pride 09 rolled out at bars and clubs around town. Coinciding with the International Day Against Homophobia (May 17) rather than national holidays the highlight of the week was the official party at Pontoon Lounge, the previous day. The Lounge hasn’t rocked so much since Bert Bevans played ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion.  

Indeed Pontoon was the heart of many of May’s highlights. May 16 saw the start of Superfly, a monthly event that organisers promise will be the “best and most original dance music the capital has ever heard.” Is that a promise of things to come or a criticism of things past? The Penh’s normally floating nightclub ended the month with a performance by Irish beatboxer Cian Sayles on May 23. A veteran of hundreds of shows mainly in his native Dublin, Cian awed the crowd by producing multiple sounds and beats usually only heard from musical instruments or in ‘When Harry Met Sally’. “Anyone can do it,” Cian says encouragingly, who plans to collaborate with hip hop group Tiny Toones.

May was a great month for hip hop fans. The French Cultural Centre’s Hip Hop Festival, proved there is more hop in hip than goes down the Heart on a Saturday night. For those who prefer a more mellowed way of passing their Friday nights, Talkin to a Stranger was the destination on May 22. Dimple entertained the assembled crowd with his musical repertoire much reminiscent of James Blunt.

For once film buffs had a choice wider than between Meta House, and a DVD take away pizza, with the European Film Festival, while the highlight of the art calendar was the opening of Meas Sokhorn’s exhibition Exhale at the Chinese House.