"Do you want to go to a French hip hop concert?"

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Today, for the very first time, I took my bicycle out for a ride in the traffice. Deciding that I should at least take it for a bit of a spin before committing to a longer ride out to the villages, I ventured out with only my camera, a few dollars and my 'carry everywhere you go in case you nearly die and need someone to call for help' card. I was hopeful that I would not need the last item. Actually, it turned out to be a bit esier than I had expected. I had no trouble with staying on the correct side of the road, and took a route cleverly composed soley of right turns. I even negotiated a roundabout without incident (taking the first exit I came to!). Sadly, on the final stretch of my short outing, I realised that a navigational error meant I now needed to make a left turn off a busy road. I smoothly shifted to the left, turned the corner, and very nearly ran into a moto coming in the other direction. The man on the moto smiled forgivingly, and nodded with a look of bemusement when I offered a quick "sommtoh!" to appologise. Feeling encouraged that the other road users were kinder than I had thought I continued toward my house, wondering briefly if perhaps I should extend the ride. And then I nearly got hit by a moto. And then a car. And so, I concluded that it was time to put my bicycle away for the day and try my luck again another time.

With the question of what to do for the rest of the day still unanswered, a text message came from one of the other expats at my company, Mary, asking if I would be interested in coming along to a "free French hip hop concert". I was torn. Part of me thought this could be an interesting experience in Cambodia. But part of me was really not keen on spending my evening at some kind of hip hop dance party. I'm not really the dancing type. In the end, deciding that I could certainly at least get some interesting photos I took up the offer.

I'm so glad that I did.

The "French hip hop concert" was nothing like I had imagined. Nobody in the audience moved from their seats for example - I guess I didn't need to be worried about the dancing thing! It turned out, that whilst the concert started at 6pm, before the main attraction (flown in from France especially), there was to be a whole series of support acts. First cab off the rank were some Cambodian hip hop artists. Interesting. Still no sign of movement from the audience, though the performers really did put in there best effort to get people up and clapping. Meanwhile, in the background (literally) two painters were filling a large blank canvass that extended the length of the stage. I really liked this idea, kind of fascinating to watch somehow.

A few songs later, the first group came to an end, with the female hip hopper (is that even word?) telling us how her parents didnt want her to be a singer and she had thus run away from home to follow her dream. And so, out came the next peformer. A middle aged cambodian man. Wearing dress pants and a red jacket. Not exactly what I expected as the second hip hop support act. The man pulled out a newspaper and pretended to read. Part of me started to panic at this point. It was all coming together... the concert was put on by the French Cultural foundation. We already had roving artists in the background. And now this guy was going to do some kind of performance artwork. It could be a long night... So the man tears the newspaper in half. And in half again. And again. And again. I'm not quite sure what kind of point he's trying to make here. And then suddenly, a quick movement and the newspaper is all in one piece again! Ohhhhh. I really get it now. He's a magician! Of course - what else would the second act at a hip hop concert be? I can't believe I missed that! But actually, he's a pretty good magician who makes appearances between each act to entertain the audience while the next group set up. I like this guy.

Magic show over (for now), out come the next act. Definitely not hip hop. At this point, it becomes clear that the 'support acts' are not really confined to such a stereotype, ranging from the initial hip hop act, to classical strings groups, to woefully sung songs of desolation and heart break, to the "Ukes of Hazzard". It was as though I was watching my very own, live version of the Eurovision contest. Tim Mac - you would have loved (and been horrified) by some of the acts!

Unfortunately, 2 hours and 45 minutes later the 'support acts' were still going. Most of the audience had left, and we were soon to follow - heading out in search of food at the very late (for Cambodia) hour of 9pm. We did get to see the main act for a few minutes though. I felt a bit bad for them that most of their audience had gone home. Though not bad enough for us to stay for the rest of their performance.

After the Cambodian French Hip Hop Eurovision Spectactular, we headed to a local Cambodian restaurant that Mary knew where we could try genuine Cambodian hotpot. (I later found out from my language teacher that the Cambodian word for this is "soup". Yes soup. I think I will be able to remember that at least). So, the way this Cambodian hot pot soup thing works is that you have a gas burner on your table, and they come and put a big pot of (you guessed it) soup on there. The soup already has lots of things in it to give it flavour, however it is probably best not to dwell too much on exactly what those 'things' are. They were definely body parts of some kind. Let's leave it there.

Fortunately, you also get a whole tray of other ingredients, like vegetables, noodles, raw beef and fish balls that you can put into the soup (once it is boiling) to cook and then eat. If you run out of liquid, they come along and bring more soup. Too easy. The whole thing is kind of fun actually.

After another late night, I took a tuk tuk home whilst Mary calmly rode her bicycle through the busy main road traffic - making my earlier efforst look rather puny!. I think tomorrow will be a quiet day. Church, lunch and reading a book is on the agenda.

***Scroll down for more photos of the Eurovision experience!

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Photos

String quartet...
...this is an unusual hip hop concert

Now the audience is getting in to it
...what is left of the audience anyway

Comments

[Karan]

A concert
good show with good photos......