Ouch Savy in person

Ouch Savy was at Meta House to see the film Mekong Delta Blues

I realised tonight that I hadn't visited Meta House, here in Phnom Penh, for quite a while, having been in Laos recently, so it was time to put that right. And what better way than to see a new documentary, that's still unfinished, by filmmaker Julien Poulson called Mekong Delta Blues. It's a 45 minute music road documentary about the chapei legend Kong Nay and his protege Ouch Savy, and their Womad tour to Australia and New Zealand. The director follows Kong Nay and Ouch Savy as they experience life down under with interviews and excerpts from their concerts and radio station interviews. Ouch Savy was in the audience to watch the film - I have yet to see her perform on the chapei in person - and Kong Boran, Kong Nay's son, provided some live music accompaniment on the chapei. I will be back at Meta House on Sunday for a contemporary dance presentation and video that follows on from the Look At Us Now performances in May of this year. There are also a couple of exhibitions on at the moment, at Reyum Gallery and at the Bophana Center that will get my personal attention in the next couple of days.

Kong Boran provides some live chapei musical accompaniment at Meta House

Lame excuse

Ouch Savy appeared but only on a short video clip

What a disappointment the Joop evening turned out to be, at Meta House tonight. Chapei musician Ouch Savy, the main reason for my attendance, was nowhere to be seen in person and a lame excuse for her absence was given as an afterthought by the organisers. Instead, an eclectic assortment of video, Khmer poetry and rap included a brief appearance by Savy as well as her master tutor, Kong Nay, on video. The main thrust of the night was a film, When the rivers run backwards, by Julien Poulson and Justin Foster who combined images of Phnom Penh with differing music styles - though, as they pointed out, it was a very rough-cut version. The most enjoyable video on show was a rap by Dang Kosal, formerly on the staff at Meta House and one of the bodyguards in the musical Where Elephants Weep, who was introduced by his rap moniker, MC Curly. Looks like rap and a cap worn at an angle will be the next time we see Kosal in the public eye. I went away disappointed that I still haven't seen Ouch Savy live.

MC Curly, better known to me as Dang Kosal, raps it up on video

Khmer women in the spotlight

I've seen the legendary chapei master Kong Nay perform quite a few times, but I've never seen his protege, Ouch Savy in the flesh, so to speak. I've even been to her home and chatted to her mother, herself a well-known musician, but Savy and Kong Nay were on tour at the time of my visit. In fact their touring took them to the United Kingdom where they performed at the world-famous WOMAD festival, to great acclaim, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. So I'm eagerly awaiting tonight's Joop session at Meta House, where Savy will perform as part of a multi-media show. As one of the first women to learn the chapei, Savy, in her early twenties, is a pioneer and her duet with Kong Nay - their houses were two metres apart when they lived in the Dey Krahom area until it was levelled - can be heard on the cd from Cambodian Living Arts, Mekong Delta Blues (pictured right).

Tomorrow night, also at Meta House (next to Wat Botum for those who haven't ventured there before), I will be hosting two excellent films that look at two women from the Khmer diaspora, who return to Cambodia in search of their roots and a better understanding of their past. We start at 7pm and Li-Da Kruger's return for the film Belonging will start us off. Li-Da was adopted as a baby by well-to-do parents in the UK but is still determined to track down her real family, if that's still possible after twenty-five years. For Socheata Poeuv in New Year Baby, she knows her parents, or at least she thinks she does but returning to Cambodia opens a window into a world she never knew. Both films are well worth watching.