In spirit

Two reggae gigs that I would've attended, if I was still living in Blighty, will take place soon enough. Up first is my favourite songstress Yaz Alexander, who will support the legendary Wailers in concert at the Birmingham Academy on Wednesday 22 April. The Wailers, Bob Marley's backing band, will perform the Exodus album in full as part of a 6-date tour they are kicking off in London tonight. Yaz will be accompanied by her two backing vocalists Anne-Marie and Emmah B. By the way Yaz will also support The Mighty Diamonds in concert at The Drum in Birminghm on 6 June.
The second gig where I will be there in spirit only, will be at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire on Wednesday 27 May, when the best band on the globe, Steel Pulse will perform as part of the Island Life concert festival, celebrating 50 years of Island Records. It was with Island that Steel Pulse released their first single, Ku Klux Klan and their debut album, Handsworth Revolution, in 1978, a watershed year in my music-listening history. Pulse went onto release another two albums whilst with Island, not to mention touring with the legend himself Bob Marley, another Island regular. Link: Steel Pulse.

Catch-up

To give you a breather from my posts on my epic bicycle ride around the walls of Angkor Thom (which seems never-ending to me so goodness knows how you feel about it), I wanted to catch-up with a couple of items. The Oscars came and went last weekend and Steven Okazaki’s documentary film The Conscience of Nhem En (or lack of conscience would be more appropriate) didn't make it into the winner's envelope. Nevertheless, it has received great reviews and should be aired on television sometime soon in the States. If Steven would like to send me a copy of the dvd, we'll get it shown in Phnom Penh too. Steven I mean it, send me a copy. Meanwhile, Nhem En continues to seek money from anyone who'll give him some, for his Khmer Rouge museum in Anlong Veng.
On the subject of showing documentaries in Phnom Penh, Beth Pielert has despatched her Out of the Poison Tree film to me and with the help of Nico from Meta House, we hope to show the film on Saturday 14th March. I'll confirm it as definite once I have the dvd in my sweaty palms. This will be the first showing of this intriguing documentary in Cambodia so I hope it'll draw a big crowd of interested onlookers, especially with the currency of the Khmer Rouge trials so high at the moment. More to follow - I hope.
One of my favourite people is the renowned Angkor scholar Dawn Rooney. I count myself as very fortunate to have known Dawn for many years now and she has always been a mine of information and helpfulness personified. In a mini catch-up, she tells me she's recently completed her latest book, Khmer Ceramics, Their Beauty and Meaning, which has just gone to the publishers, following on from her last book, Ancient Sukhothai, Thailand's Cultural Heritage, published by River Books. When she's not lecturing, in her spare time, she's part of the Thai-Cambodian team on the Living Angkor Road Project and has just joined the Board of Trustees for the Center for Khmer Studies in Siem Reap. Another friend is due in town tomorrow, namely Denise Heywood (pictured), lecturer, journalist, photographer and author of the new book Cambodian Dance, as well as one on Ancient Luang Prabang. She will give an illustrated talk on her new book at Monument Books on Norodom Boulevard on Thursday 5th March. I know from experience what a wonderfully evocative speaker Denise is, so I urge you to attend.

Moving away from Cambodia and onto music, I informed you about Yaz Alexander's new 9-track mini-album Cry for Freedom here with its focus on roots and culture reggae, though Yaz is a woman for all seasons and her next album is already in the works, with a release date of October, and which will contain elements of soul, r-n-b, hip-hop and jazz, with productions from Sly & Robbie, Montell Jordan and Beres Hammond likely. Also in the works are three forthcoming concert appearances; 7th March at International Women's Day; 4th April with Mighty Diamonds, both in Birmingham, and 12th April with Beres Hammond and Maxi Priest at Wolverhampton.

Two great friends of mine, Selwyn Brown from Steel Pulse with Yaz Alexander

Cry For Freedom

She's back with a nine-track stop-gap mini-album to keep us in the groove before her next full-to-brimming third album in the Summer. Yaz Alexander is my favourite female singer on the planet. She has a beautiful voice, perfect pitch and a delivery style to knock your socks off. I really miss not being able to see her perform live. It's a cross I have to bear living in Cambodia. However, I can still listen to the music, which is available on CD Baby. Her latest offering is the mini-album Cry For Freedom and has all the usual beats and bass lines, meshed with her reggae roots background and complemented by her seductive voice. It's a stop-gap because she's on course to release her next blockbuster later this year, following the release of her incredible debut solo album, Life Begins, in December 2007. The tracks on Cry For Freedom are: Cry For Freedom; How Much More; Enemies: Life; Better Must Come; (Do) The Right Thing; Cry For Freedom (Soulful House Remix); Love; Sister.
She isn't stopping there either. In between laying down tracks for album # 3, she's recorded a new R&B song called Days of Thunder, which she'll put out with a video, has some more gigs lined up including support for Mighty Diamonds in Birmingham, and every Monday she puts on free singing workshops with young gifted Birmingham singers, aided by Steel Pulse's Selwyn Brown when he's not on tour. Giving back to the art that has given them so much is in Yaz's and Selwyn's blood. Link: CD Baby.