The sounds of the CLA

Sinat and his beloved tro khmer

Tonight at Phnom Penh's Living Room on Street 306 at 7pm, two of the Cambodian Living Arts troupe of performers, Sinat and Srey Peou, will give a preview performance of their artistic talents which they will be exhibiting on their Children of Angkor tour of the USA next month. Srey Peou will chant poetry and Sinat will accompany her on his favoured tro khmer, as well as demonstrating other unique Cambodian instruments. I remember seeing Sinat display his talents at Meta House in January 2008 and this boy is excellent. Also this week, the Children of the Khmer by the youngsters from the Tonle Bassac Folk Group, supported and funded by Cambodian Living Arts, will put on another show at the National Museum, on Thursday 25th at 7pm. It is open to the public, tickets are priced at $18 each and it's a great show as I had the pleasure of enjoying it a couple of weeks ago.

Great gusto

The Tonle Bassac folk dancers strutting their stuff last night

Last night on an outdoor stage at the National Museum, the performance of Children of the Khmer by the youngsters from the Tonle Bassac Folk Group, supported and funded by the Cambodian Living Arts team, showed exactly why they went down a storm on their Womad and Edinburgh Festival appearances in 2008. Their combination of classical repertoire and engaging traditional folk dances, performed with great gusto and a guest spot from master musician Ieng Sithul, was lapped up by the appreciative audience in this premiere piece of a performance they will open to the public later this month. Towards the end of this year they are aiming to make the show a regular event. Ieng Sithul has trained his young group well, and their repertoire involved a variety of traditional and well-known folk style dances as well as comedy routines, all backed by their own excellent musicians and singers. You can read more about the group's performances in the UK here. You should definitely make the effort to see them perform, they are an inspiration and a great credit to the youth of their country.
Update: The two 'open to the public' upcoming performances from the Tonle Bassac team will take place on the atmospheric National Museum outdoor stage at 7pm on Thursday 25 March and Thursday 1 April. Tickets are priced at $18 per person, call 023 986 032 to book.

The show opened up with some classical Cambodian court dance

Master Ieng Sithul encourages a member of the audience to partake in some leaf whistling

The show was full of vitality and movement in last night's varied programme

The performers take their bow at the end of the National Museum premiere