04/20/2013 at 8pm
725 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Master of the chapei dong vong (long neck guitar), Kong Nay’s music caught the ear of Peter Gabriel, who presented him at Womad. Kong Nay’s CD release Mekong Delta Blues captures the spirit of his soulful ballads. With sharp wit and a flawless sense of rhythm and rhyme, he improvises satire in his gravelly voice, part of a thousand-year-old tradition that gives poetic license to chapei players. This program will feature Kong Nay solo for the first half of the concert, and then he will be joined New York-based jazz composer/musician Ben Allison.
Season of Cambodia lights up New York City’s cultural landscape in April and May 2013, with more than 125 artists from Cambodia for a major celebration of Cambodian arts, culture, and humanities. Distinctive works from master and emerging artists and scholars — in ritual, music, visual arts, performance, dance, shadow puppetry, film, and academic forums — will be presented by 30 of New York’s most renowned arts and educational institutions, marking an unprecedented city-wide partnership initiative to celebrate one of the world’s most vibrant and evocative cultures. Season of Cambodia is an initiative of Cambodian Living Arts.
Website: www.asiasociety.org/new-york/events