Yab Moung Records has an amazing opportunity to take over an apartment situated around Orussey Market, the centre of Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh. At the moment, the place is run down but the rent is cheap and we see potential to transform the space into a D.I.Y. community house for alternative music. The venue would function as a record store, music distributor, and a hangout place for those involved locally and globally in the alternative scene. It would also host workshops in regards to music, design and printing for band merchandise.
In Phnom Penh, urban development is rampant and the cost of rent is rising, leading to a spate of venue shut-downs and a deficit of music venues for non-mainstream genres. There are only two, yes, you heard it right – TWO in the city. Moreover, Cambodia has no distributors where young people can go to buy underground records, merchandise, tapes and CDs, and we could be the first one with your help!
As the nascent Cambodian music scene takes off, we would like to take this opportunity to encourage more Cambodian teenagers to engage their creativity (be it T-shirt making, music composition, drawing, or just conversing about music), and to provide a place for touring bands to crash. Our aim is to link Cambodia up to the global scene and to sustain and develop the underground Khmer metal and punk music scene.
The rent is 150$ per month, plus running costs. We also need a bit more funding for some necessary renovations, as you can see. Being able to rent this space and provide for the community would be a crucial step forward for us and the alternative music scene in Cambodia.
Thank you for your support!