Hanuman Spaceman is a trippy tropical rock opera... a psychedelic sci-fi fairytale fusing ancient epic tales with a funky, feisty take on contemporary Cambodia, and homage to the golden age of Khmer pop.

With your support, Hanuman Spaceman will bring together a team of artists and producers between Cambodia and Australia to create a shape-shifting music theatre work for the twenty-first century. The performance fuses the extraordinary personal story of Cambodian singer Srey Channthy Kak, with the mythic figure of the trickster monkey god Hanuman, from epic texts such as the Ramayana – in a story of escape, by building a rocket to travel to the moon. Hanuman Spaceman mashes rock’n’roll, funk, psychedelia, Cambodian folk and contemporary song with dance, digital visuals, and story.

Last year the team made a first draft version working in collaboration with Khmer Cultural Development Institute, which runs an amazing school teaching traditional music and dance to orphaned children in Kampot, Cambodia. Your contribution through Pozible and Creative Partnerships Australia MATCH funding will allow for the creation and presentation of the project in Australia.

In May 2015, they'll be working in residence at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in western Sydney, in collaboration with local Khmer musicians, to adapt and rehearse this first draft for a short public season under the title Cosmic Cambodia, 15-16 May 2015. The partners The Cambodian Space Project, producer Intimate Spectacle, and artists including director Carlos Gomes (Theatre Kantanka), hope to use this season as a showcase to secure funds and partners for the final development of this major new work Hanuman Spaceman later this year, before further season nationally and internationally in 2016.

Set against the backdrop of Cambodian history, Hanuman Spaceman evokes the “Golden age” of Khmer rock’n’roll in the liberal 60’s, through the eyes of Cambodian Space Project founder, Srey Channthy, who was raised in one of the poorest Cambodian villages. This work conveys her life-long quest to channel the lost Khmer divas of the 60s, and sing them back to life, reviving a culture the genocidal Khmer Rouge attempted to extinguish.

The performance will be a fast-moving, energetic rock opera, driven by the band’s powerful big beat sound, a four piece teamed with an ensemble of local Khmer community musicians playing traditional instruments such as the pinpeat, mohori, and tro. They’re joined by the fabulous Spacettes: dancers Khen Vanthy & Khen Vanthon, fusing their classical Khmer dance training with sixties go-go.

It’s an extraordinary visual spectacle, with director Carlos Gomes’ lush tropical aesthetic, and video artist Samuel James’ vibrant animations, footage of contemporary Cambodian life, and the rarely seen archival footage from Cambodia’s golden age of cinema, as seen in the recent documentary film The Golden Slumbers.

Together, they tell a story in song, images and dreams, drawing on all our traditions: classical dance, go-go, epic tales & fairytales from east and west, Khmer pop, rocknroll, science fiction. A story of escape, adventure, of dreaming big things, and most of all, celebrating life.

The Band

Rewards Bonus

Creative Team

International collaborations are expensive. The costs of working together between countries add up: travel, communication. When Australians work with artists from developed countries, funds normally come from both sides - from funding agencies, and from production partners such as venues or festivals.

But Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the region, and in the bottom quarter of countries by wealth per person. There is little or no arts funding support there, and none for a co-production such as this. While we are luck to have support from funders and partners in Australia, and in kind support from the fabulous Khmer Cultural Development Institute, there are still some things that unfortunately only money can buy.

All funds raised will go towards supporting The Cambodian Space Project and our artists to develop, rehearse and perform Hanuman Spaceman at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney, in May 2015.

So please help fill the gap by supporting this campaign.

Production costs:
-Artist fees for the 2 week residency and Casula Powerhouse:
          4 band members
          2 dancers
          Director
          Audiovisual artist
          Technical production manager/lighting designer
          Sound engineer
-Sets props and costumes including:
          Stylised Angkor Wat referencing projection screen/backdrop
          Cyclo (cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport in Cambodia)
          Rocket prop
-Fees for local Khmer community musicians and dancers

Travel costs:
-5 x return flights Phnom Penh
-Accommodation 5 artists during the 2 week residency
-incidentals and allowances

Thanks to Creative Partnerships Australia, every dollar you give will be matched up to $10,000 through their Match: Crowdfunding for the Independent Arts Sector initiative.
This project is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australian Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and developed with the support of Khmer Cultural Development Institute, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, and Arts Centre Melbourne.