Entertainment BEAT - RONAN ROCKS PHNOM PENH - May 2007

RONAN Keating - Alyson Hua photo

James Loving - National Radio Text Service - Thursday May 10, 2007

HE CAME… HE SAW… AND HE CONQUERED the Hearts of his Cambodian Fans

RONAN CAME SAW & CONQUERED PHNOM PENH

RONAN Keating is said to be the biggest International singing star to come to Cambodia. He did that last night at Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium's Indoor Arena.

It didn't take long for the Irishman to get an estimated crowd of 5,000 on his side as he got them cheering and standing on their feet by the third song, "So Easy To Love You."

"We've had amazing day here today in your city," he said to the audience after competing the song.

The former Boyzone band member then announced his next song that he co-wrote with Bryan Adams, "The Way You Make Me Feel" in which he got to know the crowd better by walking off the stage to the Arena floor to greet them as he belted out the tune.

After his fifth song RONAN got serious and as part of his humanitarian concerns he noted that he visited an NGO that afternoon in an effort to understand one of the problems in Cambodia, careless driving. He pointed out that one should not drive under the influence of alcohol or while talking on their cell phones.

RONAN tastefully displayed his communication skills as the night went on by noting that he joined Boyzone 14 years ago and left the band seven years ago.

The 30-year-old singer's timing was perfect as he built the energy level as the show went along reaching a frantic peak his 14th song "If Tomorrow Never Comes."

The crowd rose to its feet again and started to sing the lyrics. When finished RONAN complimented them by saying, "That was the best version of the song from an audience that we've ever heard." He knew how to stroke the attendees and make them feel special.

He announced the completion of the show after the 16th song and left the stage The crowd kept applauding in hopes that he would return for an encore. He answered their request as the band did return for a two-song encore that rounded off the night with a flawless 18-song one hour and 25 minute performance.

At an afternoon press conference prior to the show Keating noted that this was his first visit to Cambodia and since arriving the night before didn't have time to see the city. He added that he didn't know what to expect from the audience or Cambodia.

Well now he's been here and done that. The crowd was pleased with his show with the result being… HE CAME… HE SAW… AND HE CONQUERED the hearts of his Cambodian fans.

Ronan (Keating) will appear in concert at Olympic Stadium's Indoor Arena Wednesday May 9. It is said the appearance will make him the first major international pop singer to perform in Cambodia.

Doors open at 6pm and Ronan is scheduled to start his show at 7:30 PM. There will be a Khmer opening act that is yet to be selected.

CTN's General Manager Glen Felgate said that 7,000 seats are on sale and 1/3 has been allocated. Ticket prices are $15 - $25 and $65. They can be purchased at Total Petrol stations, ANZ Royal Banks, the Cambodiana Hotel and the head office for Mobitel at 33 Sihanouk Boulevard near the Independence Monument in Phnom Penh.

Ronan began his career with Boy Band Boyzone at the age of sixteen. He also briefly co-managed Boy Band Westlife. In 1999 the Irishman started his solo career though Boyzone never officially broke up.

As a solo artist Ronan has racked up 14 top 10 singles and three number one albums. BMI the recording rights organization awarded him their European songwriting award for his composition of The Long Goodbye that did well in the US reaching number one status on the Billboard country chart.

To celebrate his first decade in the music industry Ronan released his 10 Years of Hits album that reached number one on the British charts and has sold nearly two and a half million copies worldwide.

His most recent album Bring You Home was released June 5, 2006 and reached number three on the charts in England and top ten in several other countries. But there's more to Keating than music.

In June 2004, Ronan made a trip to Ghana as his first job as a Fair Trade ambassador for Christian Aid. Ronan spent a week visiting farmers and families across central Ghana to see first hand how unfair trade laws are destroying livelihoods

On July 6, 2005, he performed at Murry Field Edinburgh for 50,000 people at the called "The Final Push"; it was the final concert of Live 8, to raise awareness for the plight of Africa.

In October 2005, Ronan went to Rome where he was appointed as a UN Goodwill Ambassador via the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). This came out of his work started in 2004 with Christian Aid and the Trade Justice Campaign.

The European Film Festival will take place May 9 - 19th at the French Cultural Center. The event is presented by the Embassies of the European Union Member States and the Kingdom of Cambodia in collaboration with the French Cultural Center.

Fourteen recent European movies will be screened from participating countries Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden and Great Britain.

CAMBODIAN ALL-TIME TOP 10 NR STORIES

April 2007 marked the 10th anniversary since our launch of the National Radio web site in April 1997.

This followed 10 years of supplying radio programming that has aired on seven networks on more than 1000 radio station in the USA.

Since the NR web site launch we have posted over 1000 stories with 650 stories currently on the site that are listed by the Yahoo..

Surprisingly three Cambodian oriented stories made the NR All-time Top 10 list that indicated worldwide readers interests. The results varied with a travel story topping the list.

The story on the Cambodian Royal Palace ranked second overall. That was followed by a Human Interest story/Feature about Dr Beat Richner who founded the Kuntha Bopha Hospital's in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

Sports rounded off the worlds Cambodian selections with a feature story on Hok Sochetra the former star of the Cambodian national football team.

While thinking back about all of the stories that we have done regarding Cambodian subjects we have our pick as our all-time favorite.

It's a sports and human-interest story that turned into a comedy. We're referring to the re-opening of Olympic Stadium after years and years of closure due to renovations. The event featured a boxing match of Cambodian vs. International fighters. What resulted was due to the fans displeasure with their local hero they indicated that they were NO HAPPY (as they say in Asia) and threw plastic water bottles (full and otherwise) to the ring.

That sent the fighters and their supporting staff scurrying for cover that they found by ducking under the boxing ring for safety. That created a stampede of fans rushing for the exits.

As I was holding on to my camera taking pictures the onrush was like being in Pamplona with the raging bulls coming to trample me. I wasn't afraid for myself my primary concern was to save my camera.

After a few minutes the disturbance settled down and those that were left near the arena returned inside. At that point the arena was virtually empty when the fights resumed. This event was televised and is worth of being televised on believe it or not.

So why is this my favorite story. As a friend of mine that was the one of the largest high school English departments in the USA said, "I can't imagine people smiling in Cambodia." Well this event made and still does make me smile. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen in sports.

As for the Khmer's they are smiling more than when I first landed on Cambodian soil in 1998. It's event's like this that bring a smile to one's face particularly when one considers that the year before in 1997 Cambodian's were throwing hand grenades and not water bottles. Nuff said…

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