Biography
Lafidki is a London, U.K.-based sound/visual artist, and founder of Chinabot, a platform and collective created to change the dialogue surrounding Asian music. Lafidki is the moniker of Saphy Vong, who has been releasing experimental electronic since 2008. He was born in a refugee camp in Phanat Nikhon, Thailand to Cambodian refugee parents who fled Pol Pot's regime and were raised in France. He released his EP Absynthax via Orange Milk records. He is a sound artist and conceptual collagist who performs around the world. His music is a confluence of ideas, synthesizing multiple underrepresented histories, geographies, musical genres, and cultural signifiers into compelling, colorful sonic material that packs contemporaneous dancefloor weight.
Lafidki last album Derichan explores the rituals and traditions of his Cambodian heritage while protesting the repression increasingly prevalent in the country. A key inspiration for Derichan is the more than 20 ethnic groups residing in Cambodia’s uplands and mountains whose unique cultures, languages, and histories are at risk. Derichan is a record of bombastic, widescreen synthesis. But it weaves itself into a broader narrative of preserving identity in the face of oppression and homogenization.
Lafidki has played at a number of international festivals: Donau Festival 2018 (Krems, Austria), VIA 2012 (Pittsburgh, United States), Nuit Blanche-French Institute 2016 (Kyoto, Japan), represented Cambodia at Tallinn Music Week (Tallinn, Estonia). He has shared the stage with Hype Williams, K-X-P, Tzusing, James Ferraro, Nightmares on Wax, Molly Nilsson, Andy Stott, Varg, Tropic of Cancer, Laurel Halo, Amnesia Scanner, Faka, and James Holden. His music was played by BBC, NTS Radio.
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