Cambodian Rocks!!!

It’s often the case with some languages that masses of new learners are created overnight by some pop culture phenomenon of foreign origin. Icelandic has its Bjork and Sigur Ros fans…Russian has (had) its Tatu fans…Japanese has long had its hordes of manga/anime/hentai fans. While (thankfully) there doesn’t seem to be a great rush to learn Khmer because of it, classic Khmer rock from the pre-Year Zero period has nevertheless gotten the attention of a lot of people who otherwise might never have cared about Cambodia or its culture.

Cambodian Rocks is credited as the thing that started it all – it is likely the first album of such music (released to a non-Cambodian audience – the same songs have been repackaged and sold by Cambodian-owned record companies for ages – see Wat Phnom). The record is deliberately obscure – there is no information about the singers or composers, no song titles, no translations. What it is is a lot of fun, the performances are over-the-top, the musicianship is first-rate and the blend of American classic rock and Cambodian elements is seamless. It’s clear from listening that this is not a cheap imitation. It’s also a hint that there is another side to this country than genocide and doom and gloom:

Since then interest in the music has continued to grow. Another album of old and new Cambodian music has been released (Cambodian Cassette Archives Vol 1). A new outfit called Khmerrocks has released a series of albums also titled “ Cambodian Rocks” , this time with full credits and translated lyrics.

There is even a Cambodian Rock revival band, Dengue Fever, who along with the classic singers like Sin Sisamouth (ស៊ីន ស៊ីសាមុត), Pan Ron (ប៉ែន រ៉ន), Ros Serey Sothea (រស់ សេរីសុទ្ធា) and others were featured on the soundtrack to City of Ghosts, possibly the most high profile exposure this music has had to date.

And the movies haven’t stopped coming – a short film, The Golden Voice (សម្លេងមាស sâmleeŋ miəh) was made about Ros Serey Sothea’s (the most famous of the female singers) life, with another longer one promised, as well as documentary about the music of the pre-Year Zero years, “ Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten” (កុំស្មានបងភ្លេច kom smaan bââŋ plıc)

A few more links to complete this post:

Another commercial site selling mp3s
A biography of Sin Sisamouth
Fan site for Ros Serey Sothea and Pan Ron (and some mp3s of their music)
Khmer Lyric Fellow wordpress.com blogger who posts Khmer lyrics to songs new and old.

And a rare video of Sin Sisamouth and Seang Dy