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Cambodian Popular Music
I recently introduced Cambodian popular music to a few friends. One thought the Khmer language sounded odd but the songs sounded interesting, and the other two thought it was okay. So I thought I should do the same to my fellow Ricochet members.
From the late 1940s to 1975, Cambodia had a pretty thriving pop music scene. Our pop music is influenced by our traditional and folk music as well as French, English, and Japanese Enka. Cambodian popular music consists of pop, rock, and dance songs. Dance songs are based on several of our folk tunes. We sing and dance to these folk-based pop songs on New Year Days and at wedding receptions. All songs are pre-1975, and since all songs are pre-1975, the majority of the artists are dead.
Wait Ten More Months, Music and Lyric by Sam Ell Kim, Vocal by Sereysothea Ros
Goodbye Paris, Music and Lyric and Vocal by Sisamouth Sinn
The One That Deceived My Affection, Music and Lyric by Ho Voy, Vocal by Sereysothea Ros
Come Again Tomorrow, Music and Lyric and Vocal by Aularong Yol
Soaring Wind, Music and Lyric by Bonchoeun Kung, Vocal by Sereysothea Ros. This is one of our folk-based pop songs that we sing and dance to during new year celebrations.
Published in General
Diiiiiid someone say Anka?
https://youtu.be/nmnnp5pazi4
1&5 are the best. 5 is particularly good.
Actually, it’s enka. Just fixed the typo.
Well. That changes everything.
Can’t wait to check this out at home.
There is a great documentary detailing Cambodian music from this era, and how it was decimated under the Khmer Rouge regime.
Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll
Whenever I hear how Socialists tout how they support culture, I always cite the Khmer Rouge regime in how they dealt with Culture.
By the way, you can also get the ‘Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten’ Soundtrack CD / Download as well, as it’s quite awesome like this Pen Ram track.
Yeah that documentary is great. I saw it last year when it came out.
No prizes as to why it was not nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, but we already know it doesn’t fit their agenda.
Really interesting, Lidens. Thanks for giving me some fodder this morning! Peace!
Sounds somehow familiar, yet not. I get the impression that various cultures around the world were on a similar cultural trajectory post WWII. Then something happened?
Thanks for sharing.
I’m on the road, my laptop has atrocious speakers, waiting to get home to have a listen… But thank you in advance for sharing this with us.
Yet another reason to hate those damn Commies. I will be listening to this. Is the documentary available on YouTube?
For a fee: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=uWUClhqQkVo
The first audiobook I ever listened to was “To Destroy You Is No Loss”.
Haunting.
http://www.amazon.com/To-Destroy-You-Loss-Cambodian/dp/0963220519
#2 needs a walking bass…
Very nice, Lidens. Thank you.
That first one I can totally see being used in scene in a Quentin Tarantino movie.
I listened to that one as well. It was most definitely chilling, but the thing that struck me the most about the regime, not just how evil they were but how dumb the ideas were. They killed anyone who knew how to do anything, doctors, engineers, etc…. I think in other communists regimes they knew that they needed at least some educated folks.
I love the music, thanks for sharing, for some reason I’ve been interested in the Cambodian Khmer Rouge regime since I was 10 (but that is a different story)It is nice for me to see this side of the culture, as unfortunatly I think that period in Cambodian history dominates our minds in the west. We forget there is a lot more to Cambodian history and culture.
Thanks for sharing. I greatly enjoy getting to hear different types of music.
Ray Donovan was a good show. Makes the commercial look creepy-
Yes, there’s just something horrifyingly fascinating about radical evil, especially when it purports to do “good”.
It always does. Nobody wakes up in the morning eager to be evil-
People who are afraid of heights sometimes describe themselves as “drawn to the fall”, which is creepy enough even without religious overtones. I have heard that fear as people not being afraid of falling but of jumping. Human nature being what it is, evil has a seductive quality. We are a perverse species, 49% bent on self-destruction, but in ways we camouflage from our sight, unlike our ostentatious displays of virtue.
As an agnostic, I see it as a corrective for something. Heaven knows what that might be.
Or perhaps we all do, but most of us think better of it? Well, let me not go down a philosophical road with a pro. Too easy to get stuffed into a drain.
If I ever get a chance to buy you a drink, we’ll talk about it then.
I like ‘The one that deceived my affection’–it recalls old Chinese popular songs from Wong Kar Wai movies!
Personally, I think I am fascinated by absolute evil because too often I find it stifling to be “good”. I have a periodic need to check myself by seeing what could happen if I pull out that first thread. It’s impressively effective.
Thanks for the background on and YouTube videos of Cambodian popular music, Lidens. I have the “Cambodian Rocks” compilation, but didn’t know much about the artists. I look forward to watching the “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten” documentary as well.
Thanks, Lidens.
Dengue Fever, from Long Beach, California, features a Cambodian singer (Chhom Nimol) and has been around for about 15 years: http://denguefevermusic.com . They play a mix of originals and the songs you’ve been discussing. Highly recommended.
DJ EJ et. al. : You can also find Cambodian Rocks here: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2009/01/08/cambodia-rocks-sounds-from-the-60s-70s/
The tune of song number 5 is called Saravan. It’s a dance style where you dance in a pair with both dancers facing each other.
Here’s another song of the same tune. The title is roughly translated to Serenade Of Pech And Noe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnFCj6mD5Lk