The post-Khmer Rouge government made specific moves to re-establish the countrys radio industry, allowing surviving singers and musicians to resume their careers by creating new entertainment content. 49 For example, Drakkar drummer Ouk Sam Art and guitarist Touch Chhatha were able to return to music work at Cambodias National Radio station. 51 better source needed The Cambodian music scene moved on to more modern pop forms, consigning the countrys 1960s1970s rock music to the memories of older fans who had survived the genocide. 15.For the 1996 bootleg compilation album, see Cambodian Rocks.
This music scene was abruptly crushed by the Khmer Rouge communists in 1975, and many of its musicians disappeared or were executed during the ensuing Cambodian genocide. Due to its unique sounds and the tragic fate of many of its performers, the Cambodian rock scene has attracted the interest of music historians and record collectors, and the genre gained new popularity upon the international release of numerous compilation albums starting in the late 1990s. That year, teen brothers Mol Kagnol and Mol Kamach formed Baksey Cham Krong, widely considered to be Cambodias first rock band. The band originally performed crooning vocal music inspired by Paul Anka and Pat Boone, then added inspiration from the guitar-driven music of The Ventures and Chuck Berry. Khmer Song Original 2019 Movie The YoungThey likened themselves to Cliff Richard and The Shadows, and modeled their stage presence after Richards 1961 movie The Young Ones. Baksey Cham Krong exerted a wide influence on the Cambodian rock and pop scene, and their popularity inspired older singers like Sinn Sisamouth to add rock songs to their repertoires. Many later Cambodian rock musicians cited the band as a formative influence. By this time, the Cambodian music scene was further influenced by Western rock and soul music via U.S. Vietnam War. 11 Sisamouth fostered the careers of younger singers and musicians, writing songs for them while also utilizing them in many of his own songs. ![]() Pen Ran was particularly influential, known for her flirtatious dancing and risque lyrics that subverted traditional Khmer gender roles. For example, Sinn Sisamouth is confirmed to have written more than one thousand songs, and the true total is likely to be much higher. Sisamouth, Ros Serey Sothea, Pen Ran and others also maintained separate music careers concurrently. Their rock n roll records, which were popular with younger people, were released alongside works in other genres including traditional Cambodian music, romantic ballads, and film music, with those latter genres remaining popular with the countrys older music fans. Ros Serey Sothea and Pen Ran are both believed to have sung on hundreds of songs, and Pen Ran wrote many of her songs herself. For example, singerguitarist Yol Aularong was influenced by garage rock and specialized in sarcastic lyrics that poked fun at conservative Cambodian society. Aularong has been described as a proto-punk by the New York Times. However, the Cambodian Civil War took its toll on the country, as did American bombing campaigns associated with the Vietnam War. Due to wartime curfews, musicians often had to play in clubs during the day and often heard nearby gunfire and explosions during their performances. The Cambodian rock scene persevered in this fashion until the fall of the Khmer Republic in April 1975. The Khmer Rouge regime, led by Pol Pot, wanted to return the nation of Cambodia to an idyllic notion of the past by implementing a radical form of agrarian socialism while simultaneously shunning outside aid and influence. In order to build and protect their utopian goals, the Khmer Rouge perceived enmity in anyone tied to the previous Cambodian governments, ethnic and religious minorities, intellectuals, and members of certain professions. In the ensuing Cambodian genocide, about 25 percent of the Cambodian population perished. More than half of those who died during the genocide are believed to have been directly executed. The rest died through forced labor, malnutrition, and disease due to the Khmer Rouges cruelty and poor management of its utopian project. Many of Cambodias rock musicians disappeared during the genocide and their exact fates have never been confirmed. Due to these musicians enduring popularity with the Cambodian people, reports differ on how some of them died. Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Serey Sothea are both believed to have been summarily executed by Khmer Rouge soldiers out of fear that their popularity could foment resistance among the population. However, these reports have never been confirmed. Meas Samon is believed to have been executed at a work site after refusing to stop playing music during breaks. Other musicians like Pen Ran, Yol Aularong, and Pou Vannary simply disappeared sometime between 1975 and 1979 with no information available about their fates, as is the case with most of the ordinary Cambodians who perished during the genocide. Khmer Song Original 2019 Professional Musicians WhoFor example, Drakkar guitarist Touch Chhatha was among many professional musicians who were forced to play traditional and patriotic music every day to Khmer Rouge troops. Chhathas bandmate Touch Seang Tana survived several years imprisonment at a work camp by pretending to be a common peasant. During the Khmer Rouge takeover of Phnom Penh, singer Sieng Vannthy was confronted by insurgents who demanded to know her occupation. She lied and said she was a banana seller, which probably saved her life as the Khmer Rouge were already known to target musicians for imprisonment or execution. Therefore, except for fans personal memories, much of the 1960s1970s rock music of Cambodia was lost until it was slowly rediscovered starting in the 1990s. Vietnamese forces sent the Khmer Rouge into exile in Thailand 46 and installed Heng Samrin as the new leader of the restored Cambodia. Residents who had been exiled to farm camps and other Khmer Rouge installations were invited to return to Phnom Penh. Singer Sieng Vannthy, who had survived the genocide, was invited to make an announcement on Cambodias National Radio station that residents were welcome to return to the city. Those who did not return were considered dead, including musicians. Many musicians contacted Ros Saboeut, older sister of Ros Serey Sothea, to inquire about Sotheas fate. Sothea did not survive the genocide but Saboeut took the opportunity to reunite Cambodias surviving rock musicians, maintaining a list of contacts. Saboeuts efforts are widely credited with reviving Cambodian popular music in the aftermath of the genocide. According to Youk Chhang, the executive director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Saboeut sought to restore Cambodian music as a tribute to her sister, saying I think she was bound by the legacy of her sister to help. The post-Khmer Rouge government made specific moves to re-establish the countrys radio industry, allowing surviving singers and musicians to resume their careers by creating new entertainment content. For example, Drakkar drummer Ouk Sam Art and guitarist Touch Chhatha were able to return to music work at Cambodias National Radio station. The Cambodian music scene moved on to more modern pop forms, consigning the countrys 1960s1970s rock music to the memories of older fans who had survived the genocide.
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