CAMBODIAN PSYCH ROCK MUSIC — Ninu Nina Artist Interviews

May 13

May 13 CAMBODIAN PSYCH ROCK MUSIC

Culture, Creative People, Dj/Producer, Travel

This post is a few years in the making. Recently inspired by digginthru’s docu series on Japan’s Underground music culture and We Intend To Cause Havoc’s documentary on Zamrock music, plus having the extra time on my hands, I decided to dig up some old photos and names I had put in my journal during my times living in Phnom Penh of some Cambodian vintage rock bands, I wanted to one day check out. I used to volunteer just next to Tol Tom Poung (also known as The Russian Market), WHERE I used to dig through the typical “ ANGKORIAN” souvenir shops until one day I found The Vintage Shop somewhere VERY WELL HIDDEN inside that crowded maze of stuff.

Although tiny in size, for me it was like finding a treasure. Here I collected some T-shirts of the Klap Ya Handz rap collective, a couple from the independent film festival: CamboFest and some funky memorabilia of the Phnom Penh Vespa Club. The shop was created to celebrate the great artists of the 60’s and 70’s and stocked a collection of film posters as well as vinyl and discs from Cambodian Space Project, plus remastered tracks from the Cambodian rock ‘n’ roll era such as legend, Sinn Sisamouth ( aka the Khmer Nat King Cole). Paving the way for a modern wave of music, Sinn traded in the traditional wind instruments and experimented INSTEAD with blending Western sounds with Khmer music, HE was killed under the Khmer Rouge.

Then I came across probably one of my all time favourite, music covers, Drakkar 74, an album that represents the “nadir of the Cambodian psych rock sound.” They were influenced by Santana and Led Zeppelin - and instead of just taking the existing rhythms and adding different lyrics, they CHOSE TO wrIte their own songs. The founder, Touch Tana apparently survived the Khmer Rouge, and works in an environmental role, MOST probably in fisheries. If you’d like to know more ABOUT THEM, I found this incredible article online.

If you like what you’ve read up till now, then I’M QUITE SURE YOU WILL probably be interested in the music of this MODERN L.A. based Cambodian band, DENGUE FEVER, I would describe THEM as Khmer psych /garage rock, WHO’VE over the past few years GAINED CULT FOLLOWING.