Cambodian rock of the 1960s and 1970s was a thriving and prolific music scene based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in which musicians created a unique sound by combining traditional Cambodian music forms with rock and pop influences from records imported into the country from Latin America, Europe, and the United States. U.S. armed forces radio that had been broadcast to troops stationed nearby during the Vietnam War was also a primary influence. 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.
Post-independence period
Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953, under the leadership of young king Norodom Sihanouk.Dommen, A. The Indochinese experience of the French and the Americans, Indiana University Press, 2001, p.318 Sihanouk was a musician and songwriter, and fostered the development of homegrown popular music in the newly independent country. Under Sihanouk's rule, it was common for government ministries to have their own orchestras or singing groups to perform at official state functions and royal receptions. For example, Sihanouk's mother, Queen Sisowath Kossamak, sponsored the Vong Phleng Preah Reach Troap (the classical ensemble of the Royal Treasury), and in approximately 1957 invited the young Sinn Sisamouth to join the ensemble as his first professional music job.
Cambodia's international relations with France and various countries in Latin America fostered the importation of pop records into the country, while children from wealthy Cambodian families often attended school in France and returned with French pop records that were widely traded among fans in Phnom Penh. French pop singers Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday were particularly popular.John Pirozzi and LinDa Saphan, liner notes, Don't Think I've Forgotten, soundtrack, 2015. Latin jazz, cha cha cha, and À gogo records imported from Latin America also became popular in the capital city. By the late 1950s, these genres inspired a flourishing pop music scene in Phnom Penh, featuring singers who created a unique sound by combining traditional Cambodian music forms with these new international influences. Sinn Sisamouth, Mao Sareth, So Savoeun, Chhuon Malay, Sieng Di, and Sos Math were among the earliest stars in this pop scene, with Sisamouth in particular becoming a leader of popular trends in which Cambodian musicians absorbed more international influences, eventually leading to the development of Cambodian rock music.
By 1959, American and British pop and early rock and roll records began to appear in Cambodia, inspiring teenage fans in particular. That year, teen brothers Mol Kagnol and Mol Kamach formed Baksey Cham Krong, widely considered to be Cambodia's 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. They likened themselves to Cliff Richard and The Shadows, and modeled their stage presence after Richard's 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 the mid-1960s, Sinn Sisamouth had become Cambodia's most well-known pop music performer, and his music increasingly incorporated rock influences, including psychedelic rock and garage rock. By this time, the Cambodian music scene was further influenced by Western rock and soul music via U.S. armed forces radio that had been broadcast to troops stationed nearby during the Vietnam War. 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 (also known as Pan Ron) was one of the earliest rock-oriented female singers in the Cambodian scene, first emerging in 1963 with traditional pop songs but moving into rock music by 1966 via duets with Sisamouth as well as her own songs.Jeff Cole, liner notes, Cambodia Rock Spectacular!, 2011. Pen Ran was particularly influential, known for her flirtatious dancing and risque lyrics that subverted traditional Khmer gender roles.
Sisamouth was also instrumental in launching the career of Ros Serey Sothea, who had been singing at weddings and quickly became the leading female singer in the Cambodian rock scene after her emergence in 1967. Sothea received wide recognition for her high and clear singing voice, and her ability to convey emotions from mischief and flirtation to heartbreak and tragedy. Sothea was also one of many female singers in the rock scene to utilize the traditional "ghost voice" Cambodian singing technique, featuring a high register with quick jumps among octaves, creating an effect that has been compared to yodeling. This was another factor in the genre's unique sound.
Sothea maintained an active career with her own songs as well as many popular duets with Sisamouth. In a reflection of her popularity with the Cambodian people, Sothea was honored by Head of State Norodom Sihanouk with the royal title of Preah Reich Theany Somlang Meas, the "Queen with the Golden Voice". Sihanouk continued to support the Cambodian music scene through his patronage of the national radio station, allowing the station to promote local music. A regular rock music show hosted by DJ Huoy Meas was popular with teenagers and college students, making Meas a national celebrity. She became a popular singer as well, known particularly for highly personal lyrics that subverted the social expectations placed on Khmer women, and a melancholic voice that Sihanouk compared to Édith Piaf.
The Cambodian rock scene was also notable for its prolific nature, with musicians recording large numbers of songs that were continuously released as singles. 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 country's 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.
Khmer Republic period By 1969, Norodom Sihanouk had lost the support of many urban and educated Cambodians due to his inability to keep the hostilities of the Vietnam War from spilling across the country's borders. In March 1970, Sihanouk was deposed by the Cambodian National Assembly and replaced by military leader Lon Nol,Burchett (1973), p. 50. thus forming the right-wing, pro-American Khmer Republic. Rock musicians in Phnom Penh generally favored the new Khmer Republic government and turned against Sihanouk, particularly after he attempted to maintain his support in Cambodia's rural countryside by aligning with the communist Khmer Rouge insurgents. Many singers, including Sinn Sisamouth, released patriotic songs and made public appearances to support the Khmer Republic military. Ros Serey Sothea released a song called "The Traitor" that directly criticized Sihanouk, her former patron. Sothea also directly participated in the Khmer Republic military; a film of her parachuting out of a plane during a paratrooper exercise is the only known video footage of her to have survived.
The Khmer Republic's increased relations with the United States, plus the prevalence of U.S. Armed Forces Radio that had been broadcast to troops in nearby South Vietnam and could be picked up in Phnom Penh, allowed new musical influences to infiltrate the Cambodian rock scene. This inspired a diversification in that scene's sounds, fashions, and lyrical content starting in about 1970. For example, singer/guitarist 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.
Additional examples of this new wave of Cambodian rock musicians include Meas Samon, who combined the showmanship of a comedian with satirical lyrics and psychedelic rock sounds. Liev Tuk adopted American soul and funk, with a belting vocal style that has been compared to Wilson Pickett and James Brown. Pou Vannary, unusually for a female singer in the genre, was also an instrumentalist who could accompany herself on acoustic guitar in the mode of an American singer-songwriter, displaying a vocal style that was much more relaxed and intimate than her contemporaries. The self-contained band Drakkar played hard rock music that has been compared to Santana and Led Zeppelin. These musicians also adopted hippie hairstyles and fashions, as further indicators of American influence in Cambodia at the time.
This latest wave of rock musicians, plus established stars like Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Serey Sothea, continued their music careers throughout the early 1970s. 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.
Khmer Rouge period and the Cambodian genocide The Cambodian Civil War ended in April 1975 when the communist Khmer Rouge defeated the Khmer Republic and gained control of the country. The Khmer Rouge ordered the two million residents of Phnom Penh to evacuate the city and move to prison farms and labor camps, The city's musicians were included in this forced exodus. 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 Rouge's cruelty and poor management of its utopian project.