Survival guide for Armenia, Cambodia

Picture: Chhom Nimol (far right) of the band 'Dengue Fever' posed with her bandmates who have just released their new album "Venus on Earth".

At the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, a classically trained vocalist intones a lullaby that connects contemporary Armenia to a sound from 16 centuries ago. Meanwhile, in California, a Cambodian-born singer revives Khmer-language rock from a more recent past. They're worlds apart to be sure, but both show how much music can survive, even transcend, difficult times.Shoghaken Ensemble, which will perform at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Feb. 22, has exuberantly presented Armenia's traditional songs and dances since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Dengue Fever -- appearing at the Empty Bottle five days later -- is helping to revive interest in 1960s Cambodian rock 'n' roll. Though vocalist Hasmik Harutyunyan of Shoghaken and singer Chhom Nimol of Dengue Fever have never met, part of their motives are similar."Everybody should understand where they came from," Harutyunyan said. "These traditions are the way to do that."
On the Shoghaken Ensemble's recent self-titled disc (on Traditional Crossroads), duduk player Grigor Takushian's incredible technique is revealed through subtle movements on his indigenous double-reed instrument. Harutyunyan, a trained mathematician, makes complex Armenian time signatures seem simple. She adds that there's a sense of purity conveyed through the lyrics because "the Armenian women who sang them were close to nature."The ancient pastoral sounds of Armenian folk music take an epic turn in the hands of this group. The musicians' expert dance moves are just as captivating.Harutyunyan said that current economic struggles in Armenia have split families apart with many wage-earners living abroad, and this particularly hurts how culture is passed."We need to have a dialogue from generation to generation and that's a reason why I sing lullabies," Harutyunyan said. "It's a bridge from adults to children."At the same time, a thriving Armenian immigrant community has enriched Los Angeles. So have nearby Cambodian neighborhoods where Nimol, now 28, resettled after she became a famous pop singer in Cambodia. Her career took a different turn when she encountered Californian guitarist Zac Holtzman and his keyboardist brother, Ethan, seven years ago.The Holtzman brothers had collected cassettes of 1960s Cambodian singers who mixed their country's language and melodies with the upbeat surf and garage rock they heard on U.S. armed forces radio broadcasts from Vietnam. The Holtzmans formed Dengue Fever to reinterpret this sound, then met Nimol at a Cambodian-American nightclub in Long Beach, Calif.Nimol shows how garage rock could have used a Khmer lilt on top of its more familiar organ lines and electric guitar stomps.Memories of Cambodian rock's glory years -- which came to a terrible end during the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s -- remain, even if young people in Phnom Penh generally prefer karaoke-bar pop today. When Dengue Fever performed in Cambodia a couple of years ago, Nimol and Holtzman said their host audiences appreciated the visit."The Cambodians were worried that Nimol was gone for so long, she may have forgotten her Cambodian roots," Zac Holtzman said. "But when she went back they saw she Cambodianized a bunch of Americans."

Shoghaken Ensemble

So much more than lullabies

Where: Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Ave.

When: Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m.Price: $25; 773-728-6000

Dengue Fever

Rock 'n' roll Cambodian-style

Where: Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave.

When: Feb. 27, 9 p.m.Price: $12. (21+); 773-276-3600

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