Golden era of Cambodian music given its second airing

airing

Date

September 13, 2013

Steve Dow

Arts writer

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Sticky Fingers printing collective of Phnom Penh

Haunting Voices, by Sticky Fingers printing collective. Left to right: Pan Ron, Ros Sereysothea and Sinn Sisamouth. ? P1170791.JPG

Pan Ron was the most risque of Cambodian singers of the 1960s to mid-70s. She sang saucy, sexy lyrics that would be banned in today's conservative Cambodia. She hopped genres from traditional Khmer music to covers or localised takes on western rock, twist, cha cha, mambo, jazz and folk. 

But creative types threatened the murderous Pol Pot's ambitions, so Pan Ron's individuality ensured her death. She reportedly survived until the 1978 Vietnamese invasion, reportedly disappearing on the long march out of Phnom Penh, and probably murdered by the Khmer Rouge.

Any individual thought, particularly from artists, became a target. 

"Ultimately, it was a collective madness," says Hobart-born, Phnom Penh-based rock guitarist Julien Poulson. He believes a village stupa full of skulls and bones he was shown included Pan Ron's remains. "It was a murderous situation where humanity itself gets so debased and removed from its purpose that it's just insane. Nobody can really explain why such genocide happened. But the Khmer Rouge had this idea of returning to an agrarian utopia, and any individual thought, particularly from artists, became a target."

The Enigma by Sticky Fingers printing collective, featuring Cambodian singer the late Pan Ron.

Poulson, 47, went to Cambodia in 2007 to record traditional music to accompany video: gong, xylophone, percussion and string instruments such as the khim and tro. He became enthralled by a rich body of music that, before 1975, had been influenced by Motown, the British music invasion and psychedelia.

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There was Ros Sereysothea, the queen of Cambodian rock 'n' roll. She opposed the Khmer Rouge but  was forced by Pol Pot to marry one of his assistants and entertain exclusively for the regime. Her remains have never been found.

Or the "Cambodian Elvis", singer-songwriter and record producer Sinn Sisamouth. He was killed in 1976, with one account, possibly apocryphal, of him being marched to the execution scene, requesting to sing a song, and, once he had finished, the Khmer Rouge shooting him anyway. Read the full article and see more pictures at The Sydney Morning Herald.