Dengue Fever mission is to rediscover cambodian pop from 50s and 60s, pre-Pol Pot regime eras – when Khmer Rouge moved in forbidding every half-cast music influenced by western psychedelic and surf rock.
Dengue Fever are actually based in L.A. but their singer Chhom Nimol’s origin is cambodian. Apart from the wonderful atmosphere of their music, it’s interesting to realize how they are trying to literally re-enact something that was already impure and postcolonial in itself. And they do this even spreading original music from this land and period, through a compilation of cambodian pop which is coming out this January; titled Electric Cambodia it has described as a “testament to the spirit of a modern Cambodia that existed not so long ago, and should be remembered today”.
Together with the director John Pirozzi – who also directed the documentary Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten – they toured Cambodia, trying to rejoin their roots. The result is a one-hour documentary titled Sleepwalking Through the Mekong; here are a clip and a still frame I’d like to share.
Dengue Fever are actually based in L.A. but their singer Chhom Nimol’s origin is cambodian. Apart from the wonderful atmosphere of their music, it’s interesting to realize how they are trying to literally re-enact something that was already impure and postcolonial in itself. And they do this even spreading original music from this land and period, through a compilation of cambodian pop which is coming out this January; titled Electric Cambodia it has described as a “testament to the spirit of a modern Cambodia that existed not so long ago, and should be remembered today”.
Together with the director John Pirozzi – who also directed the documentary Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten – they toured Cambodia, trying to rejoin their roots. The result is a one-hour documentary titled Sleepwalking Through the Mekong; here are a clip and a still frame I’d like to share.
