One of the great themes of my travel is music, as a cultural child of the late great Charlie Gillett I’m always out to listen to anything different and new which isn’t dictated by our western canon of sounds and landing in Cambodia fitted into that trajectory of thought.
I landed at Phnom Penh international airport at around 2pm in the afternoon, an hour later I was in a tuk-tuk heading into town to my hotel but just off the creatively name AH11 highway there was singing and had to leap out of the vehicle to record and photograph the young guys and gals singing what is called Romvong.
Sinn Sissamouth was the king of pop in Cambodia before Pol Pot and his band of murderers snuffed it all out in 1975, his recordings are still heard all around the country as well as Pan Ron and Ros Serey Sothea who all “disappeared” around the same time. The music is fast, very danceable and still popular. The youngsters I heard singing at the roadside were all blind and I was told this was their only source of income. A magnificent way indeed of entering a country and all this before having checked in!
Apsara is a classical dance which can be seen in the tourist parts of Phnom Penh and can be arranged to view by Globe at One although one must be aware that the country is now very modern in its tastes and you’ll hear reggaeton and k-pop as well as anything else from hitsville USA.
Siem Reap was a celebration of song and dance as well as religious devotion. Angkor was a 12th century Hindu inspired complex which within a hundred years shifted towards a Buddhist centre of worship and celebration and music and dance are depicted in the bas-reliefs all over the stone built structures. Siem Reap city has in recent years become a party town too, so much so that you’re never far from a bar or music venue belting out the tunes that tourists want to hear.
If you want to hear the authentic Cambodia whether you are in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap or indeed Sissamouth’s home town of Battambang we have the inside track and the local partners will be able to guide you towards that Cambodia.