Defeat the Giant: Soun San and "Pjanch Meah"

Our random song for today is from Cambodian artist Soun San, and is called Pjanch Meah. There is not much information on Soun San, as he is not well known outside of Cambodia, but the album, called They Will Kill You If You Cry (2016), is a compilation album of songs by artists who survived the Khmer Rouge regime which decimated the country's intellectual and cultural traditions. The Guardian describes the album as a kind of southeast Asian blues. The song's title means "Defeat the Giant."

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/07/khmer-rouge-survivors-they-will-kill-you-if-you-cry-review-ian-brennan-kong-nai-soun-san-cambodia

Nation in Grief: Kong Nai and "Kamara Rongkaam"

Today's random song is born out of war and revolution. The singer, the blind Cambodian lute player Kong Nai, is known as the "Ray Charles" of Cambodian music and was once a very celebrated Cambodian musician whose appeal abroad eclipses the little regard he now gets in his home country as his style of music, which once entertained kings, dies in the face of an onslaught of Chinese and Thai-style popular music. Kong Nai was blinded by smallpox at the age of four, but was enchanted one evening hearing the sound of the Cambodian lute across the fields. He fully picked up the instrument at age 15. By the 60's he had become a superstar and a very wealthy man. Then came the communist Khmer Rouge insurgency, and support for the traditional music dried up. Kong Nai was forced to sing songs of the suffering of farmers under the previous ruler of Cambodia, and was sent to work on a communal farm in rural Cambodia. After his family was accused of being American spies, he fled to Vietnam and became a refugee. Many of the old masters of his tradition were killed by the Khmer Rouge, and he made his way as a roving musician playing the old songs. In the 1980s and 1990s, his music began to pick up admirers outside Cambodia, and in 2007 he played at the Smithsonian Institution's Folklife Festival, and took part in the 25th anniversary of the WOMAD Festival, where he began to believe that perhaps his music might just survive. This song, Kamara Rongkaam, can be found on the 2016 various artists compilation Khmer Rouge Survivors: They Will Kill You, If You Cry.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: http://thingsasian.com/story/kong-nai-ray-charles-cambodia

Cambodian Pyschedelia: Dengue Fever and "Hold My Hips"

Los Angeles band Dengue Fever brings us our random tune for today. Dengue Fever is a six member band that was formed in 2001 by Ethan and Zac Holtzman after Ethan was inspired by a trip to Cambodia. A search for a vocalist led them to Chhom Nimol, who they found in a Long Beach nightclub. She was already a well-known karaoke singer in Cambodia and had moved to the United States to join her sister and make money to send home. The band released their first album in 2003 which consisted mostly of covers of 60s Cambodian rock tunes. In 2005 they toured Cambodia to critical acclaim. They've released 10 albums and EPs, and support a variety of charitable organizations that provide aid to Cambodia. This song, Hold My Hips, can be found on their 2009 album Sleepwalking Through the Mekong.