Cambodian Cassette Archives: Khmer Folk & Pop Music Vol. 1

Cambodian Cassette Archives: Khmer Folk & Pop Music Vol. 1 is a Sublime Frequencies collection of Cambodian folk and pop recorded from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Music release details
Artist	Various Artists
Release type	Album
Language	Khmer
Label	Sublime Frequencies
Subjects	Music & Sound

About the release

The music comes from more than 150 aging cassettes found at the Asian Branch of the Oakland Public Library in California. The songs were recorded in both Cambodia and the United States. Some were made in Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge took power, but most were recorded after the Khmer Rouge years, between the 1970s and the 1990s, in Khmer-run studios across the diaspora. The recording places named for the collection run from Cambodia and Thailand to Massachusetts, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Long Beach and Stockton, California. Together the tracks trace a Cambodian musical line from before and after the genocide.

The styles range from cha-cha psychedelia and phase-shifting rock to circle-dance standards, Cambodian new wave, ballads, comedy sketches, easy-listening numbers and instrumental grooves. Male and female singers share the songs, backed by organ solos, guitar leads and synthesizers. Darkie's "Yeh Hua Dam (Aka: Look At The Owl)" sets a disco beat against the fast rhythms and fiddles of kantrum, the folk music of the Khmer who live in Thailand just over the border with Cambodia. "Khmer New Wave" turns to off-kilter beats and electronic sounds.

History of the release

Mark Gergis compiled and edited the collection between 1999 and 2015. He also researched the songs, wrote the liner notes and shared the audio mastering and restoration with Peter Conheim. Miles Stegall designed the layout, using graphics from the original cassettes and from materials found at the Oakland library's Asian Branch. The liner notes call the source cassettes "ravaged."

Sublime Frequencies first issued the collection on CD on July 13, 2004. The label's catalog number is SF011 / SF1011. The 2004 CD has 20 tracks. Performers are named for only two of them, and more than half of the song titles are unknown. The Sublime Frequencies Bandcamp edition, released on March 17, 2022, credits named singers, orchestras and bands, with several tracks still credited to unknown performers. It was offered as a download and as a limited-edition CD with a digital album.

Reception

Reviewing the 2004 CD, Richie Unterberger wrote that it captures different mixes of Western pop and rock with Cambodian influences. He judged that the synthesizers on some tracks place them in the 1970s or later.

Track list

The Bandcamp edition includes:

• Kieng Yuthhan, "Sronos Kantong Khiev (Blue Basket)"
• Darkie, "Yeh Hua Dam (Aka: Look At The Owl)," with an instrumental version
• Klan Han, "Knyom Chea Howra (I Am A Fortune Teller)"
• Meas Samon, "Bong Mork Rok Oun Heuy (Coming To Meet You)"
• Sinn Sisamouth, "Roserb Nas! Roserb Nas! (Don't Let My Girlfriend Tickle Me)"
• Son Thoeung, "Damrey Cheung Buon (The Four Feet Of The Elephant)"
• Eueng Nary and Pen Ran, "Noe Euy Srey Noe (Lady Named Noe)"
• Wat Phnom Orchestra, "Om Touk Knong Beung (Lake Festival)"
• Golden Dragon Band, "Original Music From Golden Dragon VHS Cassette"
• Prum Manh, "Two Wives Are Twice The Problem"
• Ros Sereysothea and Dara Chomchan, "Kmean Luok Te Sneha (Love's Not For Sale)"
• Pen Ran, "Rong Jangvak Khmer Leur Muoy Bot Sen (Rhythm Of The Lam Leow Highlanders)"
• Wat Phnom Orchestra, "Sronos Kantong Khiev (Blue Basket, Instrumental)"
• "Euy Saob Nas (Oh, How I Hate You)," "Khmer New Wave" and "She Doesn't Need Your Money"
• Son Thoeung, "Bong Lear Hoy Oun (Goodbye Love)"
• Chhoun Vanna, "To Tea Yum Chlong (Birds Are Singing But My Lover Won't Return)"
• Two untitled instrumentals

Access

• Sublime Frequencies on Bandcamp: Cambodian Cassette Archives
• Sublime Frequencies: Cambodian Cassette Archives

References