In order to fully understand and appreciate Cambodia’s new rock scene, it’s necessary to understand a little of the country’s war-torn and poverty-stricken history. Through genocides, civil wars, foreign occupations, uprisings, corruption, disease and poverty, the resilient and proud Khmer people have managed to survive and rebuild Cambodia. Following the Cambodian genocide, in which three million were killed by their own government between 1975 and ’79, 68 per cent of the population are now under 30 years old. The horrors in the country over the past century quashed any potential for an alternative music scene.
A beautiful yet brief Khmer psychedelic rock scene blossomed from 1967 to 1970 during the Vietnam War, but there has been nothing since, leaving Cambodia a cultural and quite literal ‘scorched earth’, for many years. Since 1985 they’ve had the same prime minister, Hun Sen, running the country and he is now the longest-serving head of government in the world. Through corruption, violence and simply refusing to step down, his position appears safe, for now.