Khmer Old Songs Site

When discussing Southeast Asian popular music, most attention goes to the luk thung of Thailand or the rock and roll of Vietnam. Yet, tucked within the tragic history of Cambodia lies one of the most haunting and beautiful musical canons of the 20th century: Khmer Old Songs . These tracks, recorded primarily between the late 1950s and early 1970s, represent a unique fusion of Cambodian classical forms, Western rock and roll, Latin rhythms, and French chanson.

Since then, archivists and surviving family members have painstakingly restored what remains. In 2015, the box set Cambodian Psych Out presented remastered tracks with full historical context. To listen to a Khmer old song is to hear a ghost. Because so many of the singers died young (most in their 30s), and because the recordings survived only on fragile 45-rpm records that were buried in the jungle or smuggled out by refugees, every crackle on the vinyl feels like a heartbeat. khmer old songs