Dengue Fever in Cambodia

Shot during Dengue Fever’s month-long trip to play their first shows in Cambodia, this film also documents a moving homecoming for lead singer Chhom Nimol and the curious forces in play when musical influences spin in reverse.

Powered by a love of 1960s Cambodian rock ‘n’ roll, the celebrated Los Angeles band Dengue Fever, fronted by Cambodian lead singer Chhom Nimol, have taken their retro surf psych sound all around the world. This return to the roots, with constant cultural switch-backs and some surreal comic moments, is a treat to watch. The film opens with the band, straight out of the epicentre of Californian indie hipness, performing on a popular variety show on national Cambodian TV. As they introduce themselves in tentative Khmer, the live studio audience goes wild, and it’s a sign of things to come. The band go on to play shows in funky Phnom Penn bars, at free concerts staged right at the heart of the city’s slums, and collaborate with master musicians and with children studying traditional Cambodian music and dance. Dengue Fever travel the country with their repertoire of vintage Khmer songs operating as the ultimate passport.

Trailer for Sleepwalking Through The Mekong

Ushered in by Nixon’s America, Pol Pot presided over one of the worst genocides of the 20th Century, killing nearly two million people in Cambodia from 1975-79, and particularly targeting artists and musicians. The music which had dominated before those dark years was the Khmer rock ‘n’ roll which Dengue Fever have revived and put their own spin on. Manifold layers of nostalgia for those who soundtracked happier times give pop singers like Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Serey Sothea almost mythical status. Reconnecting to the sound via Americans has a poignant edge not lost on this public. As a man at one of Dengue Fever’s energetic club shows says: ‘I think this kind of thing …they should do it in every province of Cambodia because it’s psychologically healing, you know we’ve been in problems for a long time, so for this to happen, it’s a good thing’.

Trailer from John Pirozzi’s earlier film Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten – Cambodia’s Lost Rock ‘n’ Roll

A pop star in her own right before Dengue Fever met her living in Long Beach, Chhom Nimol is a phenomenal singer and bridges the LA-Phnom Penn divide with a hard-earned grace. It hasn’t been easy. Having performed many times for the king and queen of Cambodia you understand that those five years in the US were a struggle. Now on home ground, it’s the guys’ turn to look quizzical as they wander through street markets and sit down to dinner with her extended family. Generally though, what comes across, is the band’s open willingness to try anything and enjoy the moment, an attitude which gave them their unique sound in the first place. Busking in a shanty-town, jamming with 10 year olds, writing songs with Kaorn the tuk tuk driver, John Pirozzi’s film reveals Dengue Fever to be a charming bunch. If rave shows at Glastonbury, Womad or Coachella haven’t convinced you this is one of the most spontaneously creative bands out there today, then maybe Zac Holtzman’s Khmer karaoke session in this movie will!

The accompanying soundtrack CD puts Dengue Fever’s own songs and covers alongside originals by revered 1960s stars Sinn Sisamouth, Meas Samoun and Ros Serey Sothea and new recordings with the master musicians Kong Nai and Tep Mary they met on their travels. It’s an album that gives the back-drop to Dengue Fever’s sound and also shows how a band from LA genuinely became a part of the ongoing story of Cambodian music.

Jody Gillett

Sleepwalking Through The Mekong
CD/DVD is out 15 June on Realworld
http://sleepwalkingthroughthemekong.com

Dengue Fever tour Europe through June
Their London show is 18 June at the Scala
www.myspace.com/denguefevermusic

Download mp3 on Mondomix MP3

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