The Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s claimed some 2 million lives – about a quarter of Cambodia’s population – and destroyed much of the nation’s musical traditions. Artists and intellectuals were especially targeted for dispatch. Itinerant producer Ian Brennan, whose work includes Tinariwen and the Malawi Mouse Boys, has sought out singers and players such as the blind Kong Nai (“Cambodia’s Ray Charles”) alongside more obscure names like guitarist Soun San. The music is spartan, some of it filled with the sorrow of conflict and loss, some with familiar themes like I Hate My Husband Who Drinks. Slow and eerie, you might call it south-east Asian blues. A forgotten chapter in world music history.
