Rock 'n' Roll Stars

In her fascinating new book, Phnom Penh-based author Susan Fletcher Haythorpe shines a light on the all-too-brief 'Golden Age' of 1960s Cambodian rock 'n' roll

Baksey Cham Krong. Photo courtesy Mol Kagnol

Susan Fletcher Haythorpe is the author of Lost Generation, a new book that explores the small window in mid 20th century Cambodia when Khmer rock and roll was the hippest scene in Southeast Asia. With an obvious passion for the subject, she takes the reader on a fascinating journey from the scene’s hip beginnings to its tragic end.

While I already knew about some of the more famous singers like Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea, the whole pantheon of musical talent Fletcher Haythorpe brings to life through her writings conveys the depth and breadth found in Cambodia from the 1950s to ‘70s, from pop princess Pan Ron to hard rocking band Drakkar and the bad boy stylings of Yol Aularong, this incredible home grown Khmer scene had it all, until that one fateful day in 1975 when it no longer did. Fletcher Haythorpe’s wonderful book is an effort to capture for posterity much that the Khmer Rouge tried so hard to destroy, a way of repudiating the group’s vicious attempt at erasing the nation's voice.

Image courtesy CVMA

What brought you to Cambodia in the first place?

I first visited Cambodia in 2012 as part of a year’s travelling with my husband. We had in mind that at the end of it we might live abroad for a while. We’d actually been thinking of California but ultimately we were seduced by the various charms of the Kingdom of Wonder and, nine years on, we’re still here.

Do you recall what you thought of Phnom Penh?

I think my love affair with Cambodia began even before I set foot in the country. We caught the Mekong Express from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh, and were the only foreigners on the bus with its cute little frilled curtains and a TV screen showing the Khmer music channel and bizarre (to us) comedy sketches, all in Khmer of course, yet I still found myself laughing at them along with the rest of the bus.

I was particularly taken with the lovely voice and gentle manner of the young man making the announcements. It all felt very laid back and friendly in a slightly wacky way that called to mind our experience of southern India more than the other East Asian countries we’d visited at that point. So, the people, music, humour; you could say it represented much of what we would grow to love about Cambodia in microcosm.

Lost Generation author Susan Fletcher Haythorpe

Talking of music, when did you start getting into it?

I developed a serious interest in music aged about 11. In those those days there was no listening to music online so you had to rely on the radio and your older siblings’ record collections for your musical education. Aged 15 I discovered the Velvet Underground and they have remained the standard by which I judge all bands!

How did you come to discover the 'lost' scene of Cambodian music from the 1960s and ‘70s?

A year or so before I first visited Cambodia I’d heard a record by an interesting band called the Cambodian Space Project. It was ‘House of the Rising Sun’ - or rather it wasn’t... It was something else again, a barrage of psychedelic guitars and high-pitched female vocals the like of which I’d not heard before. I remembered it when we were in Phnom Penh, Googled the band, and found they had a gig on that same week. 

We went to see them, and you might say it changed our lives. We were knocked out by the music this unwieldy bunch of Khmer and foreigner musicians were playing, which we later found to be a revival of Cambodian Golden Age rock and roll. Sufficiently impressed by what we saw of the general music and arts scene in the capital we added it to our short list of ‘Places To Live Next’.

What led you to writing Lost Generation: The Story of Cambodian Rock and Roll?

Once I’d moved to Phnom Penh, I tried to find out what I could about this rather mysterious music that had so caught my imagination, but there was very little information about the artists online and no books on the subject. At that point John Pirrozzi’s wonderful film Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten hadn’t been released either. As I started to learn more about it, I thought why not write the book I wanted to read?

How did you decide where to start the book?

I knew I wanted to start by setting the scene of Phnom Penh as the Pearl of Asia, a swinging 1960s city that was a hotbed of culture and a place where people loved to dance and party. A scene that would end all too tragically in 1975. Once I’d started doing the interviews the various timelines came together nicely to chronicle the music and its history through the individual stories of some of the people involved.

What did you learn through your interviews?

I don’t think I’d quite anticipated the extent to which the Khmer Rouge had effectively wiped out the country’s modern history, and not just physical records but oral history too thanks to the massive loss of life and effects of PTSD.

Were people surprised when you contacted them?

When I started to contact people it became apparent I wasn’t the first writer from the UK to be researching a book about Cambodian music; another woman had trodden a similar path some 12 months before me, so they were probably thinking: ‘Oh no, not another one’! (As far as I’m aware, the other book still hasn’t materialised but I’m looking forward to reading it when it does). Actually, the people I interviewed were incredibly accommodating, open and generous with their time and I’m very grateful.

Pov Vannary record sleeve

The book has some incredible artwork and photos, how did you source them?

It wasn’t easy as so little survived the Khmer Rouge. The record sleeves are mostly courtesy of the Cambodian Vintage Music Archive. The founder, Oro, who features in the book, very kindly allowed me access to their fantastic collection of images. I also dipped into the resources of an excellent institution in Phnom Penh called the Bophana Centre that archives film, TV, photography and sound files about Cambodia, mostly from foreign sources.

Do you have any favourite ‘60s Khmer musicians?

I’m loathe to pick a favourite but I do have a particular soft spot for Yol Aularong (the spelling of his name varies). I like his more raucous, often bluesy sound and his very individual treatment of Van Morrison’s Gloria, called Broken Hearted Bachelor, gets me up onto the dance floor whenever it’s played. 

Hard rocker Yol Aularong

Without the Khmer Rouge, how do you think the music scene would have gone on to develop?

An interesting question. There was a singer called Pov Vannary whose career was kicking off just before the Khmer Rouge took over. She was clearly influenced by US singer songwriters like Carol King, she sang partly in English with a much more Westernised vocal style than her predecessors and was the first female Cambodian artist to play a guitar. Perhaps other female artists would have followed suit, and even penned their own songs.

For someone reading this and wanting to listen to the music, where should they start?

I’d direct them straight to the Cambodian Vintage Music Archive at https://www.facebook.com/CambodianVintageMusicArchive/

Image courtesy CVMA

Are there any compilations you'd recommend?

My favourites are Lion Productions’ Groove Club series of which there are four, on CD and vinyl. Also another series of four compilation CDs called Cambodia Rocks, on the Khmer Rocks label. Not to be confused with the one-off CD of the same name first released in 1996 that deserves praise for its role in opening Western ears to the music.

What about the Khmer music scene of today?

I’m not really familiar with what young Khmer people are listening to these days, it seems to be very much influenced by K Pop which isn’t really to my taste. There’s some pretty good rap music around though, which I think is well suited to the Khmer language. There’s a guy called VannDa who is very popular and his single, Time to Rise featuring the chapei (a traditional Khmer instrument) master Kong Nay is excellent.

What do you hope readers take away with them after reading your book?

I hope readers will appreciate how there’s so much more to Cambodia’s modern history than genocide. That despite the decimation of the country and its people in the 1970s it retains a unique heritage of music, film and iconic architecture that’s deserving of wider recognition.