Cambodia had passed through the most difficult time in its history on Khmer Rouge years. It was the time while the people had no basic rights. It was the most violent years in the history of Cambodia that brought great impact on the life of every Cambodians. They had been away from the culture, art as well as the normal lifestyle because of the brutal attitude of leaders on the Khmer Rouge years.
There had many branches that were banned during that years. It includes religion, professionalism, banking, education, family relationships as well as remembering the past of the people. The only rights that people had was supporting the leaders and praise them without caring about whatever they do to the people. They banned all type of art, music, literature as well as move that goes on the opposition of the ruling party. The only thing that got published on that time was the one that praise the ruling communist party by means of everything as well as the leader of that party. (Holmgren).
The era of Khmer Rouge had committed all possible bad actions that can be done in order to destroy the culture of a nation. They had closed all the institutes that deals with the performing arts and culture. They disposed all types of instruments as well as the music that was recorded. The artists started to hide themselves and the identity in order to survive in this situations.
There had some artists who had raised the voice against the ruling party didn’t survived in the country. The music was censored too hard and it became too difficult for the development of music or arts. They killed most of the popular performers in this time. The Khmer Rouge regime performed the role of removing all the history and culture of a country from its memory. It can be considered that, almost all the rich culture and art history and golden past of Cambodia was almost erased by 1979.
Music was quite popular in Cambodia prior to 1975. There had many musicians and forms of music that has been played in Cambodia. The country is considered be one of the country with having most treasury while it comes to music or culture in Asia. The music of Cambodia was quite popular on that time. They had practiced different form of Music. The traditional Khmer music, Rock, R and B, Country music, Rock and Roll, folk and classical music, pop music, modern music and so on. The Cambodians has a unique type of traditional dance music named ramvong, ramkbach etc. Another trend on that time was not rock roll, hot pants and wild dancing. The Cambodian artists practiced almost all types of popular music and music was quite popular in that country. (Nette).
The ruling period has focused on the killing of almost all the major singers who were in the reach of the rulers. The singers survived mostly escaped the country and stayed in another country during that time. They just survived because of their decision of going to another country. The rulers killed popular musicians such as Sin Sisamouth and Ros Serey Sothea
Sin Sisamouth is one of the most popular singer on that time. He died in the period of Khmer Rouge. He is considered to be the king of Khmer Music. He was popular for traditional Khmer music, rock and roll as well as the pop music. The Khmer Rouge regime was not fair to him and he was killed by the ruling government on that time. They took all possible initiative to destroy all his works.
Ros Serey Sothea is another prominent musician who was killed on that time. She was a popular singer of that time as well as an actress. She appeared in the films in Cambodia in this time. Her songs were quite popular among the listeners as well as she voiced on hundreds of songs on her short career. She was popular for her performance on traditional music as well as the music with having touch of western music. The works of this great singer of Cambodia was not considered to be good on the eye of the ruling party. She was on the target of the Khmer Rouge Regime and she had been killed by the rulers on that time. (Nette)
Psychedelic Rock was a rare type of music that was almost death on that time. Different types of traditional music’s as well as dancing styles were banned. The practice of western music culture was banned by this time. It can be considered as a time that took all types of music to the end of its journey in Cambodia. The music industry that Cambodia loosed on this time was not supposed to be recovered with a little effort.
The Khmer Rouge regime did all the worst to bring it back to a beginning level. The country taken different initiative after that period. However, the music and styles that they lost in the Khmer Rouge regime isn’t recovered properly. There had many forms and styles of traditional music that has been removed from the history. However, the musicians are try hard to get back their golden future that are being destroyed by some of the worst type of human beings of the world. The brutal killing of musicians on that time discouraged youngsters to choose the field of music and any form of arts for many years. It will definitely take long time for the country to regenerate something more acceptable. However, the golden past that are being lost worth a lot that can be paid off to get it return again. (Goodman).
There had some musicians who returned to Cambodia after the end of the tragic season and reunited in order to get back the glory. There had many artists who were killed or who were missing after that event. Most of the popular musicians were killed. There had no way for Cambodian artists to just push themselves to work hard in order to achieve the glory that they lost. However, they are still struggling.
In my opinion, music can be considered as the soul of a country. It can play important role in order to motivate a nation or giving entertainment to the whole nation. The music can play as the part of spreading messages or performing other activities. The event that took place on the life of musicians has increased the fear and the self-censorship styles on the people of this country. The musicians no longer feel independent in order to practice music.
There had still the fear among the people who are in this industry. There are many people who are suffering from depressions and still can’t forget the bad part of their life. It will be really hard to achieve something glorious without forgetting these bad days of life. They started to move forward by keeping this nightmare aside. We can surely expect some positive changes in the music industry of Cambodia in the near future.
Each and everything in Cambodia is tragically changed on the Khmer Rouge regime. The tradition of the country never remains the same after that period. The culture, politics, music all have been changed in this country. Many of the musicians who survived the tragic event don’t feel too open to work more on that industry for its betterment. However, many of them was inspirational and worked hard to train the new generations about the music of past time. The surviving masters can teach the new generations about the old traditions. It can be a good sign for the country. However, the new generations also introduced the new form of traditions that can be a turning point in Cambodia.
Works Cited
Goodman, Amy. "WATCH: "Don't Think I've Forgotten" Uncovers Cambodia's Rock 'N' Roll Era Before The Khmer Rouge". Democracy Now!. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Aug. 2016.
Holmgren, Meredith. "Cambodia: Of Sounds And Survival – Khmer Music | Freemuse". Freemuse.org. N.p., 2010. Web. 25 Aug. 2016.
Nette, Andrew. "CULTURE-CAMBODIA: Pre-War Khmer Music Making A Comeback | Inter Press Service". Ipsnews.net. N.p., 2008. Web. 25 Aug. 2016.
