The Khmer Rouge Killed Nine in Ten of Cambodia's Professional Musicians. The Music Came Back.
Under the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s, Cambodia's entertainment venues were shuttered and nine in ten of the country's professional musicians were killed. Cambodia's popular music culture then virtually ceased to exist for a twenty-year period — and, against the odds, has since made a remarkable comeback.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Ethnographer Stephen Mamula, conducting fieldwork in Phnom Penh between 2004 and 2006, was struck by the musical vitality of the country's soundscape and the ubiquity of colorful CD jewel cases on display. He found that access to technologies such as television and compact discs was instrumental in regenerating indigenous culture.
That puts the return in an unexpected place: consumer hardware, TV sets and discs, as the vehicle that carried a tradition back into daily life.