Cambodian Pop

Cambodian pop is the popular music of Cambodia's post-independence golden age, centred on Phnom Penh from the late 1950s to 1975. Singers such as *Sinn Sisamouth* and *Ros Serey Sothea* fronted guitar bands that fused Khmer melodies and language with American and British rock and roll, surf guitar, French chanson, Latin rhythms and soul. Delivered in a high, ornamented Khmer singing style over twanging electric guitars, organ, brass and drum kit, the music filled radio, film soundtracks and dance halls before the Khmer Rouge abolished it in 1975, destroying masters and killing most of its performers.