EPISODE · Apr 10, 2021 · 50 MIN
Khmer Rouge Part One: The Golden Age
from Past Dark · host Carmen Park
Music Used in this Episode (In Order of Appearance) Blacksona: Day One (from the LP “The Silver Door”)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://blacksona.bandcamp.com/ Alexander Nakarada: Hor HorLicensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://alexandernakarada.bandcamp.com Kevin Macleod: Lost Frontier/Night on the Docks/Backed Vibes CleanKevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ *Sinn Sisamouth: Season of Bloom (duet with Ros Sereysotea)/ Just Love Me from the compilation “Cambodian Rocks” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Cambodian_Rocks) Under Fair Use *Pen Ron: Jom Nor Trocheak from the LP “Pebbles Volume 6: Cambodia Part One” Under Fair Use Audio from “Royal Ballet of Cambodia”, 1965National Archives and Records AdministrationIn the Public Domain *Yol Aulorong: Don’t Be Upset from the compilation “Cambodian Rocks” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Cambodian_Rocks) Under Fair Use *Sinn Sisamouth: Beloved Girlfriend/ Apart from Beloved Lover Sromol Neang Akara/Under the Sound of Rain Under Fair Use *Baksey Cham Krom: B.C.K./ Pleine Lune (Full Moon) Under Fair Use *Chum Ken: Kampuchea Twist (Twist! Twist! Khnyom) Under Fair Use *Liev Tuk: Dance Soul Soul (Rom Sue Sue) from the compilation “Cambodian Rocks” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Cambodian_Rocks) Under Fair Use *Mao Sareth: Thporl Khuoch Under Fair Use *Pen Ron: No Need to Be Ashamed/I’m Unsatisfied (Knyom Mun Sok Jet Te) from the compilation “Cambodian Rocks” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Cambodian_Rocks) Under Fair Use *Ros Sereysotea:Title Unknown/ ផ្ការីកលើមេឃ រស់ សេរីសុទ្(Flowers in the Sky)/I’m 16/Wicked Husband/Haircut/Hand Tied Rice All but “Flowers in the Sky” and "Hand Tied Rice" from the compilation “Cambodian Rocks” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian\_Rocks) Under Fair Use *Note on Cambodian copyright: Cambodia did not have a copyright law until 2003. The fact that the country underwent a genocide meant that personnel, label info, recording dates etc were lost. Therefore specific information about the Golden Age of Cambodian pop and rock is, more often than not, missing.
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What this episode covers
April 17th, 1975. Phomh Penh, known as the “Pearl of Asia”, considered at one time one of the world’s loveliest cities with its grand boulevards, striking modernist architecture and thriving nightlife, the bustling and now bursting-at-the-seams capitol of the nation of Cambodia, is about to disappear. It will happen within 72 hours. Cambodia was still a developing nation with an immense history. The Khmer Empire, which had encompassed most of Southeast Asia, had flourished for six centuries, and left behind a highly developed culture epitomized in the Buddhist temple complex of Angor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world. In the 20th century, the nation saw a Golden Age under the reign of King Sianouk, a saxophone-playing ladies man who starred in his own films , championed the arts and spoke three languages. A thriving pop scene fed by influences from Booker T and the MGS to Afro-Cuban pop to French yeye gave birth to a number of stars, such as Sinn Sisamouth, known as the Elvis of Cambodia, and Ros Sereysotea,, “the Queen with the Golden Voice”. But Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge would draw a black veil over the country for the next four years. They ground down the nation of 7 million to a pre-industrial year zero, forcing the population into agrarian collectives that were little more than prison camps, where stone age methods of cultivation led to crop failure and mass starvation. Doctors and engineers, intellectuals, writers, artists of every kind, ethnic and religious minorities and Cambodians who complained- or wore glasses, or showed emotion, or talked too often, among other infractions-were herded into the torture chamber, or a mass grave. 25 percent of the nation would be lost in just four years, in what has been called one of the fastest genocides in human history. What drives a man to send so many of his own countrymen to their deaths? How do nations all around the world blithely turn away from the horror? How do you survive a life under gunpoint? How do you heal an atrocity? This is a story of genocide and smiling dictators, pop stars and killing fields, new people and year zero. This is the story of the Khmer Rouge. And its Past Dark.
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Khmer Rouge Part One: The Golden Age
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