In the 1960s, Cambodians created a new sound from the music they heard on Armed Forces Radio. They listened to the surf guitar, soul music, and psychedelic grooves broadcast to American soldiers stationed in Vietnam. Cambodian musicians adapted rock and roll to their own melodies.
Organ player Ethan Holtzman took a trip to Cambodia in 1997. He brought cassettes of '60s pop home to share with his brother Zac. They both caught the bug, started a band, and discovered Chom Nimol, then singing at a night club in the little Phnom Penh area of Long Beach. Dengue Fever was on.
The band is now helping to save the music from extinction. Tragically, artists, musicians and intellectuals were singled out for execution when the Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia.
The band's has just released their fifth album, "Venus on Earth," and they're playing tonight at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Guitarist and songwriter Zac Holtzman joined Word of Mouth to shed light on Dengue Fever's origins and their reworking of Cambodian pop.
You can watch the trailer for the documentary about the band's return to Cambodia, "Sleepwalking Through the Mekong," by clicking here.
