Cambodian Space Project: The band keeping 1960s Cambodian rock alive
Music has always been used as a form of social protest and a vehicle for change. Particularly since the rise of popular music in the 20th century, countless musicians have used their platform to speak out against injustice and tyranny. Few groups, however, exist in an effort to right historical wrongs, but that is just the aim of The Cambodian Space Project.
To truly understand the Australian Asian music collective, it is first important to understand the context in which they began. Back in 1975, following the Cambodian Civil War, power was seized by the Khmer Rouge. Operating as a communist political party under the leadership of dictator Pol Pot, the Khmer would preside over a tyrannical regime which oversaw the genocide of minorities, which wiped out a quarter of the Cambodian population. In addition to the experimentation of racial minorities and so-called enemies of the state, Pol Pot’s regime also sought to destroy the country’s culture, which it saw as indicative of Cambodia’s imperialist past.
Previous to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, the head-of-state Norodom Sihanouk had encouraged a blossoming scene of Cambodian pop and rock music. Initially influenced by imported records from France and Latin America, the scene quickly became influenced by American rock and psychedelia, largely as a result of nearby rock ‘n’ roll radio stations set up in neighbouring Vietnam for US soldiers. Tragically, the vast majority of artists who had helped to establish this incredible wave of Cambodian rock and pop were ‘disappeared’ by the regime of Pol Pot. Although the regime was eventually overthrown in 1979, the cultural and physical scars remained for decades.
In more recent times in Cambodia, singer Phnom Penh and Tasmanian musician Julien Poulson teamed up to form the Cambodian Space Project along with Srey Thy. The Australian-Asian collaboration project aims to stage a sort of cultural renaissance. Embodying the spirit of 1960s rock and psychedelia, the Space Project are attempting to bring Cambodia’s early pop stars back to life by keeping their music alive.
Although the group takes on influences from outside the cultural landscape of 1960s Cambodia, writing their enchanting psychedelic rock and drawing inspiration from rock scenes across the globe, the band has real roots in Khmer rock. Singer Srey Thy has spoken about how her grandparents were murdered by Pol Pot’s regime and how her mother, who wanted to be a singer herself, needed to avoid certain death herself, “When Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge come they kill her parents. She stopped singing. She cut her hair, same as boy. She make up black to put on face. If very beautiful, they want to kill. My mum was very young.”
Touring the world extensively, the Cambodian Space Project has found a dedicated fanbase by fellow appreciators of their 1960s Khmer rock sound. Perhaps as a result of their geographical location, the band have found particular success in Australia, in which post-punk godfather Nick Cave has given the band his blessing, “They’re a great band,” he said, “The singer is amazing, really beautiful, the guitars really jump out at you, very affecting.”
Not only is The Cambodian Space Project sharing fantastically beautiful psychedelic music with the world, but they are also providing an invaluable service of cultural preservation. In many ways, the Space Project embodies the defiant spirit of rock music. The fact that, in the face of genocide and government tyranny, Khmer rock and pop has persisted and is now facing a 21st-century resurgence is a testament to both the quality of the music and the spirit of rebellion against authority.
