MAGNET knows a thing or two about good music, art and interesting people, so when Dengue Fever was asked to be guest editors, we all replied within minutes: ”Yes, please!” We have had our noses to the grindstone as of late because that’s what you need to do when you release your latest full-length studio album, The Deepest Lake, on your own label, Tuk Tuk Records. It’s a hell of a lot of work, and us sitting down and writing about subjects other than ourselves sounded like a great respite. So thank you, MAGNET. Enjoy the info, rants and inspirations. Who knows where they’ll take you …
Chhom Nimol: Right now, I am very excited about a movie that is in festivals around the world called Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten. It is a documentary about rock ‘n’ roll music in 1960s Cambodia, when a lot of musicians were very popular and had their own psychedelic style. The music was almost completely lost when most of the musicians were murdered during the Khmer Rouge period between 1975-1979. The film is directed by our friend John Pirozzi, who also directed a documentary about Dengue Fever’s 2005 trip to Cambodia called Sleepwalking Through The Mekong. He has worked very hard for more than 10 years to get all the stories and music and original film footage together. It is a wonderful picture of the music that I grew up listening to and the artists that I admire. A lot of the documentary footage actually comes from King Norodom Sihanouk’s private film archives. I was very honored to be at the premiere of the film in Phnom Penh, and I was so nervous because they asked me to perform in a live concert after the movie where I was able to perform with the master musicians who are still alive. I hope everyone who is interested in music and history will get a chance to see this movie and learn about this amazing period of time and culture that was almost completely forgotten.
Video after the jump.
