When I arrived back from Cambodia via Singapore last weekend, I had two surprises. One was an intense case of giardia that came home in my intestinal tract! (Or perhaps campylobacter; the test wasn’t conclusive but the meds are working.)
The second, far-nicer one, was an envelope with two issues of the new Purple Journal waiting in my mailbox. My diary-entry for July 1st, the 10th anniversary of the HK “handover”, is featured in it. Pretty exciting to me since I’ve loved this magazine (even when it used to be a “magazine”, not a split personality between fashion mag and “le journal”) back in high school, blowing my allowance on it at the Book Soup newsstand. Also, my first time being translated into French. It’s not for sale in HK but if you’re in the US, Europe or Japan it’s probably around.
For nearly two weeks, I was in Cambodia doing research on the 1960s Khmer rock music scene for an article. An incredibly difficult task, given that all artists, musicians and intellectuals were killed by the Khmer Rouge (or went into exile in France or Southern California).
A few dedicated people are working to revive this music, after it gained cult popularity on compilations like the Cambodian Rocks series (Available on Khmerrocks.com), most notably the band Dengue Fever in L.A. There are also a few films on the subject, like Greg Cahill’s short The Golden Voice (about Ros Sereysothea), and John Pirozzi’s highly-anticipated documentary on the entire scene, Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten . With all this in the air, it seemed like a good time to do what I had wanted to ever since the opening track on the first Cambodian Rocks CD sent chills down my spine way back in high school (a song I now know to be Ros Sereysothea’s “Sweet Sixteen”). Basically: to wander around Phnom Penh and try to figure out where this otherworldy psychedelia came from. And, more tragically, where did it go? (Answers still in progress, but in the meantime, pictures:)
More images from Cambodia here
And from a brief stop-over in Singapore on the way back– a big contrast in its first-world calm and order. Slightly reminiscent of the luxer parts of Honolulu. Super-American tropicalia. But amazing food, well-funded art spaces, surreal kitsch at Haw Par Villa and the Night Safari, and insane consumption-culture at Kinokuniya and Topshop.
Singapore gallery here