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| When I first went to Cambodia a few years ago, one of things among many that struck me was that it seemed like a country without a history almost. Or that like, say, China or Russia, so much of its history has been erased. It was erased firstly when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power, and it was erased again when they fell from power. Another thing I was struck by was the music of the place, whose history too had been erased. In fact, as I was to soon learn, the music and the musicians were literally murdered by the Khmer Rouge. But – I was struck again – I straight away met so many people who felt like kindred spirits, in that they were music people and they were dedicated to not only bringing a music scene back to life in contemporary Cambodia, but also to recovering its lost history. I could see exactly what Julian Poulson was talking about, since he was an artist painting portraits of these lost singers, and he was gathering information, and songs – it could be a graphic book like Robert Crumb had done for American jazz, blues and country musicians, I thought, or like I was trying to do with Deadly Woman Blues, and/or it could be an album, a stageshow, a program to encourage younger Cambodian musicians to pick up on the tradition… and so now that Julian is getting Cambodian Women of Song going in earnest, or at least trying to get it properly out of the blocks, I’m delighted to say that I’m playing a small part in the larger process and I’m here to say that Julian has launched a Pozible crowdfunding campaign and if you have the slightest interest in the subject, why not sign on and dob some doh in to help make it happen? You can see some more information here, at the Khmer Times (an article written by J.J. McRoach!!), and here, at the site of the OneEleven Gallery in Siem Reap where Julian's paintings were first shown. And go here to Pozible. These sort of stories - and songs - can't be allowed to continue to languish in obscurity, and anyone who wants to try and recover them is to be encouraged, if not feted! |
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