Music In Vietnam / Cambodia / Thailand

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Has anyone visted these places in the last couple of years?

I'll be in the region from Oct - Early Nov.

Online searches haven't been helpful... I'm after recommendations on pubs / clubs / record stores - am interested in their local scenes (?). Also any international touring acts (do they get any)?

Would be helpful if you could list the type of music I can expect along with any recommendations.

― Mil (Mil), Saturday, 24 September 2005 22:29 (twenty years ago)

What recent Thai pop I've heard was the bee's knees. Banana Nutrament to thread.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 24 September 2005 22:32 (twenty years ago)

Check with the Sublime Frequencies label (and the threads on that)--try to contact them. I bet they can give you ideas.

― steve k, Sunday, 25 September 2005 02:26 (twenty years ago)

My favourite band in Thailand is futon, great electro pop.
Strange fact that I am quite sure is true : Simon (ex-Suede drummer) moved to Bangkok and joined Futon.

― Arnault (arc73hk), Sunday, 25 September 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)

Think some of the people on Thai Beat A Go Go series are still performing. Some good-to-great stuff, for the most part.

― don, Sunday, 25 September 2005 06:02 (twenty years ago)

My favorite Thai band is Carabao. They've been around since the '80s.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Sunday, 25 September 2005 06:05 (twenty years ago)

the king of thailand has several records available.
they're worth a listen.

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Sunday, 25 September 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

Cheers for the recommendations guys!

Soulseek's happily turning up a lot of Thai stuff.

Anything on Malaysia (mainly KL) would be helpful too.

― Mil (Mil), Sunday, 25 September 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

The Rock and Roll Report had posted about music in Vietnam (http://www.rockandrollreport.com/the_rock_and_roll_report/2005/04/vietnamese_rock.html) and Thailand (http://www.rockandrollreport.com/the_rock_and_roll_report/2003/09/today_we_featur.html). From what I've heard you can find some local Thai rock bands on Khao San Road in Bangkok, but in the times I've been there I never ran across any.

I couldn't find a thing in Cambodia or Vietnam (was last in SE Asia in early 2001...maybe it's different now). There just isn't a nightlife scene to support live bands in developing countries like these. Finding discos is a lot easier, especially in Phnom Penh.

― Glenn, Monday, 26 September 2005 02:15 (twenty years ago)

i'd recommend buying random CDs from the street markets. i discovered some pretty cool stuff using this method.

― richard wood johnson, Monday, 26 September 2005 03:31 (twenty years ago)

Yeah from what I've read about the clubs in Phnom Penh, it seems they're either a) Khmer style that aren't terribly welcoming to Westerners (I'll be travelling alone) or b) Western style and full of hookers...

Sounds like a good strategy Richard. While it's nice to have a bit of a head's up on what to expect / where to look, I'm hoping I'll stumble across some good music by accident along the way.

― Mil (Mil), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:27 (twenty years ago)

The best way to appreciate Cambodian pop is if you have a fever on a bus traveling between Siem Reap an Phnom Penh and they're blasting Cambodian karaoke videos the whole way when you just want to sleep and you stop at rest stop and want something to eat and all they have is giant roasted spiders. This will engender a deep appreciation.

Besides the music and the getting sick, SEA is the best. Have a good trip.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Monday, 26 September 2005 12:10 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

See if you can get that Cambodian Cassette Archive album, it's full of deadly weirdo pop music by people who were all killed by the Khmer Rouge.

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Sunday, 15 April 2007 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

Sunday April 29th

Cambodian New Year Celebration at 8 at Theatre One at Gunston,
2700 S. Lang Street, Arlington, Virginia USA Tickets: http://www.cambodianheritage.org

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 15 April 2007 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

All I remember hearing in the region was sappy Cantonese ballads and amusing local-language cover versions of western pop songs (there was one of Blue's All Rise they played all the time).

― chap, Sunday, 15 April 2007 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

has anyone ever seen that Dengue Fever band, who play covers of classic Khmer Pop tunes?

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Sunday, 15 April 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

No, but I bought their cd at the Tower going out of business sale.

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 15 April 2007 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, I saw Dengue Fever in Toronto last year. I thought they were great. Apparently they have played in Cambodia, as well.

― pauls00, Sunday, 15 April 2007 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HGiX26Yn60

saw this on a thai music video channel and thought it was pretty good. that's a 50 cent sample right? wonder if they cleared it.

― █▓▒░ 97 people sleep immediately after seeing this video ░▒▓█ (dyao), Monday, 19 April 2010 15:39 (sixteen years ago)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/08/AR2007070800957.html

Blind musician Kong Nay is called the Cambodian Ray Charles because of his wrap-around shades, but this impressive lute player has more in common musically with Southern blues guitarists than pianists. Nay alternated speedy fingerwork with gruff-voiced vocals.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 April 2010 17:05 (sixteen years ago)

nine months pass...

Senon Williams, Nimol's bandmate in Dengue Fever [...] explains that "ghost voice" is an actual technical term in Cambodian singing as heard in this track.
"It's where you break from one octave to the next and the voice cracks," he says. "The high key," Nimol explains. "Ros Serey Sothea was the master of that," Williams adds.

Ghost Voices Come to Life on 'Dengue Fever Presents Electric Cambodia'

Sinn Si Samouth & Ros Serey Sothea - prom daem men prom chong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAyPw1MfTRE

― meisenfek, Saturday, 22 January 2011 15:26 (fifteen years ago)

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