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Ready for something different? How about a band from Los Angeles that blends Cambodian music and California rock and roll? They’re called Dengue Fever and have a fervent following among hipsters and Cambodian immigrants. At SOUND TRACKS, we can’t get enough of them either. Whether it’s lead singer Chhom Nimol’s haunting voice, their “Twin Peaks” atmospherics, or the band’s dreamy mix of surf guitar, smoking saxophone and psychedelia, Dengue Fever is unique and unforgettable.
They are ironic enough to have named themselves after a mosquito-born disease and funny enough to recall groups like the B-52s. But they also have a mission: to resurrect Cambodian music crushed by the Khmer Rouge and re-invent it for the 21st century. They’re cultural ambassadors with a trippy, edgy sound and a new album, “Cannibal Courtship.”
Don't miss other Quick Hits starring Charles Bradley & Sharon Jones, Helene Grimaud, Jovanotti, KT Tunstall, Meklit Hadero, Ozomatli, and Seu Jorge. For more info visit the Sound Tracks website.
Interview with Dengue Fever
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Dengue Fever's Chhom Nimol on "Sister in the Radio"
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Dengue Fever Performs "Gendjer Gendjer"
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Slideshow: Dengue Fever on Stage
Dengue Fever Performs "A Go Go"
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Dengue Fever Performs "Uku"
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Long Beach, California is now home to the largest Cambodian immigrant community in the United States, some 50,000 residents centered in a district known as “Little Phnom Penh” or “Cambodia Town.” Chhom Nimol moved there with her family in 2000 after leaving Thailand, where they had lived after fleeing the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror in Cambodia. In her new song, “Sister in the Radio,” Nimol recalls the moment in her childhood exile in Thailand when she realized the sister her family had left behind was still alive.
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