Sinn Sisamouth — Rom A Go-Go
Groove Club Vol. 4 · 1965
Label: Lion Productions · Genre: Soul / Khmer Garage Soul · From: Phnom Penh, South East Asia
Before the Khmer Rouge erased an entire culture, Phnom Penh in the 1960s was one of Southeast Asia's most electric music cities — and Sinn Sisamouth was its king. He absorbed American rock and roll, bossa nova, cha-cha, and Afro-Latin rhythms and ran them through traditional Khmer melody and language, producing a sound that captivated Cambodia for two decades. Rom A Go-Go is a two-minute burst of that world: twangy guitar, a dancer's groove, and a voice of extraordinary warmth and agility. Sisamouth disappeared in 1976, taken by the Khmer Rouge along with most of Cambodia's artistic class. This Lion Productions reissue, assembled with the blessing of his family, is one of the few official collections of his recordings to exist in the West.
Did you know: Sinn Sisamouth recorded prolifically across multiple genres — Khmer pop, bossa nova, country, and funk — sometimes releasing songs in English and French as well as Khmer, positioning himself as Cambodia's answer to Elvis, Dean Martin, and James Brown simultaneously.
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