By Phally Chroy
Date: 26 ^th July 2016.
Abstract:

Geography in popular music of the Cambodian Golden Age helped rural and urban Cambodians engage with the country’s process of independence. Popular music of this era addressed provincial boundaries by affirming landscapes of Cambodia such as rivers and mountains that brought Cambodians towards a geographical awareness of “Srok Khmer.” In this presentation, Phally Chroy will present how the popular music of the Golden Age functioned as song-texts during the 1960s and 1970s by attaching shared social experiences and the concept of “land as nation.” This analysis will reveal the hidden spaces in which song-texts engage with notions of power, nation, and culture as Cambodia phased out of the Protectorate.

Phally Chroy is a Ph.D. candidate in Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University. His research covers Cambodia, cosmopolitanism, and critical theory.