V/A – Khmer Rouge Survivors LP

Label: Glitterbeat ‎– GBLP 036
Series: Hidden Musics – 3
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: Germany
Genre: Folk, World, & Country

It would be disturbing anywhere to see a mob gathered around a street-pole as an electrocuted utility-worker’s lifeless body was lowered down by rope as if lynched, but especially in a land with so many ghosts.

A reported three-million tons of carpet-bombs were dropped on Cambodia by the USA in the 1970s, more than were unleashed on Germany during all of WWII. Following the bombings, dictator Pol Pot seized the moment, emptying the cities into shells, then pitting
rural residents against the urbanites and launching a genocide that claimed somewhere around two-million lives (i.e., nearly 1/4th of the population). This particular holocaust was especially catastrophic culturally as it specifically targeted the artists and “intellectuals”, of whom it is estimated that less than 10% survived. During this period, daring to wear eyeglasses— which had become a stereotyped symbol between classes— guaranteed
almost certain death.