Well George Thorogood isn't really strictly blues, more a sort of hybrid with rock and roll. I am actually pleasantly surprised at some Khmers being able to namecheck some of the original blues names. One of them even introduced me to Cambodian blues in the shape of Yos AlarongChris K wrote:I was talking to a Khmer musician on the weekend. He is a guitarist, in his forties and stated he loved the blues. I mentioned George Thorogood. I got a blank look. Same for 'bad to the bone' or 'one bourbon one scotch, one beer'...no recognition from him.
I remember showing a Khmer ages ago a video clip of ACDC in their prime belting out Thunderstruck. She had never heard of them or the song. My kids know these songs because they were forced to listen to them (and many others from that era) on cassette or CD when I did school drop offs in the car.
Seeing old youtube clips of Phnom Penh in the late sixties and early seventies, rock and roll was arriving in Cambodia. They were dancing like westerners and bands were starting to belt out covers of rock songs in Khmer and English.
Then, with the Khmer Rouge in 1975 the music stopped playing. Until when? 1991....UNTAC...introduction of the internet...youtube music videos coming online in 2004 or so? My point being, the Khmers missed a whole generation, twenty or more years of music that us Westerners grew up on. Plus..the kids of these Khmers during this period....never got to hear their parents playing it either.
Ask a Khmer if they know who the "Boss' is I think HE will be the most popular answer ahead of Bruce. U2 is just bar girl talk. Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, Tina Turner, the Eagles, Linda Rondstadt, Led Zep, the Police...I could write a huge list. So a whole music generation was lost. Is this why so many Khmer bands play old music that all ages know the words to? Songs from the past...family songs...broken heart songs? I remember I was on a boat once for three months back in the nineties. No TV or music. When I got off the boat that song the' Macarena' was being played everyday everwhere. Another three months on the boat and I would have missed it...forever.
An expat awhile ago told me that Cambodians are an 'un-educated' lot. Yeah sure their education system here is far from perfect but they missed twenty plus years of education from TV, newspapers, and radio that most of us did not and grew up with. Music was just a small part of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWpyEokvN1I