Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock & Roll

After years of tireless digging John Pirozzi has managed to reach across the awful rupture of Year Zero to sketch out a lost world of Cambodian pop, aided in his task by dazzling archive film, bittersweet reminiscences, and most of all by the music itself.

During the 60s and 70s Cambodia was a hotbed of different music, fed by Western pop and Hindi film scores but developing its own infectious sound. Here we meet a colourful cast of performers, among them paternal crooner Sinn Sisamouth, satirical beatnik Yol Aularong, and the unmistakable voice of Ros Sereysothea, whose sister recalls her journey from the rice-fields to stardom.

We know things will not end well. In the background is the growing rumble of the Vietnam War, and then the formation of the Khmer Rouge. After years of tireless digging John Pirozzi has managed to reach across the awful rupture of Year Zero to sketch out a lost world of Cambodian pop, aided in his task by dazzling archive film, bittersweet reminiscences, and most of all by the music itself.