Kings of Karaoke

In Scotland, friends meet and go to the pub. In Cambodia, they go to karaoke. They absolutely love it and it is pretty certain that a group of Cambodians out for the night, will end up at a karaoke club.  Food and drinks, then karaoke and drinks.

VSO Cambodia staff, plus Claire and me in Venise Karaoke Club. You get your own private room,  dance floor,  song organiser and bar girls (optional...)

Like pubs, karaoke clubs come in all shapes and sizes. Just like the spartan old man's boozer that has lonesome individuals in it from lunchtime, you may see a guy belting out a song in the middle of the day in what is nothing more than a shop with rows of chairs facing a TV.

Then you get the flashier karaoke clubs that tempt those with money. These will have huge Johnnie Walker and Chivas Regal advertising outside, and beautiful young girls inside. These are things that money buys at karaoke.

The Rock Karaoke Club - one of the biggest and flashiest - where we debuted

It is not quite karaoke on the bus, as people do not sing with a microphone, but to help entertain you on your six hour bus trip to wherever, they will play pop songs that are operatic in length and story. These songs may last 20 minutes or so and have different chapters that usually follow a story of a love triangle or quadrangle.

Singing can also extend to meetings. Some of the more important meetings/events that I go to may begin with the national anthem. Most of the time, you just stand rigid, hands at your sides and staring forwards as the tape recording plays, but one time at a school (no electricity), one boy led off the singing swiftly accompanied by other children and parents. I stood at the front facing them moving my lips inaudibly.

However, there are some songs that I have learnt. My favourite is 'ch'nam own dop-pram-moie' (I'm 16 years old) which talks about how a girl at 16 is as sweet and beautiful as can be. I've been assured the actual meaning isn't as bad as it sounds.

The Cambodian Space Project - current band rocking Phnom Penh playing some Cambodian rock with a Khmer female lead vocalist

The most famous singers, Sin Sisamuth and Ros Sereysothea were killed during the Khmer Rouge era but still remain hugely popular, even amongst young people, helped by recordings of them on You Tube. New pop stars with fancier hair cuts are becoming famous and indeed Cambodian music is going global with Dengue Fever - an American band whose original songs are inspired by 1960s Cambodian pop/rock and have a Cambodian lead singer.

However, international influences are arriving, none more so than K-Pop (Korean Pop) with Gangnam Style never failing to fill a dance floor. But it is fair to say that they are only just arriving. Despite their love of karaoke and 60s rock, Elvis Presley is not only dead in Cambodia, he was never even alive. Mention The Beatles and blank faces respond. But before long, I bet you that there will be a Cambodian Elvis impersonator though. Or at least a lanky Scottish one that happens to be in Cambodia.

Gordon