History & Music and the Khmer Rouge: ‘They will kill you if you cry...’

This memorial initiative, which began several years ago, was started by Ian Brennan, a multi-award-winning music producer best known for his work on the television shows Glee and Scream Queens.

During a long trip to Southeast Asia, the producer set out to find the few folk singers who had survived the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge.

It is estimated that barely 10% of the artists who fell victim to the regime's atrocities survived...

Despite their scars and nightmares, each of the artists approached agreed to take part in this resurrection on vinyl, entitled ‘They will kill you if you cry’. Among them are Han Nai, probably one of the last Kann (bamboo horn) players, and Arn Chorn Pond, who survived the genocide by agreeing to sing for the Angkar (the party) and then joining Pol Pot's army to fight the Vietnamese.

According to the producer, although this generation of folk artists has been almost wiped out, there is an emerging awareness among a few young artists who are discovering that folk tradition is not just folklore in the vulgar sense of the word, but a real art form whose inspiration lies deep in the Khmer soul and history, and that this artistic expression is also part of Cambodia's heritage and roots.

‘They Will Kill You, If You Cry’ by the Khmer Rouge Survivors is the third album produced as part of the Glitterbeat's Hidden Musics collection and is now available in several formats.