Sleepwalking Through the Mekong (Dengue Fever Presents)

Editors’ Notes “A Cambodian singer’s homecoming, an American’ band’s odyssey.” The documentary film, “Sleepwalking Through the Mekong,” follows L.A. indie-pop band Dengue Fever and their Cambodian singer Chhom Nimol, as they return to her homeland to pay homage to a musical genre almost completely effaced by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in the ‘70s. The culture of ‘60s Cambodian pop was revisited by Nimol and her American bandmates on their 2005 journey, with the band performing and recording with surviving master musicians. The soundtrack is a colorful aural document of that journey, and beyond the exotic strains of Dengue Fever, fans and newcomers can also get a taste of true, classic Cambodian pop music with tracks by Sinn Sisamouth & Ros Serey Sothea, and Meas Smaoun, along with tracks of the band playing with master musicians Tep Mary and Kong Nai. Making music inspired not only by the beguiling sounds of Cambodian pop, but also by American psychedelia and surf music, Bollywood, and Ethopian jazz, Dengue Fever may be the Most (Adored) Multi-Culti Pop Band in America.