Dengue Fever returns to Cambodia for concerts and TV performance

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Acclaimed Los Angeles-based Cambodian and American rock band Dengue Fever is returning to Cambodia later this month for a week-long tour of the country, to include a live performance on national television on Cambodian Television Network (CTN).

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It’s the band’s first trip there since 2013.

“It’s the sixth time for me, and I’m pretty excited because my parents are going, too, and we’ll visit Angkor Wat,” says Zac Holtzman, the band’s guitarist/vocalist, whose brother Ethan plays keyboards. “Ethan’s wife is also coming, and we've got some cool shows lined up.”

Dengue Fever plays Siem Reap on Feb. 17 and Phnom Penh Feb. 19 and 20, with the CTN live broadcast slated for Feb. 21 in Phnom Penh. Other dates may be added.

“I’d like to bring my two-headed guitar, but it’s such a big thing to haul around!” continues Holtzman, referring to his custom-made "Mastodong" double-neck instrument combining a Fender Jazzmaster with the traditional Cambodian long-necked two-stringed chapei dong veng guitar. “But it looks good, and I like playing it on Cambodian TV because they know what it is. And Nimol said, ‘Please, Brother! Please bring it.’ I said, ‘Okay. You carry it!’”

Nimol, of course, is Dengue Fever’s Cambodian front woman Chhom Nimol. Besides her and the Holtzmans, the band is bassist Senon Williams, drummer Paul Smith and horn player David Ralicke. Together they play originals and classic Cambodian pop and rock from the 1960s, mostly by legendary artists who perished during the Khmer Rouge genocide.

“The most satisfying thing is seeing the country pull itself together and improve, every time we go, by leaps and bounds,” notes Holtzman. “The roads are always getting better, and it seems like there’s a lot of investment from other countries.”

He recalls his first visit to Cambodia with Dengue Fever: “I was really nervous about playing in front of Cambodians and singing in [Cambodian]—and so was Nimol! I thought everyone would examine my pronunciation too closely—probably the same feeling she has singing in English. But the first time we got a great reaction, and everybody loved how we were influenced by their own music legends. Nimol got lots of phone calls saying how proud everyone was of her for staying true to her roots.”

The band later collaborated with students at the Phare Ponleu Selpak performing arts school in Battambang province.

“That’s where Nimol was born, and the original singers of a lot of our songs all came from,” says Holtzman. “The last time we were there they wanted to do one of our originals, and their band leader reminded me of a Cambodian Prince!”

Dengue Fever will return to the U.S. with a new tour of the Midwest and West Coast in March and April, and then they’re off to Europe again this summer. Also forthcoming, says Holtzman, is a digital EP with three or four new songs, and likely an EP of material recorded with Korean indie rock band Goonam, with whom Dengue Fever toured internationally.

source: http://www.examiner.com/article/dengue-fever-returns-to-cambodia-for-concerts-and-tv-performance