Bit by Dengue Fever

Feb 09, 2012 16:03


Last night, I watched Dengue Fever over at Neumos, the same place where I watched "Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin" last year. I went out alone, which seems to be how I enjoy most things nowadays. They were phenomenal live. In fact, they were better live than their studio albums. The star of the show, obviously, is Chhom Nimol, the Cambodian wedding singer who migrated to the US to help her family out. She started out singing in a Cambodian restobar in little Phnom Penh in LA to pay for her immigration fees, and auditioned for their band soon after.

Her voice is clear and her singing is effortless. There is a unique lilt to her tone, very reminiscent of the great Cambodian singer of the 60's, Ros Sereysothea. She has the spotlight, but the rest of the band shines as well, with their excellence in performing their own musical instruments. Like the Mastadong, the lead guitarist's hybrid electric guitar/chapei dong veng, their sound is at once modern and retro.

After their energetic set, they encouraged everyone to hang out with them close to where they sold the CDs and shirts. I already had a couple of their CDs, so I bought a shirt designed with the Cambodian version of Hanuman in a dance pose. The cute guy who sold the shirts was Filipino, and acknowledged me as one as well. Unfortunately I was too tongue-tied to say more than "Salamat."

Chhom was hanging out with some fellow Cambodians. When I asked her for an autograph, she spoke to me in Cambodian. I apologized to her, saying I was Filipino. She seemed disappointed, but signed my album anyway.

I was reminded of Y, who enjoyed their music as well. Lo and behold, the day after, I received a message from him. He said he was fine, and is enjoying Singapore so much, that he thinks he is going to settle there. He also said that he was mature enough to stop chasing something just because it's "cool", and that he has a lot of friends in Singapore.

So that's that, then. He does not want to pursue a future with me, here. And I'm fine with that, really I am.

music, dengue fever, cambodian, immigration, musings, seattle, bands

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