Cambodia’s Music

Ros Serey Sothea and Sinn Sisamouth were just two of Cambodia's well-known musical artists and singers. Both went missing during the Khmer Rouge, leaving many to assume they had been executed due to their statuses as artists. Those who made music were considered to have too much influence over the Cambodian people, and therefore they were targets.

Khmer Rouge Movie Recommendations

Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll

This is an important documentary that covers the music and artists that Cambodia lost during the Khmer Rouge. It includes a soundtrack with songs that existed both before and after the genocide and also covers topics like the destruction of recording studios and traces of Cambodia’s culture.

The Missing Picture

This movie aims to depict the Khmer Rouge’s serious effects on cultural connections and identity through the use of clay figure stories and animation, as well as real archived footage.

Khmer American Businesses

Even though the population of Bronx and New York City Cambodians have declined throughout the years, those that have stayed have made their mark by establishing Cambodian businesses.

A Cambodian Chef in Brooklyn: Chinchakriya Un

Chincakriya Un is just one of the Cambodian Americans currently living in New York City who has chosen to pursue their own Khmer business. Chakriya is known for her series of pop-up cooking events, also known as Kreung Cambodia, where she utilizes space in various restaurant kitchens and bars to prepare Cambodian dishes. Using the money she makes from selling her dishes, Chakriya aims to contribute to her Khmer family across the world by purchasing rice farming equipment for them. Growing up in America, Chakriya’s environment has influenced how she expresses her culture. Even though her dishes are primarily Khmer, she substitutes other ingredients in the recipes she uses and utilizes the resources she has in Brooklyn to make her cooking unique. Her cooking brings together Cambodians from around the city. Soon, she plans to open a brick-and-mortar called Bong, where she can serve food from her own business location.

WHISK AND WHISKEY

Located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, Whisk and Whiskey is a bakery and bar that fuses Southeast Asian and Caribbean cuisines. It is managed by two women of color, including Chandra Touch, a Cambodian American. Aside from serving as a bakery, the owners use the space to host a variety of events, including ones where communities from around the city, including Khmer visitors and non-Khmer visitors, can spend time trying Cambodian cuisines made by Chandra, dancing, and socializing.

Khmer Donut Shops

One of the most significant traces left by Cambodian refugees is donut shops. In 1975, a man by the name of Ted Ngoy arrived in Orange Country, California, with his family from Camp Pendleton, a base in San Diego where thousands of Southeast Asian refugees from Laos and Cambodia settled temporarily. He became inspired by a donut shop he saw serving a line of customers, and after having previous experience working in a donut shop, he opened his own. As his business grew successful, other arriving Cambodians opened their shops, and Ted sponsored these fellow Cambodian neighbors' visas. Currently, California is home to over 1,500 Cambodian-owned donut shops, but they are occasionally present in other states as well. These shops are unique, especially due to their packaging. Cambodian donut shops box donuts in bright pink boxes, which originally were cheaper than white boxes, and eventually became a symbol for refugee-owned businesses.

Donut (W)hole is a series of artworks created by Phung Huynh, an Asian artist who utilizes the existence of pink donut boxes to create artworks depicting Cambodian and Vietnamese refugee stories in the U.S.

Above are several of her artworks, depicting family and multiple other interviewed Asians and images of their stories, as well as messages and pictures inscribed on pink donut boxes. Phung Huynh aims to display stories of displacement and assimilation among Southeast Asian living in America.

Movie Recommendation: The Donut King

This documentary covers the story of Ted Ngoy and his journey in establishing his own donut shop in Orange County, California. It covers topics of assimilation in a new environment, the experience of immigrants, and the American Dream.

Cultural Expression

Cambodians often celebrate their culture and hold Cambodian New Year celebrations across the country. This image shows a parade from a Khmer New Year festival in Long Beach California. People of all ages, from young kids to the elderly, are able to attend these celebrations. Khmer people will often wear traditional attire.