Dengue Fever, Sleepwalking Through The Mekong

Sleepwalking Through The Mekong is more than just an inside look at a band and its music; it’s an inside look at a different culture. I’ve seen several DVDs that bands have put out, and I must say that I think this one from Dengue Fever is probably my favorite.

Dengue Fever is a band from Los Angeles that plays Cambodian pop music. In 2001, two brothers got together and formed the band, after one of them had been inspired by a recent trip to Cambodia. They organized and began searching for a singer who could sing in the Khmer, or Cambodian, language. The band quickly found Chhom Nimol and released its first self-titled album in 2003.

The DVD follows the band as its members travel to Cambodia and plays their music for the people. The band plays several shows, travels on scooters to explore the land, talks to the people, and even makes a musical appearance on CTM, the Cambodian Television Network. Besides showing just the band and its members’ commentaries and thoughts, the DVD also shows clips of life in Cambodia, like riots breaking out on the streets. It does a great job of giving an inside look at a country that we probably don’t think too much about.

The band talks about the country, its people, and its current economic situation. One of the members talks about how Cambodia has suffered and has been suffering as a result of the Vietnam War, and I think that’s what I like about Dengue Fever’s film: it’s an inside look at the band and its music, but it’s also an inside look at the country that inspired the band so much.

Dengue Fever’s sound is comparable to famous Cambodian musicians of the ’60s and ’70s, combining traditional elements but also adding the band’s unique spin to create its own sound. The band uses drums, guitar, organ, bass, and saxophone.

Dengue Fever added something new to my mostly indie pop/rock/electronic iTunes library and could do the same for yours. The band is definitely worth a listening to. I’d recommend the DVD because of the things I learned about this other culture; it actually created a strong desire inside me to take a trip one day to Cambodia. It looks like such a beautiful place with beautiful people. The DVD wasn’t too exciting, per se, and lasted probably about an hour, but it’s definitely worth giving it a try.