Dengue Fever, the Band, Burns Bright

By Poch Reasey,
VOA Khmer Washington
24 January 2008

In Khmer - Listen (MP3)

With a third album out and many of the songs sung in English, the band Dengue Fever is gaining critical and commercial momentum.

Dengue Fever features Cambodian Chhom Nimol on vocals and recalls the psychodelic rock of Cambodia’s ‘60s.

In “Venus on Earth,” their newest album, Chhom Nimol sings in more English than in the past two albums.

“Compared to the Khmer songs I used to sing, English ones are much harder to sing,” she said, speaking from Long Beach, California.

“So we spent a lot of time working on this third CD because there are new songs and new melodies,” she said, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

For this album, Dengue Fever has so far only toured th US. In 2005, the group performed in Cambodia, where, Chhom Nimol said, “Cambodian people still want to listen to my voice.”

Back in Long Beach, she said she has also earned the respect of the largest Cambodian community in the US.

“As a Cambodian woman, I never forget Cambodian culture and traditions,” she said. “And I want to thank the Cambodian people who support my work and the work of Dengue Fever.”