Drakkar Band
- Piseth Pov
- Apr 8
- 3 min read
"Be aware that this is auto translation"
Drakkar is the name of a nearly 60-year-old rock band with four members, including Mr. Touch Chhattha, Mr. Touch Sieng Tana, Mr. Ouk Sam Ath, also known as Thol, and Mr. Som Sareth, who have passed away. The name Draka comes from the tracking of a French film in the 1960s about pirates, according to the founder of this band, Mr. Touch Chhattha.
The Draka band was first formed in 1967 as the music scene in Phnom Penh flourished to perform rock music inspired by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, as well as the first Khmer guitar bands such as the Baksey Chamkrong band and the Apsara band.
The band was originally composed of singer and guitarist Touch Sieng Tana, Touch Chhada, Mam Molyvann, and Tan Panareth, while many were temporary out-of-band drummers. The band did not record original songs, and all members in their teens or early twenties disbanded and took up military or government roles.
In 1971, Touch Seang Tana formed a new choir with leading guitarist Som Sareth, drummer Ouk Sam Ath, and bassist Oeur Sam OL. To this day, the Cambodian music scene has been further influenced by rock and rock music and Western influences through the U.S. Armed Forces radio, which was broadcast to troops stationed nearby during the Vietnam War.
Drakkar became popular in Phnom Penh during the Cambodian Civil War, when the city was under threat from both the US bombing campaign and attacks by Khmer Rouge insurgents. Due to the curfew during the war, the band had to play in the club during the day and often heard gunfire and explosions nearby during their performances. The band recorded their own album in Lol Kanhol's studio during 1972-1973 and released it in early 1974. The album was re-released a few decades later, dubbed Drakkar 74, and sold over 20,000 copies, making it the best-selling album in Cambodian history at the time.
It was during that time that the Draka group was named one of the most skilled and highly accomplished rock and roll bands of the Sangkum Reastr Niyum era. Some of the song manuscripts and musical compositions of the Draka band are well-known, both past and present, such as the song:
“What are you angry about? (បងខឹងរឿងអ្វី?) If you want me (បើចង់បានអូន), Saravan Chan Penh Boramey (សារ៉ាវ៉ាន់ចន្ទ័ពេញបូរមី), the song Soka (ចម្រៀងសោកា) , it looks wrong , Mom, (មើលខុសហើយម៉ែ) etc.” are all popular genres.
Shortly after it grew, all forms of Khmer art were transformed into a barren state, as the brutal genocidal regime entered, as if a dark cloud had hidden the land of Cambodia. Cambodian resources of all ages were oppressed, tortured, and unjustly slaughtered by millions.
Plans to further promote the album were halted in April 1975 when the Khmer Rouge overthrew the Khmer Republic Army. Members of Drakkar were supposed to be Phnom Penh residents among the two million people forced to leave the city and become farm workers to fulfill the Khmer Rouge's vision of agricultural socialism and the elimination of all foreign influences (including music) from Cambodian society. Team members Oeu Sam OL and Som Sareth disappeared during the genocide in Cambodia, and their true fate is unknown. Singer/Guitalist Touch Seang Tana was imprisoned in a labor camp and claimed to have escaped the genocide by singing Santana to Khmer Rouge soldiers as needed, while hiding his true identity and disguising himself as a farmer in general. Guitarist Touch Chhada also survived, being one of many professional musicians forced to play patriotic and traditional music for Khmer Rouge soldiers almost daily.
After more than four decades apart, Draka has returned. Although each age is constantly evolving, her spirit, technical skills, and the memory of the three worlds remain in eternal value.
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