pa pa pa pa pa, i want a wife...

...and my thoughts on other khmer music videos.

i'm going to come right out with it. i love khmer music videos.  i love them far more than i love american ones, and those k-pop (korean pop) music videos? don't even compare.

music videos are streaming constantly around me everyday.  on the bus, they play one of the myriad of cds compiled with 20 or so videos. in the cafe where i get pork and rice- playing behind me.  in the quickie mart where i go to drink a coca light and read for forty five minutes- on full view, playing via the surround sound.

in the car of my fellow teacher who drove topher and me to a wedding two weekends ago? playing in his 2003 toyota camry, in the small video screen where the rearview mirror used to be.

(process that one for a second.)

these videos rock because they usually tell a story.  more often than not, that story is quite tragic and ends with the singer dying in the end, but it's a great love story as it unfolds.  my favorite videos are the multi-part ones, where the boy and girl trade back and forth singing the songs as the story unfolds with one "to be continued" after the other.

a particularly awesome one involves a girl and boy falling in love while girls sings about it, then boy getting hurt while girl sings about it, and then boy almost dying but not while girl still thinks he died while boy sings about it, and then girl discovering that he is still alive only as he lays dying in the street as they sing about it.

somewhere in there, the boy dresses up like a clown and hands out free balloons but is a sad clown because the girl thinks he's dead and has found a new love.

it's amazing.

AND THEN! the other day, on the bus, i was treated to a full soap opera drama musical MOVIE!  it was so fantastical, i cannot even describe.  it featured DOPPLEGANGERS and was so fantastic. maybe the best 75 minutes on a bus i've ever experienced.

so, let's discuss my absolute favorite khmer music video.  it took me an hour to find it, and i had to google in anglicized khmer phonetics to find it, so you should watch it and enjoy it.

i think this is my favorite for a series of reasons:
1. it's hilarious and upbeat.  the guy is singing that he wants a wife, and his dad- who sells street food- is saying "with what money?"
2. it tells the story of khmer life!  he meets a girl, falls in love, has to find money, so goes to the fortune teller to find out how, uses magic to get a great huge lexus, enters a cell phone contest and WINS, meets the girls parents to tell them he wants to marry his daughter, all while upgrading via magic to the BEST red shirt i've ever seen.
3. you just need to watch it. it translates across all languages, trust me.

another one of my favorite parts about khmer music videos is how everyday life is the center- as in, this could all be happening down the street to your best friend! or, hey, even to you!  often music videos will take place in a rice field, or in a new cozy cafe in phnom penh, or the rolling hills of the beautiful northern provinces.  i like this one most because it features my favorite glorified gas station TELA MART!

and this last one is thrown in for good measure so you can see my favorite khmer singer who's quite popular- sok sophea- and enjoy the love songs of my new country.

my husband tells me he's going to share his favorite khmer music video on his blog one of these days, and when he does, you'll need to take a look.  it's awesome because it's quite....westernized.

you'll see.

how are music videos going over there in america? 


and hey, did you watch these? reactions?