Cambodian Space Project: Not Easy Rock'n'Roll, The (ATOM Study Guide)

In 2009, wandering Australian musician Julien Poulson walks into a Phnom Penh bar. At the karaoke microphone is Srey Thy, a poor village girl who has dreamed of being a professional singer all her life. Srey Thy adores the rock'n'roll classics from Cambodia's golden age of the 1960s and 1970s, which ended when the brutal Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot took over Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.

Julien adores Srey Thy's voice and choice of material. The result of their meeting is romance and the Cambodian Space Project, a rock'n'roll explosion that wows audiences from London and Paris to Hong Kong and Sydney.

From formative days putting the band together to playing on the world stage, Julien and Srey Thy's collaboration is a rollercoaster ride filled with passion, ambition and cross-cultural challenges. Set to soul-stirring music that carries the joy and sorrow of Cambodia's past in its unique rhythms, The Cambodian Space Project: Not Easy Rock'n'Roll tells the tale of struggling performers, whose path from obscurity, poverty and trauma to relative fame, and no fortune, has never been easy.

Curriculum Links

This study guide is mainly aimed at mid to senior secondary school levels, with relevance to English, History, Geography, Media and Film Studies, Social Studies, Cultural Studies, Music, International Politics, Ethics and Gender Studies.