Khmer folk/pop song "Blue Basket" - what can you tell me?

June 22, 2010 2:26 PM

Does anyone know anything about a Khmer folk/pop song called "Blue Basket?"

First encountered through the "Cambodian Cassette Archives" album linked above (there's a second version on that album that you can probably find with some minimal digging). I've seen a few other versions kicking around, too, but not with vocals*. The song's been running through my head like crazy**, and I'd like to know more about it - can anyone better acquainted with the music of Cambodia and/or Southeast Asia help me out here? Are there definitive lyrics?

* the latter two videos link to medleys of "Blue Basket" and "Look at the Owl," which happen to be the first two songs on the "Cambodian Cassette Archives" comp so we may be able to guess where those bands learned the tune

** damn near had me in tears during a particularly maudlin Fathers' Day moment

posted by jtron to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

Response by poster: The plot thickens: here we have the track "Mavi Sepet" as performed by Turkish band Hayvanlar Alemi.

"Mavi Sepet" machine-translates to "Blue Basket," btw, although mavisepet.com seems to be the home of an electronics retailer called "Blue Net." If there are Turkish lyrics for this song, then, cool; cooler still if they sound funny in Swedish
posted by jtron at 7:07 PM on June 23, 2010

Looks like you're not having much luck. Have you asked around on any Khmer forums? This one is fairly active, if maybe kind of dubious.
posted by YamwotIam at 9:40 PM on July 12, 2010