Ngo Menghourng opens his ears to sounds of Chameleon music, Cambodia’s newest group of pop stars, and likes most of what he hears.

After I carefully listened to all the tracks on the first album, three of the songs became instant fovourites.

Chameleon Music is a new music company in Cambodia and in December it held its first special concert at Meta House to promote its first album to the local audience.

According to the website http://news.sabay.com.kh/articles/518683000, up to 3,000 disks of Chameleon Music’s first album will be sold at major commercial outlets like Sorya and Sovana and also at CD World. The new album is pop music, and as a fan of Cambodian music, I am curious and want to listen to any new music.

Luckily, I was able to watch the concert because I heard about it through my friend who works at the Meta House organisation.

When I arrived at Meta House, I saw many people, both Khmer and foreigners. They gave the band a lot of support and applauded the singers and the new production company, Chameleon music.

During the event the company provided free disks to the audience and I was also given one. The first album from Chameleon is in the MP3 format, but it does not have a cover and there is no karaoke.

Listening to the concert was not enough to get me interested in this new music company, so that’s why I have listened to the disk three or four times so far.

After I carefully listened to all the tracks on the first album, three of the songs became instant fovourites. I love track one, sex and 10, because the melodies, rhythms, lyrics, meanings and voices of the singers sound great. They grip my attention and have become my favourite songs.

I think the voices of these new singers are so sweet and they are as good as some of the famous singers in the Kingdom. Theses three songs present the real life of someone in Cambodian society and they are meaningful.

I don’t know if you have the same feelings as me, but if you listen to these songs you will realise how romantic they are.

However, the rhythm and melody of the first song is similar to other productions. I don’t want to say that this new company has plagiarised other music since it has some parts that are different from other music.

Nearly all music in Cambodia has been plagiarised from abroad, but I still support it since it is my favorite music. I have interviewed the owners of many production houses in Cambodia like Svang Dara, Hang Meas and Big Man, and the told me they have to plagiarise music from abroad, otherwise their companies would go bankrupt.

Even though the company has produced three good songs which sound good to me, I still don’t like the other seven songs on its first album.

I wanted to turn them off when I played the disk because the songs were boring and had nothing interesting in them. There is nothing new, while the script writers have not come up with anything new as far as lyrics go.

The sound of the album is still weak – the composers have used the same melodies and rhythms. They do not develop or create new music in order to attract an audience.

I suggest all of you should listen to the music from any new company and then make a judgment. You should also try the second album because if the first was not good, that does not mean the second would be the same. Don’t miss out if you are a fan of music.