What excites you the most when it comes to Khmer New Year?

For me, when I was a kid, Khmer New Year was always a highly anticipated time of the year; it was when our families gathered together, played cards, and went on trips. I vividly remember one time when we were about to go to KPS, and we had to leave early around 4 am to 5 am. My uncle joked around and said those who woke up late wouldn’t be able to join; guess what? I barely slept that night because I was just a kid at that time, and I didn’t have any alarm or smartphone. After the sun nearly rose, I was awakened by my mom, and that’s probably the trip I can recall I had last time with my family to the sea.

What if I told you that I’m a little different from the rest of my family? Would you believe that? What if I told you that the rest of my family doesn’t usually listen to music, and I’m not sure why I am the only one who is really into both national and international music? When I was living in a province, I was living in a Khemerak Sereymun era. I grew up listening to his songs, not a specific one I could recall, but I did feel I heard his songs such as “ចង់​បាន​ប្រពន្ធ​ខ្មែរ” and “ឈប់ស្អប់បងទៅ,” among many more…

I do believe that without music, Khmer New Year wouldn’t be as much fun, exciting, and joyful.

So here, I have created a Khmer New Year playlist for this year, and feel free to recommend me some of your favorite KNY songs that I missed.