Olympic Games: Cambodian Vannda as surprise guest of the closing ceremony of the Games

Cambodian artist Vannda created a surprise during the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games last Sunday.

Cambodian Vannda as surprise guest of the closing ceremony of the Games

By performing a verse from his mega hit « Time to Rise » alongside Phoenix, Air, Kavinsky and Angèle, the 27-year-old Cambodian who mixes texts in Khmer and English in his compositions, delivered a performance in front of a packed stadium and above all several billion viewers. A huge moment of pride for the Khmers of the country and the diaspora. The few available seconds of his performance quickly went viral on social networks and the artist has already had the honors of a few French newspapers.

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About

Mann Vannda KCM known as Vannda is a Cambodian rapper best known for this song « Time to Rise », released three years ago and featuring the late Master Kong Nai.

After several independent releases from 2016 to 2018, in 2019, VannDa joined Baramey Production, a Cambodian talent management and music production company founded by Cambodian-American singer-songwriter Laura Mam who advocates for the original Khmer music movement.

Originally released as part of a marketing campaign for the Cellcard mobile network, « Time to Rise » mixes traditional Khmer teaching and hip-hop. The song features famous chrieng chapei artist Master Kong Nay. The lyrics are a call to Cambodian youth to preserve traditions, bringing originality and creativity to Cambodia's modern cultural scene. The song quickly became a legitimate pop hit, surpassing one million views in three months.

In October 2022, the clip reached 100 million views on YouTube, a first for a Cambodian artist. The artist now has four million subscribers and more than a billion views generated on YouTube.

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