In 1923, the young French novelist André Malraux trekked through the Cambodian jungle to Angkor, the ruins of the ancient capital city of the Khmer Empire, to steal bas-reliefs from the Banteay Srei temple. He intended to sell the art in London or New York, but was caught and sentenced to three years in prison.
That is, until France’s leading writers, among them future Nobel laureate André Gide, petitioned for his acquittal by arguing that Malraux’s potential as an author was simply too great to squander because of a youthful indiscretion.
This example of cultural colonialism is key to Saphy Vong’s new album as Neo Geodesia, Oknha Stamina. Born to Cambodian parents, Vong grew up in Nancy, France — right near…