It’s an unexpectedly balmy September day when I meet Him Sophy. We sit in an outdoor cafe in front of the Arts Centre in Melbourne, weeks from the world premiere of Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia at the Melbourne Festival. Every so often the gusty wind sends a flurry of golden elm leaf like snow behind him. “With a requiem, as in Mass, you wish the dead body to become good in the next life, the same as bangsokol ritual,” the composer tells me. “You remember your ancestors who have passed away. But bangsokol also gives hope to people who are still alive … It’s good to not only think about death, but also about the living.”