About Me
JUDGEMENT DAY: Ah Hun Sen facing the music at last! I wonder when this will take place. Probably never...quite amusing though.
KHMER LOVE SONGS (CLASSIC HITS OF THE 60’S and 70’s)
HISTORY OF KHMER ANCIENT CIVILIZATION (Cambodia the Beautiful)
Cambodge Angkor Wat
Uploaded by Cambodianova
The Great Engineering of Khmer Empire - Digging the Truth(The History Channel)
Digging the Truth - Khmer Empire Part 1 of 3
Digging the Truth - Khmer Empire Part 2 of 3
Digging the Truth - Khmer Empire Part 3 of 3
A Khmer Krom Documentary (See Part 1 through 10)
Stop Human Right abuse by the Vietnamese Government towards the Khmer Krom people (Please Sign Online Petition)
Hi! My name is Nik and I’ve created this site for my fellow Khmer people to enjoy. I have a personal and deep level of connection with all these songs in this site as it brings back many wonderful memories of my wonder years. These were the songs that I loved listening to along with my parents back in 1980, which was at a time when we had just barely immigrated to America as refugees from Cambodia. This site is dedicated to the musical legendary artists of Khmer Music in the 60’s and 70’s.(The rock and roll era) If you like Khmer classic music (during pre-war) or want to familarize what Khmer Music was like back then(especially the clueless younger generation), add us and be entertained. It is for those of you who loves Khmer Oldies and especially for the younger Khmer people that may have no knowledge of what Khmer music was like during this era. Songs picked for this site are selected favorites and considered "BIG" hits during its time. I apologize for any songs that may have been mistakenly classified as Khmer Classics. All comments or suggestions are well encouraged. I will periodically keep adding more classic songs to the jukebox so check back often. Thanks for stopping by. Names such as: Sinn Sisamouth · Ros Sereysothea · Pan Ron · Eng Nary · Meas Samoun · Houy Meas · In Yang · and Pov Vannary were the main players in musical entertainers that ruled the nation during this period. However, the two most successful artists that rocked the country like a storm was Sin Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea. Read below about their biographies. So most appropriately, this site will be more focused mainly on their music. **Also, don’t forget to check out the new movie, "The Golden Voice," about Ros Sereysothea’s life and her legacy. SPREAD THE LOVE AND LET THE MUSIC LIVE ON!!!
There are a total of 100 khmer classic songs in this site. Sit back, relax and enjoy!!
A New Movie about: Legendary Ross Sereysothea, musical legacy of Khmer’s past - Check out the trailer below -
A New Movie about: Legendary Ross Sereysothea, musical legacy of Khmer’s past - Check out the trailer above -
border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"During the 60’s and early 70’s, as the war in Vietnam threatened its borders, a new music scene emerged in Cambodia that took Western rock and roll and stood it on its head-creating a sound like no other.Cambodian musicians crafted this sound from the various rock music styles sweeping across America and England, adding the unique melodies and hypnotic rhythms of their traditional music. The beautiful singing of the renowned female vocalists became the final touch that made this mix so enticing.As the peasant Khmer Rouge army closed in on the capital city of Phnom Penh, Cambodian rock and rollers played at rooftop parties while bombs ignited the evening sky.On April 17, 1975, after taking over the country, the Khmer Rouge began one of the most brutal genocides in history, killing 2 million people - 1/4 of the Cambodian population. Intellectuals, artists and musicians were murdered simply for their status. Only a few miraculously survived to tell their story.
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________****Ros Sereysothea**** was a Cambodian singer-songwriter in the 1960s and ’70s. She was part of a thriving pop music scene in Cambodia, music that was influenced by rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She was a frequent singing partner with Sinn Sisamouth, Cambodia’s top male singer of the era. She is thought to have died while imprisoned in a labor camp under the Khmer Rouge regime. Born Ros Sothea in Battambang Province, her family was poor and made a living by performing Khmer traditional music. Singing duets with her brother, Serey, the Serey-Sothea pair became quite well known and went to the capital Phnom Penh, where they found work performing in clubs. With her bell-like singing voice and diva-like qualities, Ros eclipsed her brother and became a solo artist, changing her name to Ros Sereysothea.Her high, clear voice, coupled with the rock backing bands featuring prominent, distortion-laden lead guitars, pumping organ and loud, driving drums, made for an intense, sometimes haunting sound that is best described today as psychedelic or garage rock. And like the leader of the music scene, Sinn Sisamouth, Sothea would often take popular Western rock tunes, such as John Fogerty’s "Proud Mary" for example, and refashion them with Khmer lyrics. She was honored by King Norodom Sihanouk with the royal title, "Preah Rheich Teany Somlang Meas", the "Golden Voice of the Royal Capital."This songbird’s career was cut short with the takeover by the Khmer Rouge in April 1975. Forced out of Phnom Penh with all the other residents, she lived at a worksite in Kampong Speu. When her identity was learned by Khmer Rouge leaders, she was made to write and perform songs celebrating the regime. When she wasn’t singing, she was required to work at digging irrigation ditches like everyone else in the camp.She was forced by Pol Pot to marry one of his assistants in 1977. She disappeared under typically mysterious circumstances during the brutal regime of the Killing Fields and is believed to be dead.
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"Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten" - Documentary film on Cambodia’s 60’s and 70’s rock. There’s a documentary afoot called Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten, covering the 60’s and early 70’s when Cambodian musicians (Sinn Sisamouth being one of the most famous examples) picked up on western Rock ’n’ Roll and made it their own, until the Khmer Rouge came along and put many of them to their deaths.
Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll - A documentary film
Sinn Sisamouth (Khmer: ???? ????????, 1935–c.1975) was a famous and highly prolific Cambodian singer-songwriter in the 1950s to the 1970s.
Widely considered the "King of Khmer music", Samouth, along with Ros Sereysothea, Pan Ron, and other artists, was part of a thriving pop music scene in Phnom Penh that blended elements of Khmer traditional music with the sounds of rhythm and blues and rock and roll to make a Westernized sound akin to psychedelic or garage rock. Samouth is believed to have been killed under the Khmer Rouge regime. Early hits and musical talentSamouth possessed a clear crooning voice which, combined with his own compositions about the pleasures and pains of romance, made him an idol. He sang many ballads, as well uptempo rock numbers that featured prominent, distortion-laden guitar, pumping organ and loud, driving drums. Other arrangements were more Latin jazz-sounding, featuring woodwinds, brass, and auxiliary percussion.Samouth composed melodies on a mandolin. His songs were usually of a sentimental nature, reflecting on the longings, pains, and pleasures of romance. His lyrical talent was a result of hard work as well as natural ability. He was known to have used up to three different dictionaries in searching for just the right word in the Khmer, Sanskrit, or Pali languages.__________________________________________________
__________________****1960s Cambodian music scene****Beginning in around 1963, Samouth started recording on the Vat Phnom label. His "Champa Batdambang" won immediate acclaim across the country. On a 1971 Phnom Penh television show, Samouth’s interviewer recalled that "Champa Batdambang" was the first song sung on the inauguration of the station in 1965.What captured Samouth’s audience was the use of a four-piece, rock and roll band instrumentation with guitars and percussion, a departure from a backing band of wind instruments. He also experimented with Latin music, an infatuation that may have started with Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s compositions such as "Reatry Del Ban Chuop Pheak" and "Phnom Penh".Samouth’s popularity nevertheless did not eclipse the work of other recording artists, notably those who sang at the National Radio such as Eum Song Seurm and Huoy Meas. Meas Hok Seng, a voice artist at the Phnom Penh University of Arts ("Sala Rachna") also achieved celebrity status in 1966 with "Lolok Nhi Chmaul". Hits by these artists often came from the pen of lyricist Ma Lao Pi, a talented poet and broadcaster now living in California, whose masterpieces include "Day Samot Trapaing Roung" and "Lolok Nhi Chmaul". Despite occasional hits such as "Akassyean", Sos Matt appeared to have been unfairly sidelined in the commercialisation of music that took place with the arrival of recording productions such as Vat Phnom and Chan Chaya.In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Samouth sang the soundtrack songs to a number of popular Cambodian films, such as Orn Euy Srey Orn, Tep Sodachan, and Thavory Meas Bong. In "Peou Chhouk Sar", a 1967 success directed by Tea Lim Kaing, Samouth captured the poignant breakup of lead actors Dy Saveth and Chea Yuthan with his "Neavea Chivit".Over his long career, Samuth recorded many duets with female singing partners including, in the early 1960s, Mao Sareth, Keo Settha, Chhunn Vanna, Huoy Meas, Ros Sereysothea, and Pan Ron. Pan Ron began recording with Samouth in 1966. Ros Sereysothea started her career around 1967 with the hit "Stung Khieu". Her high, crisp voice nicely balanced the deeper-toned voice of Sisamouth.
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****Samouth in the 1970s****As his popularity increased, Samouth could no longer keep up the pace of writing his own material, so he started performing works by other songwriters. He initially picked songs written by Pov Sipho, Svay Som Eur, and Ma Laopi, but he would also occasionally sing songs composed by Mae Bunn, a close friend of his, and Has Salorn. Between 1970 and 1975, he almost exclusively sang songs written by Voy Ho, a long standing colleague. Regardless of who had written the songs, Samouth always managed to make them popular. Samouth also adapted a number of Thai songs into his repertoire.From 1972 to 1973 music publisher Kruoch Polin issued A Collection of Sentimental Songs, which contained 500 of Sinn Sisamouth’s songs. It is estimated that he wrote thousands of songs, possibly at least one for each day he was famous, his son Sinn Chaya has said.Along with his original works, Samouth also introduced many Western pop tunes to Cambodia, simply writing new verses in Khmer language. Examples include "The House of the Rising Sun" as "I’m Still Waiting for You" (a particularly good showcase of his sustained phrasing and baritone voice), "Black Magic Woman" (influenced by the Santana version) under the title "I Love Petite Women", and "Quando My Love".
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******PERIOD OF THE KILLING FIELDS (1975-1979)******The Killing FieldsIn the aftermath of the coup d’état by the Lon Nol government on March 18, 1970, which saw the overthrow of the rule of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Samouth started to sing propaganda songs in support of the fledgling Khmer Republic. One such song that became an enduring classic was "Mae Owy Ao Yoann", telling the story of a mother giving a mantra-covered magic vest to her soldier son on his way to battle. Referring to Viet Cong troop movements over Cambodian territory during the Vietnam War, a verse in the same song said that the deposed monarch had sold out Cambodian land to the Viet Cong. Such criticisms of the royal family were unprecedented, not least given that Samouth had been a protege of Queen Kossomak Nirirath, mother of Prince Sihanouk. The Khmer Rouge takeover of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975 saw Samouth forced out of the city, along with millions of other residents.
By this time he had remarried, to a dancer in the royal ballet, who was pregnant at the time with the couple’s second child.The circumstances of his death in the Killing Fields are unknown, but he had connections with the old government, was highly educated, and was an artist — all trappings of a society that Pol Pot sought to eradicate. One apocryphal story is that before he was to be executed, Samouth asked he be allowed to sing a song for the cadre, but the cold-hearted soldiers were unmoved and after he finished singing, killed him anyhow.
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Bringing Commerce to Cambodia - Sophisticated new high-rises are increasingly reshaping a city skyline in Phnom Penh. In the past, everyone used to think of Cambodia as a place of war and instability. But now it is part of the global economy- CamKo City - Economic Boom? But at what price? Are we slowly becoming a minority in our own country? Cambodia is currently considered the FASTEST growing economy in ASIA, with a whopping 13.1 average growth rate. Now that is pretty gigantic, considering its average growth rate at 9% since 1998. In regards to the dirt poor people, is this exploitation disguised as economic boom?
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Corruption activity of the blind government under the leadership of ah Hun Sen. Global Witness (NGO)has reveal ah Hun Sen’s "keeping it in the family" motto way of running his government. Click on the picture link below to read in condensed outline form about his sly and self-serving tactic ways of doing business. This report below unveils one of his many obvious practices of nepotism. To learn more about the full details of this 120page report, go to:http://www.globalwitness.org/pages/en/cambodia.html
THE GREEN DEAL IN CAMBODIA(Part 1 of 3) - The top senior Ruling Class financially reaping the benefits again by carelessly and senselessly stripping away public assets - secretly and illegally pocketing money by robbing the country’s natural resources. I’m so Disgusted!! When does it ever end???
The Green Deal in Cambodia Part 1 of 3
The Green Deal in Cambodia Part 2 of 3
The Green Deal in Cambodia Part 3 of 3
Can’t get enough of Khmer News and want to get into depth about current sensitive issues in Cambodia? Be informed and check out these most popular BLOGS written by your fellow Cambodians about the injustices of Cambodia.
KHMER LINKS ~ KHMER LINKS ~ KHMER LINKS ~ KHMER LINKS
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Get educated and stay informed about Khmer’s current events in Cambodia without the censorship. Click links below!
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"The Plastic Killers" Part 1- 7- is a documentary which investigates the 2004 assassination of Cambodian union leader Chea Vichea and the framing of two innocent men, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, for the crime by police. The two remain in prison serving 20 year sentences for a crime they did not commit. Most of you may know that our people are being oppressed by the Cambodian Government but I dont know if you know about the people fighting for their freedom of expression. This video documentary is crucially important as it depicts an ever so common issue involving activists getting killed for speaking up.
Watch all 7 video clips from YouTube to be informed on the whole story. If you can, please post this picture banner below on your blog or website to promote this awareness.
Part 1 of 7
Part 2 of 7
Part 3 of 7
