A Brief History of Ros Serey Sothea (រស់ សេរីសុទ្ធា)

Ros Sereysothea was the greatest Cambodian female singer that ever lived.  She had a powerful and electrifying voice with a haunting, bell-like quality that resonates in the ears and in the soul.  Sothea was a tiny woman, standing only five feet tall, but boy, she had a voice like an amplifier and she rarely needed a microphone.  During her extraordinary career she performed thousands of wonderful songs in almost every imaginable genre.



Unfortunately, we know little of her life story except through the beautiful music that she left behind.  The little that we know tells us that her life was filled with heartache and that it ended in tragedy.  She was a victim, like so many others during those years, but her golden voice lives on.



​​​​         Ros Sereysothea’s birth name was Ros Sothea. She was born in 1948 to a country family in a small village in Battambong.  Like many poor Cambodians, Sothea had a childhood defined by hardship.  While accounts vary, it is generally agreed upon that Sothea's family could not afford to send her to school, and that she grew up not knowing how to read or write Khmer.
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In her teens, she and her family began to make a living by performing as a traditional peasant band.  Sothea and her brother Serey sang while the rest of her family played the music. They performed daily throughout the small villages of Battambong, and while they didn't earn a lot of money, and they occasionally struggled, t
he music did provide food for the family.

A Brief History of Sinn Sisamouth (ស៊ិន ស៊ីសាមុត)

Sinn Sisamouth is, without question, the most famous and beloved Cambodian singer of all time.  A brilliant singer and composer, "the Emperor of Khmer music" has had a greater influence, and has touched more hearts, than any other singer in the country's history.  Though he was tragically taken from this world, his soul, spirit, and emotions are echoed in the legacy of songs he had bequeathed to us, and for this reason, his life is eternal.

His Life

Sinn Sisamouth was born in 1935, the year of the Rooster, in Stung Treng 

Province, Cambodia.  He was the youngest son of a proud father, Sinn 

Leang, and mother, Seb Bunlei, a woman of Lao-Chinese ancestry.

 Sisamouth was now the youngest of their four children, joining a brother 

and two sisters.

 

His father, Sinn Leang, worked as the head of a prison in Battambong Province.  Later he would became a soldier during the revolution against the French, when Sisamouth was about six or seven years old.  At this point, a young Sisamouth was already enrolled in school - he had begun to attend the Central Province of Stung Treng Elementary School at the age of five.   When Sisamouth was six or seven years old, about the same time that his father had joined the fight against the French, the boy developed an interest in music, and he started learning to play the guitar.

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Academically, Sinn Sisamouth was a good student who was well liked by both teachers and classmates. His musical talents started to bud while he was in school, and often he would be asked to perform at school functions.  By the time he was fifteen or sixteen, he had completed primary school and received his "Certificat D'etude Primaire".  At this time, he had an option of either joining the work force or pursuing further education to strengthen his skills.  He decided he wanted to study for a career in medicine, and he moved to Phnom Penh for that purpose in 1950-51.

(At some point during Sisamouth's childhood, his father became ill and passed away.  Later, his mother would remarry, and have two more children with her new husband.)

During his years in medical school, Sinn Sisamouth resided with his uncle in Phnom Penh. The decision to join this profession was his alone, and was not at all due to any pressure from his family.  Needless to say, his parents were very much supportive of their son's choice.

A Brief History of Pen Ron (ប៉ែន រ៉ន)

While Pan Ron was the second lady of Khmer music during the the 60s and 70s, little is known about her life.  What we know of her comes from her music, a delightful mix of the playful and the soulful.  During her life she created a great treasure - hundreds of songs, many of which she both wrote and performed.  Tragically, her career and life was cut short; she is not known to have survived the Khmer Rouge years.

During the late 60s and early 70s, Pan Ron was the second most famous and popular female singer in Cambodia.  She had some success in the early 60s, but her career really took off when she began recording with Sinn Sisamouth in 1966.  After that, she had many hits, sometimes singing alone, but often paired with Sisamouth, Meas Samon, Ros Serysothea, or some of the other stars of the era.


Along with these other artists, Pan Ron was instrumental in the creation and popularization of the thriving Cambodian rock and roll scene of the 60s and 70s.  Khmer musicans of the era were influenced by western rhythm & blues, rock n' roll and music from Latin America.  Musicians like Sinn Sisamouth studied these musical styles while travelling abroad, and many Cambodians were also hearing these songs on US Armed Forces Radio during the Vietnam War.






Artists like Pan Ron took these genres of music and combined them with classic Khmer music to produce a new sound - Cambodian rock 'n roll.  With her singing, she infused these songs with her electric spirit, both crazy and cool, soulful and fun.  Perhaps more than any other female singer of the time, Pan Ron embodied the spirit of this new Cambodian rock music.  The reason is simple - She rocks!