Ros Sereysothea

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Ros Sereysothea
"Golden Voice of the Royal Capital."
"Golden Voice of the Royal Capital."
Background information
Birth name Ros Sothea
Born c. 1946, Battambang Province, Cambodia
Genre(s) Pop, Rock and roll
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) Singer
Years active 1960s–1975
Associated acts Sinn Sisamouth

Ros Sereysothea (1946 - 1977?) 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.

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[edit] Biography

Born Ros Sothea in Battambang Province circa 1946,[1] 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."

Her 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 almost certainly dead. Most believe that she died from being overworked in a Khmer Rouge agricultural camp, although it has also been reported that she either died of malnutrition in a hospital in Phnom Pehnh during the last weeks of the Khmer Rouge regime or that she had a fight with her Khmer Rouge husband and was sent away, never to be seen again.[1]

[edit] Legacy

With the cultural upheaval by the Khmer Rouge, scant evidence of Ros Sereysothea's life and the Cambodian rock and roll scene remain. However, many recordings have survived and have started to gain exposure through reissues on cassette and CD.

Songs by Sothea, Sinn Sisamouth and other Cambodian singers of the era, Meas Samoun, Chan Chaya, Choun Malai and Pan Ron, are featured on the soundtrack to Matt Dillon's film City of Ghosts. Tracks by Sothea are "Have You Seen My Love", "I'm Sixteen" and "Wait Ten Months".

The Los Angeles band Dengue Fever, which features Cambodian lead singer Chhom Nimol, covers a number of songs by Sothea and other singers from the short-lived Cambodian rock and roll scene.

[edit] Partial discography

[edit] Solo

  • "Bopha Akasajal"
  • "Chnam Oun Dop-Pramp Muy" (I'm 16)
  • "Cry Loving Me"
  • "Don't Be Mad"
  • "Hair Cut, Hair Cut"
  • "Have You Seen My Love"
  • "I'm So Shy"
  • "Jomno Pailin"
  • "New Year's Eve"
  • "Phey! Phey!" (Scared! Scared!)
  • "Pink Night"
  • "Pka Reige Leu Maik"
  • "Pruos Reing Avey?"
  • "Since When You Knew Me"
  • "Srah Muy Keo" (One Shot)
  • "Wait Ten Months"
  • "Wicked Husband"
  • "Chnom oun 15(I'm only 15)
  • "Lort sene duong chan
  • "Chross O'yadao
  • "Somnerng Bopha prey phnom(songs of the jungle girl)
  • "Sralmall sene khyum(Shadow of my love)
  • "Chmreing sene khyum(Story of my love)
  • "Alay bong cher net(always misses you)
  • "Mdeth gall daltarm khyum?(why do you fallow me?)
  • "Teurk hoe teu (river flow)
  • "Bong ban sonyah(You've promise)
  • "Klein jurp nersa (The fragrant that stick to my nose)
  • "Soum ros khbere bong
  • "Oun soum angvall (I beg of you)
  • "Oun neul tharl rong jum (I will still wait)
  • "Bomplete men ban ( Can't forget)
  • "Oun smak bong smoss
  • "Oun sralnane bong nas( I love you so much)
  • "San nuk alay
  • "Men gor sralane bong( I shouldn't love you)
  • "Rom Wolly Bully
  • "Chup sralane men ban (Can't stop loving you)
  • "Jum neu tharl jum
  • "Oun jum bong cher neth
  • "Pros bondoll chiet
  • "Kum keng oun na bong
  • "Rom cha cha cha
  • "Jum loss sone
  • "Bong tvere eouy oun yume(You made me cry)
  • "Yume samrapp thngay ness
  • "Sall anosaovary
  • "Lane khyume teu (let me go)
  • "Bondam stung keiv
  • "Reastrei buth sene (missing lover of the night)
  • "Pkah orchid
  • "Auh! seneha khyume
  • "Verjah boross (the word of men)
  • "Popol gomah
  • "Prote svamei
  • "Oun soum phneu chheung
  • "San klotpsa
  • "Chhba mon reing khyum
  • "Norok lokei(The sin of man)
  • "Ahso kasalmerlerr
  • "Rolok songka therm svamei
  • "Thmnorng leakina
  • "Thgnay lett oun sralnoss(When sunset,I miss u)
  • "San chhok chhem
  • "Pathchere sralnoss
  • "Gonsan nisei
  • "Machass sene oun
  • "Chmreing avasane

[edit] Duets with Sinn Sisamouth

"Ae Na Promajarey" "Bos Choong"

  • "Chom Chait Pesaey"

"Chor Louch Jet"

  • "Have a Caramel"
  • "Jong ban pka avey?"("What flower do you want?"

"Kay Tha Kyom Jass"

  • "Konarb snaeha" ("Love poem")
  • "Konoch veyo"
  • "Oh! snaeha euy!" ("Oh! Love...")

"Sronos Oh Jrov" "Tesepheap Prolim" "Tiev Euy Srey Tiev" "Tmor Kol Sromol Snae" "Tok Bong Om Skat" "Yaop Yun Thun Trojeak" "Yerng Kom Plich Knear"

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Cohn, Nik. "A voice from the killing fields", Observer Music Monthly, Guardian News and Media Limited, 2007-05-20. Retrieved on 2007-06-03. 

[edit] External links