“I have no worry at all, my life is like a flower”. Probably these lyrics will not ring you any bells. However, if only you were Cambodian, they may have reminded you of the beauty of a rock’n’roll scene and, instead of ringing bells, they would also have reminded you of the echo of bombs and gunshots that abruptly put an end to it.
We are in Phnom Penh, early 70s. Cambodia’s economic and cultural capital is a buzzling city where creativity is exploding into streams of electric guitars, driving drums and Khmer voices that would bring to life a mixture of western rock’n’roll and Khmer pop. A unique, tropical yet familiar sound.
Ros Sothea, was born in the northen Battambang province from a poor family. Some accounts report that her brother, Serey, would sing in the streets of the villages around Battambang to make a living. Their popularity grew day by day, show after show. The were known as Serey Sothea. Word of mouth got to them that some singers in Phnom Penh were making good money in the booming capital’s music industry. Having nothing to lose, Serey and Sothea moved to Phom Penh, they decided to give it a try. They arrivived with nothing. However luck was on their side, and after a few nights performing for free in local clubs, the duo was hired by one of these as regular singers. Having regular spotlights, their popularity grew. Serey was fast eclipsed by his sister. After a while, Sothea went on by herself, keeping her brother’s name “Serey” in her stage name, as a tribute. Ros Serey Sothea was born. From here on she rapidly became one of the most sought-after singers in Phnom Penh and, eventually, the most famous female singer of Cambodia, often singing together with Sinn Sisamouth (Khmer most famous singer). Her music started to swing more towards an electric rock’n’roll charged with synthethisers and fast drums. At the same time many other singers like Sinn Sisamouth (nicknamed the Elvis of Cambodia) and Pan Ron were hitting the bars with exotic psychedelic rock’n’roll tunes.
All of this finished on the 17th of April 1975, when the capital fell to the Khmer Rouge. Singers, like intellectuals, teachers and others were considered pro-Western and faced harb labour, jail and even execution. The end of Ros Serey Sothea herself is also unclear. Some people claimed she was executed right away, while other report seeing her dying in labour camps in the southern provinces and other again say she endured labour camps life until the Vietnamese came and overthrew the Khmer Rouge, but she died shortly after in an hospital.
In recent times, bands like Dengue Fever brought back some attention to this music and a documentary “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten” by John Pirozzi should be soon completed and released. Also, labels like Sublime Frequencies do a great job, releasing complilations about music scenes like the 70s Cambodian one –> http://www.sublimefrequencies.com
a classic from Ros Serey Sothea, maybe her most famous song. “I am 16”
another, faster, classic from Ros, ‘Wait 10 months more”
an “all star” song: Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Serey Sothea and Pan Ron
GoodLuckSerrano 