ROS SEREYSOTHEA
ROS Sereysothea was the
most famous female
Singer in Cambodia before Pol Pot Regime. She was born on November 06, 1947 in
Damnak Luong Village, Wat Kor Commune, Sangker District (Battambang District
now), Battambang Province. Her birth name is ROS Sothea with several nicknames:
Rey, Serey, and Serey Suor. Sothea’s father, ROS Sabun, was born in Changva
Real Village, Roleang Neak Commune, Kompong Tralach District, Kompong Chhnang
Province; he was a former soldier in French Colonial and the traditional music
teacher. Sothea’s mother, NATH Samean, was born in Kompong Luong Village, Wat
Kor Commune, Sangker District, Battambang Province and was a housewife. According
to the video interview with her both older sisters, Sothea has 5 siblings (4
sisters and a brother) including ROS Saboeurn (born in 1942), ROS Saboeurth
(born in 1944), ROS Sokunthea (born in 1946, brother), and ROS Sorphorn (born
in 1958). Both of her older sisters and her father survived after Pol Pot
Regime because they stayed in Battambang during the fall of Phnom Penh; ROS
Saboeurn has been living in Battambang after Pol Pot Regime with her orphan
grand children.
In her childhood, Sothea
was a good child and could sing since she was 2 or 3 years old. Her father also
taught her very well how to sing with traditional instruments for wedding and
other ceremonies. Then she always went with her father to sing in nearby
villages to earn money for her family support. In the early age as a child, in
her free time she usually sang the songs for her family. She likes singing the
songs of MAO Sareth and other singers’ songs. Therefore, her voice was blended
in the good manner for singing the sweet long voice. Talking about her favorite
snack, she likes to eat green mango, banana, and other fruits with prahok chili
sauces. According to KEO Chanbor, Sothea would love to go visiting her teacher,
BUN Thorng, who was Chanbor’s father and close friend of Sothea’s father.
Chanbor’s family loved Sothea very much and usually asked Sothea to sing during
green fruit picnic at Chanbor’s house. Not only singing, Sothea also did well
at marathon, study at school, and housework. She was smart, friendly, and
hard-working, but reserved. Her voice was simple and soft during speaking, but
was loudly sweet and long during singing. According to Kung Bunchhoeurn, Sothea
expressed her excited and sad feeling during her singing on “Bopha Bakprea” in
1974 because she had memories at young age over there. Sothea attended the
Takaksen Sala Primary School (Wat Kampheng Primary School) in mid 1950s. Later,
she continued studying at Neth Yorng Women High School in 1962. However, Sothea
got more famous quickly along with two seniors of her school, HUY Meas and PEN Rorn,
since she was so friendly and successful as she was a provincial representative
to attend the national marathon competition. She won the national marathon
contest many times during the competition in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Kompong
Cham, etc. During extra hours with Prof. BUN Thorng, ROS Sereysothea was
well-known for sadness singer; HUY Meas was admired for smotr, storytelling,
and descriptive singing; PEN Rorn was good at funny singing. IM Song Seum and
three younger sisters of PEN Rorn (PEN Rorm and PEN Chantha) were
also studying in these extra hours. In 1963, Sothea applied for Khmer New Year provincial
singing contest and got 1st rank with the best voice for femal
singers. She sang three songs: Chet Mday (Original KEO Montha), Sambot Krom
Kneuy and Ktom Chorea (Original MAO Sareth).
Since then in 1963, Sothea
had the opportunity to sing for Lom Hae You Thea Phirum Group and Steung Khiev
Bar near Phsar Nat of Battambang Town. Her earning from singing could support
her family to live in a better condition. Being so famous in the province,
Sothea usually had the opportunity to sing with Phnom Penh artists during their
travel to Battambang. In 1964, Sothea came to Phnom Penh and joined the Ministry of Broadcasting (Krosuong
Khosana Kar) to sing for radio; Mr. Pov Sipho wrote a first song for her, "Steung Khiev". She and her mother lived
near HUY Meas’s house and Pov Om School in Tuol Kok area. Sothea started to
earn more money by singing in different places (restaurant, bar, and so on)
with IM Song Seum. IM Song Seum usually supported Sothea for singing together. In
fact, Sothea usually rented a cyclo for travelling. Over there, she also got
support from other singers from the same province like HUY Meas, PEN Rorn, etc.
Also, she started to know other Cambodian famous singers such as TOCH Teng, SOS
Math etc. At
last, she met SIN Sisamut who later introduced her to many lyricists and
musician like HAS Salorn, VOY Ho, MA Laopi, SVAY
Som Oeur, KONG Bunchheourn, HENG Huor Veng, and MAEL Bun.
For just the early life
in Phnom Penh since 1964 with the first song of Stung Khiev, she started her career step by step and learnt from other famous singers. In 1967 she decided
to marry SOS Math even though her family convinced her
not to do so because SOS Math already had several wives. Living
with SOS Math, ROS Sereysothea’s life became harder. More than that one evening while
she was singing in the night club, the drunken man stood up and replied to the
song she sang making SOS Mat angry and slapped her face causing her mouth
bleeding. This case brought the big issue for ROS
Sereysothea’s 6-month marriage; she and her mother returned sadly to her beloved hometown, Battambang.
The situation changed
with the action from SIN Sisamut who supported ROS Sereysothea and put his
belief on ROS Sereysothea to be a good partner for him to continue the singing
art. Then SIN Sisamut went to Battambang to talk with ROS Sereysothea and
encouraged her to come back to Phnom Penh. This worked well; ROS Sereysothea
gave up her sadness and stood bravely to continue her beloved career. Her
mother also came with her again to take care of her; they moved to live near
Kampuchea Krom Blvd. One day, while SIN Sisamut took ROS Sereysothea to sing
the song “Kort Bros Muk Kmol”. SOS Math came with his guards to bother ROS Sereysothea. Sin Sisamut, who had the same position as SOS Math, stood to protect ROS
Sereysothea by talking to SOS Math that he was the one to take her back there,
and he must be responsible for her safety. SOS Mat returned and never disturbed
her again. The
fame of ROS Sereysothea became more glorious from year to year. In 1968, HUY Siphan, the son of Preah Chan Penh Vong (La Lune Restaurant) fell in love with her. She was granted the title of “Preah Rajani Samleng Meas” by Young Prince NORODOM Shihanouk in 1969. They stayed together as husband and wife without marriage and gave birth to a son, Huy Siphanara. They lived happily for only a short period of time and then separated. Later, Sothea made a new relationship with Military General Srey Ya in 1970s. ROS Sereysothea usually visited her family and her professor in Battambang.
According to KEO Chanbo, she was still the same as before being famous. She was
so friendly, polite, helpful, and grateful.
In 1972, she became the
first woman parachutist in Cambodia broadcasted on national television channel. She brought ROS Sokunthea
and ROS Sereysorphorn to join the military and let them became military parachutists. For her singing career, she still kept singing and sang many songs mostly with
SIN Sisamut and other singers. Memory
of her singing in studio for the song “Proat Sner Nov Pichenda”, her tears came
out of her eyes as the sadness through the meaning of the song in her hometown,
Battambang. The peak of her fame was in 1973. She sang in a variety of
situation like traditional wedding, emotional, jerk, rock and roll, New Year,
and other foreign style (Japanese, Chinese, English, etc). In
early April 1975, Sothea, Rorn, and other singers went to sing for Khmer New Year in Pailin. Prior to the Phnom Penh Fall on April 17, 1975, Sothea got a letter from her sister in Battambang to hurry back to Phnom Penh in order to look after her mother, brother, sister and nephews. She took the car from Pailin to Battambang and took the private helicopter to Phnom Penh while the news about the coming fall of Lon Nol military was informed. Sothea stayed with her family
members in Tuol Kok area including Sereysorphorn, Sokunthea, her mother, her children, a child of ROS Saboeurth, and three children of ROS Saboeurn.
On April 17, 1975, she
was separated from other artists as simple person to leave Phnom Penh for Phnom Sroch District, Kompong
Speu with her family members and a son. For her early arrival,
she kept the secret about herself and lived as simple people from Phnom Penh
working in the rice field long hours and got only porridge. Then she was forced to get married to a local man. Since more and more
people from Phnom Penh went to that area, the name of her fame was released. However, her fame of the
life in Phnom Penh made her life harder because Khmer Rouge military did not
like Phnom Penh people. One day in mid-April 1977 there was the crowd of people talking and surrounding Ros Sereysothea as they rarely had seen her in person even though, her family members such as her new husband, her mother, Ros Sereysorphorn and Pen Chantha tried to beg them to stop surrounding and talking about Ros Sereysothea; as that day, there was a Khmer Rouge Meeting, less people joined. Khmer rouge accused Ros Sereysothea for causing chaos. One week later (around 27 or 28 April 1977), Ros Sereysothea and her family members were taken out and killed. Through three years
eight months twenty days, not only her life, but also thousands of her songs
were seriously destroyed; some were lost and some remain in the bad
condition. Only few amounts of her songs left in good manner in 1980s. Many
of her co-singers were put to death, and the condition of their songs was
similar to her. Everything was damaged; millions of Khmer people were killed
include her and other famous singers. Her life story was also known to the
world through the international movie about her, titled “Golden Voice”. Some
Khmer researchers also try to get more information of her as possible as
they can to put her life as the memory and heritage to next generation. Gradually
from 1979, her songs have been bringing and releasing back to Cambodia from
Khmer Communities in former Cambodia’s provinces in Thailand and Vietnam,
foreign countries. Until then, her voice has been being heard everywhere throughout
Cambodia for many years with the everlasting fame towards the future. “Golden voice will go on forever!” “Heart of a daughter is deeply cold to support her family and relatives!”
By: POK Panhavuth
