← Back to Countries

Cambodia

"The King of Khmer Music"

Sinn Sisamouth

Sinn Sisamouth trained as a nurse in Phnom Penh to satisfy his parents while chasing music on the side. He became a protégé of Queen Sisowath Kossamak and performed for the royal court before becoming famous nationwide in the mid-1950s. Through the 1960s and into the '70s he mixed Khmer vocal tradition with cha-cha, surf, and psychedelic rock, recorded Khmer-language versions of the Beatles and Santana, and wrote or sang, by some estimates, over a thousand original songs. That output earned him comparisons to Nat King Cole and the nickname "the Elvis of Phnom Penh." He recorded countless duets with Ros Serey Sothea, whom he is credited with discovering, and directed a 1974 film built around her. The Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh in 1975 and his career stopped there. He died sometime in the following years, commonly dated to 1976, though as with so much from that period the exact circumstances were never confirmed, and his remains were never found.

Voice of Cambodian pop's golden age

Ros Serey Sothea

Ros Serey Sothea grew up in a farming family in Battambang province and won a regional singing contest there in 1963. In 1967 she was invited to Phnom Penh, where her career took off quickly, and alongside Sinn Sisamouth she became the defining voice of Cambodian pop's golden age. Her sound moved from traditional ballads toward electric guitar and Farfisa organ, shaped partly by American Armed Forces Radio broadcasts drifting over from the Vietnam War next door. She recorded some of the era's best-loved duets with Sisamouth, who launched her career and was, by every account, purely a musical partner and friend. Like Sisamouth, she disappeared during the Khmer Rouge period after 1975, most often dated to around 1977. Surviving accounts of what happened to her contradict each other, and none has ever been confirmed. Her voice, high and clear, is still widely loved across Cambodia today.

The Collection