Ros Sereysothea was
the first and 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. 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, Bu her voice is good for everyone to
listen, and never forget.
As a teen, she and her family began to make a
living by performing as a traditional peasant band. Sothea and her brother
Serey sang with the rest of her family played the music. They performed daily
throughout the small villages of Battambong. They didn't earn a lot of money,
and they occasionally struggled, the music did provide food for the family.
Slowly their
reputation grew. Sothea’s talent was obvious and her brother was also quite
popular, and audiences were coming to see the family band. Apparently the
band had a name, (since lost to history) but the people came to know them as
“Serey-Sothea”, naming the band after its two featured singers.
At the same
time that Serey-Sothea was winning over people while touring through
Battambong province, the Cambodian music industry based in Phnom Penh was
experiencing rapid growth and producing Cambodia's first real music stars.
When word got out to the villages that musicians and singers were making
real money in Phnom Penh, Serey and Sothea were encouraged to go to the big
city to seek their fortunes. They had nothing to lose,
so Sothea and her brother made the move south to the capital city.