Sin Sisamouth

If asked who was/is the most famous singer in Cambodia, the answer would be unequivocally, and maybe unanimously, Sin Sisamouth. Though he was tragically taken from this world, his soul, spirit, and emotions are echoed in the legacy of songs he had bequeathed us with, and for this reason, his life is eternal.
There exists various opinions with regard to the popularity incited by his songs. Some claim it is because of his unique voice that could sustain the highest and lowest pitch without changing or cracking. Some argue that is because the new generation has not yet produced a talent comparable to him while others think it's because songs composed for and sang by Sin Sisamouth were made possible by the help of good composers. A good song is one whose lyrics deal with the mundane, everyday situation, and for this reason, a good writer is a requirement. Furthermore, the singer must be able to put emotion into the lyrics, together with his voice and melody, all combined to touch the heart and soul of the people exposed to it. All of these characteristics were possessed by Sin Sisamouth, and expound the popularity his songs have enjoyed.
Due to the on-going war filled with much destruction, many talented and gifted people have vanished, a subsequent considerable loss of art and cultural resources the young generation encounters, have yet to rebuild or recover from. Not only that they have disappeared, but not much of their living years were known due to lack of records, another regretful fact. Presently, many are trying to revive their history as much as they can of these artists. These interests were provoked when Reasmey Kampuchea Newspaper Volume 1 No 3 devoted in their cultural page a brief history and works of Sin, Sisamouth. The article invoked many requests from readers both in and out of the country for the Khmer media to feature more biography and works of famous artists and movie stars.
This article will try to reconstruct the events occurring in the life of Sin, Sisamouth from a very young age to the time he was disappeared during the Khmer Rouge regime. The reconstruction will be given in chronological order about his life, love, work, and talent, is based on accounts given by witnesses whose names and addresses will be given at the end of the article.

A Childhood of Sin Sisamouth

Sin Sisamouth was born in 1935, the year of the Rooster, in Stung Treng Province, Cambodia, to the proud father Sin Leang and mother Seb Bunlei who was a Lao-Chinese, normally recognized as Khmer Stung Treng. If he were to live today he would be 61 years old. As the youngest son, he also had a brother and two sisters. His father worked as a the head of a prison in Battambang Province, and when he became a soldier during the French Revolution, Sisamouth was around 6 or 7 years old. Later when his dad died of disease, his mom remarried, and the union resulted in two more children. Sin Sisamouth attended Central Province of Stung Treng Elementary School when he was 5. The first spark of talent showed when he began to take interests in learning to play guitar at the age of 6 or 7.

The Destiny from Birth

The child, Sin Sisamouth, was a kind kid full of emotion that easily had the sympathy for others. He liked kind people with soft and sweet voice. He also loved his brothers and sisters. Reticent in nature, he visited temple and talked with monks in his spare time. Subsequently he learned Phalli from the monks and knew Buddhist's scripture, Thoar, since he was young. Besides his interest in music, he enjoyed reading books. For sports, he liked playing soccer and flying kites. His favorite foods range from waterless soup with meat to fried eggs without much care for vegetables. Academically, he was a good student who was well liked by both teachers and classmates. Hi musical talents started to bud while he was in school, and often, he would be asked to perform at school functions. By the time he was around 15-16, he had passed elementary or "Certificat D'etude Primaire". At this time, he had an option of either joining the work force or pursuing further education to strengthen his skills. He opted for a career in medical field, and moved to Phnom Penh for that purpose in 1950-51.

Samouth as a Teenager

During his years in medical school, he resided with his uncle in Phnom Penh. The decision to join this profession was his alone, and was not at all due to the pressure or persistence from his parents. Needless to say, his parents were very much supportive of their son's choice. But unfortunately, when they heard of his voice through the radio, they weren't too happy about it. Even with the rigorous demands of medical school, Sin Sisamouth still managed to find time to learn how to sing and compose songs. With the support of friends with similar skills and interests, he become well-known within the school in less than a year as a poetic kid with great musical skills and singing talent. During school year, he rarely went out places due to the fact that he lived with his uncle and the amount of money that he received from his parents was very little just enough to spend on school supplies. Therefore, he spent most of the time researching songs and learning how to sing by himself. His good natural voice made people around him interested in his talent. Even though, while he was in school, he was frequently asked to sing in many special ceremonies. Due to the popularity his voice had received, he was asked to the join the National Radio as its regular singer when Cambodia received its independence from France in 1953. Meanwhile, he continued his study in medical field in Pheah Ketokmala hospital.

His Marriage

According to different Newspaper sources, Sin Sisamouth was never known to have a clear, love relationship. Because he was full of ambitions and was dedicated to his career and his hobbies, i.e., singing and composing music, he didn't have time for romance. Reportedly, most of the relationships were friendly ones. After finishing his medical school, his married his cousin, Keo Thorng Gnut, through the arrangement of his parents and elders. This union produced 4 children. After the Khmer Rouge reign, only a daughter and who sons survived, while a son was perished. Sin Sisamouth's pubic life become very well-known. But fame has its prices. His private life deteriorated as a consequence due to the pressures of his career demanded and also the temptations that his voice attracted. With regard to the relationship with his wife, one of his sons, Sin Chaya, commented that no woman in this world who had the strongest emotion, i.e. love, could withstand these prices. At the age of 30, his wife become a nun.

The Talent of Sin Sisamouth in the Art of Singing and Composing

When Sin Sisamouth’s songs were played on the radio, not only was his priceless voice on display, but his other remarkable talents as well. His first talent was the art of composing music for his songs. Samouth would use the Mandolin to search for rhythms to songs he was thinking of composing, and only later did he match lyrics to these rhythms. His songs were usually of a sentimental nature, presenting in musical form the longings, pains and pleasures of romantic endeavors. His genius for words enabled his lyrics to arouse the emotions of all those who listened to his songs. Samouth’s talent in writing lyrics was a result of hard work as well as natural genius. He was known to have utilized up to three different dictionaries in searching for just the right word in the Khmer, Sanskrit or Pali language to include in his songs. When he wrote, Samouth put forth everything he knew into writing a song. If a certain part of a song was not just right, he would consult his dictionaries to find words which would better convey the precise meaning or feeling he wanted to convey. This meticulous attention to detail resulted in song lyrics which projected exactly what Samouth intended--which is another reason for the immense popularity of his songs. Samouth’s most famous talent was his incredible singing ability. He was endowed with a heavenly voice that was neither too harsh nor too husky--it was always the perfect pitch. When he sang, each word he crooned was always clear and distinct. He would pronounce each word he sang precisely as it was written, without the slightest deviation from its proper pronunciation. Samouth’s sweet, tender voice gained him a reputation which made him the most popular singer of his time. His fame and success led His Royal Majesty Treyany to ask him to work for the king’s band, which he did until 1970. He performed not only modern songs with his band, but ancient, traditional music such as Sak Krova, Mahori, Ayai, Chapei, Yekea, and Basak as well. During his time, the popularity and prestige of Samouth’s voice was such that he was considered by far the best singer in the nation--no one came close to even being considered second best. In fact, other singers at the time were simply ranked third, forth, etc., bypassing the number two ranking altogether.

His Personality and Profession

Sin Sisamouth was a person with a firm personality who was known to be very serious about his work. Kruoch Polin, a publisher of song and music books, stated that Samouth was a person who kept his word. He would always deliver what he promised. At home, Samouth was known to be a quiet man. Some people observed that sometimes he would not speak more than ten words in an entire day. When he was not performing, Samouth would lock himself in his room and dedicate his time to writing more songs. His failure to socialize with his neighbors contributed to a reputation for being elitist and haughty. As his popularity increased, Samouth was in such high demand that he devoted himself to mostly performing songs composed by others. He initially picked songs written by Pov Sipho, Svay Som Eur, and Ma Laopi, but he would also occasionally sing songs composed by Mae Bunn, a close friend of his, and Has Salorn. Between 1970 and 1975, he almost exclusively sang songs written by Voy Ho. Regardless of who had written the songs, Samouth always managed to make them popular. When he was not working, Samouth would still devote time to writing songs which depicted his life experiences or the experiences of his friends. He also possessed the unique ability to compose songs based on requests from his audience to express their personal experiences and sentiments in musical form.

His Interests

Samouth was generally considered to be a very serious person. He neither spoke nor joked around needlessly. He behaved in this serious manner with his wife as well as with friends and strangers. When he spoke, he spoke about business. Similar to other musicians and singers, he had several friends in the ministry’s band. His friends at the beginning of his career were songwriters such as Mao Saret, Seang Dee, and Sous Mat. His very close friends were Mae Bunn, in whom Samouth had the utmost trust, and Siv Sunn Sin Sisamouth was a avid fan of cock-fighting, so much so that he himself raised fighting birds. In his spare time, he would play betting games with some of his friends. He exercised regularly as well by lifting weights every morning. His other interests included reading books at the library and watching French movies at the Luch or Prom Bayon movie theatre. At night, after he finished performing, Samouth would meet with friends to eat rice porridge. He allegedly had contracts with three different restaurants in Phnom Penh in which he was paid 1500 Riels to sing two or three songs--quite a lot of money considering a bowl of noodles cost a mere 5 Riels at the time. He usually sang at Kbal Thmor Bar, Neak Bagn Teak Bar, and a bar currently located next to the Interior Ministry. Samouth was not a picky eater. He generally prefered to eat Lao food. When he ate Khmer food, he liked to eat Pror-huk and Phork Tpul Trey. Under no circumstances did he drink wine or soft drinks, eat chili peppers, or smoke cigarettes. According to Seang Vanthy, Samouth delighted in those who were considered the new generation of singers in his time. He always freely gave them advice and reminded them to take care of their voices. His affable, caring attitude thus won him favor among his contemporaries.

Life of Sin Sisamouth

Despite his prodigious talents, Sin Sisamouth made only a moderate income from singing. Although not quite wealthy, his success did eventually enable him to trade in his sky blue Volkswagen for a blue Mercedes 220D. Overall however, he lived a fairly simple life and committed a lot of time and effort into his work. He recorded albums for Chann Chaya and Heng Heng recording companies and wrote songs for movies produced by other production companies. Even though his dedication to music was absolute and his talents were in high demand, Samouth only accumulated a modest income for someone so famous. Although he was the most popular singer of his time, he made just enough to provide for his family. By no means could he afford what would be considered an opulent lifestyle. Since his hard work and vast musical talents only enabled him to earn a moderate income, Samouth forbade his children from walking the same path as he. He explained to his son Chaya that the singing profession was not valued; and, even though his children had shown signs of talent in the field, Samouth never encouraged, much less taught, his children about the art of music and singing.

No one has collected enough data to ascertain the number of songs Samouth sang. He recorded a huge amount of songs--according to his son Chaya, the number roughly corresponds to the number of days Samouth was famous. Kruorch Bunly, a publisher of song and music books, stated that, from 1972 to 1973, he published a song book called "A Collection of Sentimental Songs" which contained 500 songs exclusively sung by Sin Sisamouth. This book contained only songs Samouth sold to one particular production company. Until 1972, however, he had sold songs to several production companies, and sources indicate that he actually sold thousands of songs. Kruorch Bunly also asserts that before the fall of Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge in 1975, Samouth just finished recording about a thousand more songs. Only recently have those songs been released. It is difficult to rank Sin Sisamouth’s songs due to their diversity in meaning and uniqueness. According to critiques which have been written, not only were many of Samouth’s songs of excellent quality, but not one was reported to be of poor quality. He would even improved other people’s songs when he sang them. He was very diligent with his songs, which gave them their unique qualities. Samouth would only sing songs by select writers and perform with certain bands. He would not sing with bands which were new or in which he did not have confidence. Many of Samouth’s works still sound good on the radio and in cassette tapes copied from the original. In fact, the copies are openly sold in various market. Some production companies have made new recordings of Samouth’s old songs using new singers and new bands with modern equipment. Although many listeners like the modern music in the new recordings, they acknowledge that the voices of the new singers can not and do not compare with that of Sin Sisamouth. Thus, the new versions of Samouth’s songs could not compete with the popularity of the originals--prompting production companies to search for old recordings made by Heng Heng and Chann Chaya Productions and record them onto Compact Discs. From 70 to 100 percent of the sound quality could be saved. One of the companies which has worked to restore and record original Sin Sisamouth songs onto CD is Reasmey Phean Meas. The producer, Sam Sovandeth, was informed by an aunt that old recordings had been placed in an archive in Singapore. He researched and found about 2000 old songs duplicated and stored in the archive. Among the recordings found included songs sung by Sin Sisamouth, Suos Mat, Im Sung Serng, Meas Samorn, Ta Saluort, Ros Serey Sothear, Pen Ron, Huoy Meas, etc. Regrettably, about 70% of the songs found were completely defective and could not be reproduced. Sam Sovandeth selected the ones of good quality and, using new technology, reproduced them onto CD, thereby preserving these works for future generations of listeners. Today, many Sin Sisamouth fans criticize companies which reproduce his songs and the songs of other singers of his generation. They argue that the producers unjustifiably profit off the voices of these deceased singers and note that the producers fail to request permission from or give royalties to the singers’ families. These critics also suggest that the Cambodian government and organizations which work to preserve Khmer art should benefit from the sale of these songs. Instead, commercial producers, rather than government art preservation agencies or the families of these singers, reap the financial rewards of these singers’ talents.

His Songs

According to a close friend of Samouth’s, quite a few of his songs expressed emotional reactions to events which happened to him. Other songs were written at friends’ requests, to remember occurrences in their lives. The song Oudom Dueng Chet, for instance, was an expression of Samouth’s deep feelings of regret during a period of time when his wife had temporarily left him. Ohn Chea Tevy Duorng Chet, on the other hand, is a song which tells of Samouth’s secret love for a woman who possessed a higher social status than he. Min Baj Ray Rab Brab Teat Te was an international song which Samouth modified to express his feelings for a woman with whom he had had a romantic relationship. In the song, Samouth chastises the woman for her insincerity and dishonesty. Sluk Chaee ("Leaf") was a song of General Saksut Sakorn, sung by Sin Sisamouth, and later became popular as the song Somroung Chung Kal, sung by Has Salorn. Cham Churb Reul Tgnai Lich was written by Voy Ho when he was in love with Dara Chourm Chann. Samouth personally plays the mandolin in this song, which can be clearly heard before he begins singing the first stanza. Chamreang Et Preang Tuk is a song written by Pov Sipho, a friend of Samouth’s, to describe an incident where he serendipitously met a woman at a restaurant. This song was performed in a movie of the same title starring Chea Yutthorn, Vicharadany and Ros Serey Sothear. The movie was produced by Sin Sisamouth himself and played at the Haem Chaet Theater. Pael Reathrey is a work of the king of Cambodia, recounting his visits to France and Hong Kong. Samouth sings this song with Keo Setha. Samouth himself brought back about 25 songs from his travels such as Sdab Snour Teak Pleang, Lea Hei Paris, Antoniata, Mareny, Munde, Viyoleta, and Reathrey Nov Hong Kong. Regardless of whether he was in Cambodia or elsewhere, Samouth always possessed the ability to immortalize his experiences in song.

The Death of Sin Sisamouth

After the coup d’état against Cambodia’s royal government on March 18, 1970, Sin Sisamouth broke away from the king’s band and moved to Office No. 5 in the Chief Command Ministry of the new Khmer Republic. He worked in Office No. 5 for one year and joined the Ministry Band with the rank of Lieutenant. He had risen to the rank of Captain in the military by the time the Khmer Rouge took over the country. When the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, along with the millions of other residents, Samouth was forced to leave the city. Samouth left Phnom Penh along National Route No. 1 with his second wife, a dancer in the royal ballet. He first wife and two children chose to travel along Ta Khmao Route to La-ang Prek Touch. According to Searng Vanthy, they met at Wat Champa along National Route No. 1 with Has Salorn, Bich Soloen and Vicharadany, the movie star. Samouth’s relatives suggested he continues his journey to section 22, but he refused due to the fact that his wife was having a second child. One evening, Sin Sisamouth decided to ask Has Salorn to go back to Phnom Penh with him and work for the Khmer Rouge government, then known as Democratic Kampuchea. Has Salorn disagreed with the plan and refused to go. Samouth decided he would travel back to Phnom Penh anyhow. Due to health problems and his wife’s pregnancy however, he was unable to continue the trip. The information we uncovered ended the story of Sin Sisamouth here. There are many rumors concerning Sin Sisamouth’s death. It is not known for certain that he died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, but some people propose that the Khmer Rouge may have killed him along the road between Wat Champa and Phnom Penh, since most Cambodians who tried to return to Phnom Penh were killed. Only industry workers who possessed skills useful to the Khmer Rouge were spared; but when they outlived their usefulness, they too were butchered. Before the Khmer Rouge killed him, some people claim Samouth requested he be allowed to sing a song. He expressed himself as sincerely as possible through his music, but the Khmer Rouge soldiers were unmoved, and, after he finished singing, they killed him anyhow. Other people claim that Samouth died in Siem Reap, Kompong Cham, or Preah Vihear province. Some people even believe that he was killed in Tuol Sleng prison. Although his family and relatives are uncertain as to what really happened to Samouth, they are certain of one thing--that he has passed away. If he were alive, they argue, he would contact them no matter where he was now residing. Of Sin Sisamouth’s three living children, only one has decided to make singing a profession. Sin Chaya, Samouth’s son, is currently a singer for the Cambodian Radio. He himself admits, however, that his singing cannot compare to that of his talented father. The only thing Sin Chaya claims to have inherited from Samouth was the desire and destiny to be a professional singer. Sin Sisamouth has left Khmers everywhere a legacy of glorious songs expressing an enormous range of sentiments. The man with the golden voice lives on in the hearts of all those who continue to listen to, appreciate, and admire his music.