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She knows how to play music, to play guitar...
Children who are growing up... But it's like grandpa Sin Sisamouth.
His age, there ! he was young, about his age. He would wander around, following father. My father.
After a while, he knew how to play music at this age – like him. 10 or 12 years old.
When he was a child, he loved that. He loved music.
Thank you very much
He learned from my father
He learned how to play, sing lam with my father, there weren’t any teachers
He traveled to many countries, this one, and then that one
He traveled to many places This develops your ability
[Where does his talent coming from ?]
[Where does his inspiration coming from ?]
[He composed more than 1000 songs...]
For example, when he went to eat pho While waiting from the bowl to come
he would hear a foreign song
He would take a napkin the one used to clean the chopsticks
Write “sek-sek-sek” on the paper then put in his pocket
even before the noodle bowl arrived on the table
Then he went home with one or two songs.
We say in Khmer "it runs through your blood vessels" When you sing the lam, it is smooth
He would go off on his own to sing. He was free, happy.
When he was a child, the age of this boy, he went around singing the lam, in the villages
When there were festivals like the kathin.
[He followed your father]
No, my father had already left for Phnom Penh.
He would play on his own Our family were artists for generations
[They are all artists in the family?]
Yes, yes
But when it comes to my children, the grandchildren, none of them have received this gift
It was in 1955
We were married that year
one hundred...ninety.... 55
[Did you meet in Stung Treng?]
Here ! because we are relatives
[You are relatives?]
He was my cousin
[You knew each other since young?]
He calls his grandma “mae gna” [paternal grandmother] and so do I.
[How old were you in 1955?]
In 1955, I was just 16.
My grandmother said “There are too many women running after him!'
You should get married, she said
They come even to the stairs of our house. She did not want him to marry somebody from the south.
She wanted him to marry a relative.
We wed here.
He was 22 years old.
After the wedding, we moved to live in Phnom Penh.
[Then he became famous...]
Oh no! He was not yet famous
He was 22. He started working as a nurse. He was "Infirmier"
After that, he started to sing and that’s how he became famous.
Then he joined the national radio (khosanakar)
He started to sing. [How old was he?] He became famous when he was 25
He was 25 when he joined the national radio
The band's name was Chanreasmey.
[Which song made him famous?]
I can’t remember; it was such a long time ago.
[Has he traveled a lot?]
He followed Sihanouk
He traveled to China...
Singapore...
Malaysia...
He traveled to many countries.
To France, too.
He was the first to arrange French songs in Khmer.
There were two songs. I can't remember.
[The song Khniom Rong Cham?] - I don’t know.
[Can you sing?]
[I will wait, day and night...]
There were two songs
[This is a French song from the 50s]
Yes, in the 50s
Nobody could arrange songs like he did.
In the past, we learned French
not English like now.
[Tino Rossi]
From grade 1 or 2.
He studied until he got the certificate of primary studies.
He spoke French, very well.
[Did he compose both the lyrics and the music of his songs?]
He wrote his own lyrics and music.
Oh, he composed a lot of songs
I can’t remember anymore.
I am not confident in myself
as regards music and song.
I don’t have talent for that.
[You stayed at home to look after the kids when he went out to perform?]
I looked after our children
I don’t feel at ease at parties I don't know how to dance or sing
I could go but I just sat there, eating, not doing anything
Eventually I felt awkward
He always invited me to go with him.
But I did not go.
I don’t know how to sing, dance. I really don’t know how to do all these things
[Yes, sometimes, one prefers to stay home with the kids]
Yes, I would stay home with the children.
[in 1975, the Khmer Rouge entered the city.]
75, the Khmer rouge...
Before that year, let me remember…
after we married... I was 16-17-18-19 years old.
I was 19 when we first separated
That's when I built this house
We were separated for 7 years.
I built this house at that time. On my own.
[You built the house alone?]
That was because he had met a new woman... of royal descent
Exactly 7 years...
I came back. He drove me back here.
We did not fight. We did not used “kou” (I) or “meung” (You). we never used such words.
I told him I wanted to go home and he brought me back.
[You came alone, with your 4 children? You must have had a broken heart]
We had three children at that time
After 7 years, I went back to Phnom Penh.
[He came back to ask you back?]
The elders, the parents had a discussion. He did not dare to come back.
He did something wrong, he would not come back
My mother told me that I had to go back to see him.
[How did you feel at that time?]
I decided that I did not want to go back.
But people were gossiping
They said I was looking for another husband. Gossips.
Family elders talked to me...
It would not look good to have another husband
I I told everybody that I was not looking for a new husband. I did not want anybody.
They talked to me again “please go, go back and live together"
The other woman from the royalty, brought him lots of misfortune. He owed money to lots of people.
He came back to live with his grandmother to be able to pay back his debts
Little by little.
It took him one year and a half. That's when we met again.
They had a festival in Siem Reap. He wrote Champei Siem Reap for me.
Exactly 7 years after.
[after the 7-year separation, he wrote "Champei Siem Reap"]
My life is similar to the life of Lord Praveth [Buddha]
Separated from the ones we love
Heartbroken
If I didn’t put all of my heart into it
It would have been impossible.
Impossible to live together, but I would have gone insane.
Women came to look for him every day.
[He was famous]
He drove his car. Women were running after him.
And every day, he would come back home.
That was my life.
[Did the children help you survive the situation?]
My heart only wanted to die
He did not do anything to hurt me
He gave me every penny he earned.
He would empty his pockets to give it immediately to me.
Because we know each song was paid 3000 riels
three songs: 9000 riels
He told me how much one song paid he never hid anything from me.
Sometimes, they would give him 5,000 they put in his pocket.
He was not like others.
[He was not interested in money]
Women who asked for his company would give him money
money, bags, wallets, and cloth to make shirts
When home, he would give the money to his wife
He would say “Tonight I did not go to perform”
“Why didn’t you sing?”
the dignitary’s daughter asked me to go out with her.
They would give him the money he would have earned from his singing.
singing one evening would bring him 10,000 riels
Performance at the Kbal Naôl
They gave him gifts; he told me everything; he was very honest.
He would tell me “Tonight, I did not perform”…
In the day, women will give him money to look after them
He was a nurse
For him to accompany them
He told me everything, he was sincere.
[It is because he loved you that he was sincere]
He said “how could I insult you?"
We are from the same family.
we have the same grandparents, elders, ancestors”.
He said “We are inheriting from their deeds"
"The Karma is separating us”.
We lived apart for 7 years.
He visited once a fortune-teller who told him that we would be separated one more time
And this was in 1975 when the country fell [to the Khmer Rouge]
[You decided not to follow him?]
I told him he had to go in another direction I was afraid that he would die.
Pol Pot said that if he finds that someone has several wives
he would kill him
[He was famous...they knew that he had two wives]
It was not even two days before they found out
[He was famous, they had a plan to kill him?]
I don’t know where my fortune came from which helped me survive.
I was evacuated to Battambang, Phnom Srok.
[with your 4 children?] - Yes, four
When we separated, we had 3 children together when we reunited, we built a house
and after the house, we had another child. The house is in Phnom Penh, Toul Tompong.
This house still exists, but they took it and sold it.
[You lost everything?] Nothing is left.
[You have this house?] This house is mine.
[It's not even his house then]
[In Battambang, Khmer Rouge forced you to work...]
The Thais came to look after him, but he did not follow them.
They came to Poipet but he refused to leave.
They wanted to give him a car, a house
higher than his Cambodian salary He refused to leave.
This was in 1973.
He would not go
He died in Cambodia.
if his relatives couldn’t go, then he would not go either
One can’t rise above on his/her own
one can’t live alone for a long time
We can't live on our own.
Parents are here, brothers and sisters.
He said "One can’t abandon one’s own people". Not his country, not his people.
I told him : If we leave
just to earn money with your voice
we won’t be living for a long time.
I asked him, “How long will you last?”
He was only 50.
I said that I could sell food in front of the house.
So he decided not to go.
And he died under the Khmer Rouge.
[When did he die?]
I don’t know
People looked for him and tried to find an answer.
[the KR] brought him to the Champa pagoda, in Kieng Svay.
After 7 months, they brought him somewhere else.
He was imprisoned in the Champa Koh Ek pagoda
I don’t know for how long.
Then they brought him to Koh Thom / Koh Thmey.
He died in Koh Thmey.
Chaya accompanied them [the searchers]
[Was Chaya with him?] - No
[The searchers] found the place
They found out that he died in Koh Thmey.
They found Koh Thmey and they brought Chaya there
People said “Oh, you look like grandpa Sisamouth”.
The searchers asked the villagers “How do you know”.
They said “Of course we know! He was imprisoned here”.
"He died here" they said.
That’s how we learned that he died in this place.
Because villagers said “You look like your father”.
There was a woman imprisoned there, too
She did something wrong, against morality.
She said the same thing.
Other people said that when the work was finished, he would start to sing.
I said that couldn’t be true!
He was not like this. I know him.
Even in our nice villa, he would not sit and sing.
If he had to compose, he would compose and be paid right away
For example,you come like this... two songs are composed already.
Krit—krit—krit--- and two songs are composed
He is really fast
And he could sing the song on the spot. He was really fast!
He was talented, really talented
Singing, his voice, everybody can imitate him. But to compose!
krit—krit---krit on a paper, then in his pocket
At home, he continued to compose - krit, krit.
Tthe daughter of a movie theater owner...
The owner came once to listen to him
He said “Your songs are so melodious...
"can you sing some more?”
They asked: "Please sing again"
[He had that talent]
[Some artists write lyrics, but don’t know how to set them to music]
[Others compose music but don’t write lyrics]
He could do both.
And do a third thing: singing.
There was a song--I can’t recall the title--
He won a silver cup and 10,000 riels for a song.
For the song in this movie, they gave him a silver cup and 10,000 riels.
10,000 riels were equivalent to 3 damleung of gold
it was not ordinary.
Did he wander around our home? No !
No, he would go straight to his car and leave.
Women came to our home to wait for him, pursue him
and ask to get into his car.
He would drive them home.
[He has a soft heart? They would just ask to get into the car and he would accept?]
Yes, he would drive them home and then they would not want to get out.
he would answer, “I have work to do" "please get out of the car”.
He was like that.
He had a beauty spot here, on his neck.
We asked the woman who was imprisoned with him
what his face was like,
The woman answered that he was unrecognizable, his face was swollen;
[They killed him. He did not died because he was exhausted]
He was beaten. They killed him.
At night, they were chained with others, sleeping in a row.
[the KR] put bamboo so that they could pee.
He slept near a window.
Kids were passing by, of the age of this boy. They carried rifles.
They took pleasure in kicking him, they kicked him here and there
until his face was full of bruises. They kicked those sleeping near the windows.
People were sleeping in rows. He was near the window.
[How long did he stay there? One or two days?]
oh ! for several months. To survive, he had to work.
He wove baskets, fish nets. He knew how to do this.
because he is from the countryside.
Weaving baskets... he knew how.
He was a quiet man, he did not like to talk
He liked to go to pagodas
listen to the sermons, go with the monks, he really liked this.
As regards his relatives, he loved them above all.
Between the two of us, he said “How could I insult you?”
We were relatives. But I insulted him
He said he will never insult me.
He said "We are relatives, how could I insult you?"
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