The Golden Voice

Two American filmakers will soon release a short film about renowned Cambodian singer Ros Srey Sothea. If Sin Sisamouth was the King of Cambodian pop music before 1975 Ros Srey Sothea was her Queen. If you've heard Dengue Fever, or the soundtrack from City of Ghosts, or the Cambodia Rocks series of CD's, you know her music. For example, listen to "Have You Seen My Love" on the Jungle podcast.

From the website for the film The Golden Voice":




FROM KHMER ROCK TO KHMER ROUGE
A Historical Background

During the Vietnam War, American soldiers introduced rock n' roll to the airwaves of Saigon. The classic sounds of Credence Clearwater Revival, Elvis and the Temptations made their way over the border into Cambodia. Soon enough, the musicians of Phnom Penh fused this new American sound with traditional Khmer stylings - giving birth to Southeast Asia's most vibrant and funky rock n' roll scene. The Golden Voice tells the incredible true story of Ros Sereysothea, Cambodia's biggest female rock star of the 1960s and 70s. Born into a poor family in Battambong, Sothea's musical talent transformed her from a travelling peasant singer into Cambodia's own Nancy Sinatra. In 1965, King Sihanouk dubbed her "the golden voice of the royal capital." Her glamorous life came to a grinding halt when the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot took over the country in 1975. The warm sounds of Cambodian rock music were abruptly silenced. Under the Khmer Rouge, society was torn apart at the seams. Phnom Penh was rendered a ghost town. In the countryside, rice paddies became seas of blood. Anyone suspected of being an artist before the revolution was targeted for execution, compelling Ros Sereysothea to conceal her own identity. Slave labor was the staple of Pol Pot's classless society. The entire population of Cambodia was forced into subhuman living conditions. Ros Sereysothea worked at an all-female labor camp known as Zone 1. At first, she was successful in masking her true identity. But it was only a matter of time before she was discovered - leading to a bizarre, horrifying and moving chain of events.

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