Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Golden memories

Eng Nary - 'Kom Thver Bab Bong'

The note below is from a reader who brought to our attention these rare, beautiful and poignant songs by yet another singer -  Ms Sem Touch - whose name has hitherto escaped my notice . . .  My sincere appreciation and gratitude to you for your spiritual generosity - School of Vice

"So many people had mistaken the voice of Mr. Ung Nary with that of Mr. Sin Sisamouth. Likewise I had at first mistaken the lovely voice of Ms Sim Tooch with that of Ms. Ros Serey Sothea. Now I come to realize that Ms Sim Tooch was the best singer who would have eclipsed Ms Huy Meas and Ms Ros Serey Sothea very easily if there were not the war to cut short her career and her life."

-Anonymous reader
Sem Touch - Veasna Mean Porp 

Sem Touch - Sronous Krea Darm  

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ung Nary became popolar in 1971

Anonymous said...

As Khmer musician and song writer, when I compare the voice between the young singers after 1979 and old farmous singers (Ros Sereysothea, Pen Rom, Pou Vannary, Houy Meas, So Savoeun or Sem Touck) before 1975, I can just say loudly that the young singers do not even compare with MS Sem Touch, MS Huy Meas or Sun can Savoeun.

The problem consist of:

1) the old farmous singers (MS Pen Rom, Pou Vannary, Houy Meas, So Savoeun or Sem Touck) before 1975 have had a strong high voice and very sharps

2) the new singers after 1979 have not strong voice and very low.






Takeo said...

I listen to Khmer oldies everyday I am missing so much on the Khmer glory days, peace, prosperous, and rich. Is irreversible under Hun Sen's regime is destroying Khmer land and likelihoods. Khmer era is going to underground very soon by Hun Sen.

Anonymous said...

National Rescue Party website:

www.nrp-dc.com

Check it out and donate.

Thank You.

Anonymous said...

I agreed with all above,but I have my own perspective.
All the singers before and after are great
But some poor standard are have not been used.
1/lack of very selective.
2/uneducated composers(very poor back ground of schooling)
3/corrupting,families favoritism,
4/very poor of meaning and qualities.
On above of conclusion
That make the new song s are not AMARTAK s songs

Anonymous said...

I'm not against the young Generation singers, but when I compare the text between oldies and new songs, then I find out right away:
a) Content of the new songs are most so primativ, not like text from Sothea or Samouth
b) new songs used modern instruments, but confused
c) new song come and go, the oldies are eternity
d) for me sometimes Khmer Sorin better voice

Anonymous said...

please listen this following oldy songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJz_zzKAhBk&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLF9C7D96CB63EB52F

Anonymous said...

នៅកម្លុងឆ្នាំ1960 ខ្ញុំបានស្តាប់បទមួយច្រៀងរៀបរាប់ពីកោះត្រល់ ប្រហែលជាច្រៀងដោយលោកអ៊ុងសុងសឺម។
ក្រោយពីឹឆ្នាំ1979 មកខ្ញុំមិនដែលឮបទនេះសោះ ឬមួយយួនម្រមូលដុតចោលអស់ហើយ?

Anonymous said...

The songs that are for ever are meaningful ,plugging ,comfrting ,hurting feeling ,asorbing to the mind and soul of the listeners not just only make some noises to disturb
So the are un able to keep repeating the listoners to support them and that is why a lot of new productions closed their business

Anonymous said...

Ros serey sothea was and is the best female singer of Khmer song or else Mr Sin Sisamouth wouldn't pick her to be his duet singer...Sothea had a lovely sweet and crispy voice in a unique way. Mr Samouth drove all the way from P.Penh to pick her up in Battambang...old singers Samouth, Ung Nary,Thet Sambath are outstanding...all new singers cannot sing any of their own song and make them a great hit...they only could re-sing the oldies song which are already well known to listeners ears...Shame on the bastard khmer rouge who killed all best old singers.

Anonymous said...

i think every generation of singers or talented people have their uniqueness. the new singers can sing well too, just they need the old teachers from those era to teach them. i don't think khmer talented people are lost forever, it's been always replaced by the next generation as the older ones either passed away or retired by now. so, the old talented singers, musicians, composers, etc, etc should not be selfish, instead they should teach the younger generation to play with different styles of singers and music and teach them how to recognize their voice, either from deep within the chest, or from their throats or from their jaw bones, teeth, etc, etc, all make them talented with practice singing, etc, you know. so, the past generation of singers, etc should teach the younger generation of talented people to sing, dance, compose, etc professionally, really! may god bless all talented khmer people from all walks of life without so much class status prejudice, status bias, nor status discrimination. all talented younger generation should be taught properly and encourage them to be all they can be, be the best, really!

Anonymous said...

one of the top singers from ros sereysothea era was ms so savoeun who is actually still alive today living overseas in france. but a long time now, people never even saw her coming to show and sings in cambodia. i'm sure she has lots of singing experience from the old days when sothea and pen ron and samouth were all alive and singing. so savoeun should come back to cambodia to teach and sing again. she still has lots of fans in cambodia. where is so savoeun? tell her she needs to come to cambodia to sing her songs and dance and teach singing in cambodia, really! the other one is chun vanna who is also alive today living overseas. she too should come to cambodia and sing her old songs and teach others how to sing properly, and pass on her singing skills to the new generation of talented singers. or even to interview in cambodia on national tv should make people in cambodia happy to see them, really!

Anonymous said...

so far only sieng dy and dy saveth showed up on national tv in cambodia, what happen to all the other famous musicians, singers, etc from the past? how come the don't come back to cambodia to sing, dance, etc... i'm sure people and fans alike would like to see them in cambodia singing and dancing again. recently, i heard chhoun malay, pen rom, sieng vanthy, etc has passed away. they all should come sing again in cambodia before they too pass away. why not?

Anonymous said...

i heard huy meas's daughter sings like her mom. also sin sisamouth son sings as well. and sos mach son sings, also ros sereysothea had a son who is still living in cambodia with sothea's oldest sister, he should talk more about his mother, sothea, really!

Anonymous said...

really ?

Anonymous said...

Khmer under the Vietminh Hun Sen regime wants to be the best singer in the world, they have low education, low history knowledge and low community engagement.

But they are going to be the best Khmer karaoke singer in the world. Number 1. Sex with old rich men. Whatever it takes to be number 1 Karaoke singer.

Anonymous said...

9:14am.

Isn't the present SOS Mach is the son of SOS MATH?


Baay Kdaing

Anonymous said...

I couldn't believe this song wrote by ms.Seng Botom.this song was hitting at the day i was memorize it very well also I always at this programs ,ms Seng Botomalways come at the night show together with ms Sim Tooch.Enjoy their intertainment .Just a minutes everything flip over only the good memories of go to kill yiekcong Vietnam to free Cambodia and her people .That my schooling for ,unfortunate my goal wasn't success as the plans
Only good memories left behind
May you all rest in peace ms Sim Touch,mr.Doch Kim Hak

Anonymous said...

Did anyone hear a song about KOH TRAL ( sung by Ung Song Seum ) ?

Anonymous said...

the good songs are the ones people like to listen over and over again without tired of them, really! remember that in a song, it takes a team of best singers, best composers, best musicians, dancers, etc to make good songs. all of them makes the song good, not just one or two of them, you know.

Anonymous said...

Sim Touch's voice is close to that Ros Serey Sothea; Huy Meas can't be compared to Sim Touch's voice.

Anonymous said...

11:37AM - YES i do remember that Im Song Seum sang "Koh Tral" some time in 1964/5/6 earlier on in his career; it's also one of my favourite by this singer. the lyrics starts like this: "Auw ti Koh Trol khnom skoaal you year chhear koh ker daun ta mean saovdar thkom thkeung..". i believe it has been taped by the National Radio, and probably written by Ma Lao Pi (he is truly a khmer poet of genius). the song is probably lost forever now.

Anonymous said...

Ung Nary has a good voice and had been a rising star in 1972/3 onwards. some of his songs were originally thai songs. not really my favourite khmer singer but this "Kom Thver Bab Bong" track is my favourite

Anonymous said...

So far Only Ung Nary is the one next to Sin Sisamouth...new male singers are way way way below him...

Anonymous said...

4:41pm,
Thanks for your reply.
I think this Koh Tral song was destroyed by the Vietnamese solldiers at Stung Meanchey Radio Station in 1979.
Yuon destroyed everything that related to our Khmer heritage.

Anonymous said...

To 5:10 PM
Ung Nary did NOT have the voice nor the style close to Sinn Sisamouth.
Listen and pay attention to details.

Anonymous said...

stop comparing, they all have variety of voices. the one that can sing out loud with clear, fluent, crisp voice is always the winner in khmer sound, you know. in english, singers can sound whatever, but in khmer voice, it has to be clear, fluent and crisp, for example, take ros sereysothea's voice; she has clear, crisp, loud and fluent and sharp khmer voice, especially when singing, it has to be real loud from inside the body. go study from celine dion, she was trained to sing from from a young age, now we can sing with loud, clear, beautiful voice. the same can be said of the late karen carpenter, she too had beautiful, clear, crisp, sharp english voice when singing. it's about the loudness when you sing. among cambodian singers, ros sereysothea came out the best in the voice competition, you know. sothea had the voice. just listen to all her khmer songs, she can sing beautifully in khmer voice, you know. it is hard to match her sharp, loud singing voice of ros sereysothea, really!

Anonymous said...

i wish back then, they have film all the past khmer singers singing and dancing. like today, they do it with video and filming. why couldn't they video and film them then?

Anonymous said...

7:28Am - Video wasn't invented yet in 1975. The only reason we see Samouth, Im Song Seurm, Chhuon Malay, So Savoeurn, etc.. on the film Apsara/La Joie de Vivre/ etc.. is because Norodom Sihanouk needed a supporting cast of thousands to glorify himself and his family. our king was a rather vain individual. Yet, our artists live forever in our hearts.