Song Of The Day 12/27/2012: Ros Sereysothea - "Old Sour And Sweet"

Of all music out of the Eastern World of the time, Cambodia's pop music of the '60s and '70s is the richest to me. They soaked in an impressive array of influences from all over the pop world and wedded them to some lean but strong beats. Ros Sereysothea was the queen of Cambodian music and performed in genres other than rock, but "Old Sour And Sweet" is my favorite of hers. I love hard stereo separation when it works. The hard guitar chunks on the right side do it for me.

Sereysothea, along with other Cambodian luminaries like Pen Ron and Sinn Sisamouth, were killed in the Khmer Rouge's atrocities in the mid-to-late '70s,* as Pol Pot made specific targets out of musicians and almost all other urban culturalist movements in Cambodia. The internet has bittersweetly resurrected and revived that music. For a wealth of it you can check out Audiophonic TV's YouTube channel.

*In further researching about Sereysothea after this post was published, I've uncovered mixed reports as to her fate at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Some accounts say she was forced into marriage to one of Pol Pot's assistants, a marriage which, let's just say, didn't go well. Other accounts say she was forced to work in the fields as part of the Khmer Rouge's agrarian socialist regime and died from exhaustion. In any case, her remains have never been found, but it is presumed that one way or another, she perished. Her sisters claimed she was executed in 1975, but I've come across reports that say she died in 1977. Closure about her death hasn't been achieved, by any parties.