Berlin - The career of cellist Sonny Thet (pictured), who owes his life to music, has royal roots. Born in 1954 in the kingdom of Cambodia, he was sent at age 15 by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, then Cambodia's head of state, to the East German city of Weimar for musical studies. Thet became more than just a good student. He founded the music group Bayon, which went on to fame in communist East Germany.
Now a resident of Berlin, Thet gives about 120 concerts a year. His current tour, featuring compositions from his recent album Zauberland, will take him to Lisbon, Poznan and Bregenz in addition to cities in Germany over the coming weeks.
Thet's unique style melds classical, jazz and rock elements. Though he has spent most of his life in Germany, his music is inspired by his homeland.
"You can always hear an Asian touch," he said. "I just can't hide."
Cambodia became independent from France in 1953. Thet decided to take up the cello while a young boy after hearing a former French soldier play the instrument, which was alien to the south-east Asian country.
"It was love at first sound," Thet recalled, his dark eyes gleaming behind rimless glasses.
He actually had been much too young to study in Weimar, but the East German authorities could not turn down Prince Sihanouk's request without damaging bilateral diplomatic relations.
Thet quickly showed talent. He was supposed to establish an orchestra in Cambodia after his studies, but that never happened.
That's because communist Khmer Rouge guerrillas took over Cambodia in 1975, aiming to create an agrarian utopia. Artists, intellectuals and large landowners stood in their way. People were sentenced to death simply for wearing spectacles. Few musicians survived the Khmer Rouge's approach to communism.
Music proved to be Thet's rescue. "I was lucky to be able to leave Cambodia before Pol Pot came to power," Thet noted, referring to the Khmer Rouge leader.
"Democratic Kampuchea," as the Khmer Rouge renamed the country, isolated itself from the outside world. Thet lost all contact with his family and began to establish himself in Germany, giving concerts. He was allowed to travel to western Europe and the United States.
Thet named his music group Bayon, after a temple in Angkor, Cambodia. The temple's numerous towers have four carved stone faces pointing in the cardinal directions. The group's members come from all four points of the compass, too.
"We founded the group having no idea we'd earn a living with it," Thet said.
He toured East Germany, made recordings and built up an audience. Thet said he had "no inkling" at first of his countrymen's plight under the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror. An estimated 1.7 million to 3 million Cambodians were killed or starved to death from 1975 to 1979. In Thet's family, only an uncle survived.
In 1992, after an absence of more than 20 years, Thet was able to travel to his homeland. "I could only bear to be there for two weeks before I returned to Germany. It was as if the smell of corpses was everywhere," he recalled.
"When I'm feeling bad, I get out my cello and really play my heart out," Thet remarked. Then, he felt his family to be quite near. At the end of 2008, Thet went back to Cambodia for a few weeks where a documentary film is being made about him. The film is to be shown at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.
For more information, see: www.sonnythet.de
Now a resident of Berlin, Thet gives about 120 concerts a year. His current tour, featuring compositions from his recent album Zauberland, will take him to Lisbon, Poznan and Bregenz in addition to cities in Germany over the coming weeks.
Thet's unique style melds classical, jazz and rock elements. Though he has spent most of his life in Germany, his music is inspired by his homeland.
"You can always hear an Asian touch," he said. "I just can't hide."
Cambodia became independent from France in 1953. Thet decided to take up the cello while a young boy after hearing a former French soldier play the instrument, which was alien to the south-east Asian country.
"It was love at first sound," Thet recalled, his dark eyes gleaming behind rimless glasses.
He actually had been much too young to study in Weimar, but the East German authorities could not turn down Prince Sihanouk's request without damaging bilateral diplomatic relations.
Thet quickly showed talent. He was supposed to establish an orchestra in Cambodia after his studies, but that never happened.
That's because communist Khmer Rouge guerrillas took over Cambodia in 1975, aiming to create an agrarian utopia. Artists, intellectuals and large landowners stood in their way. People were sentenced to death simply for wearing spectacles. Few musicians survived the Khmer Rouge's approach to communism.
Music proved to be Thet's rescue. "I was lucky to be able to leave Cambodia before Pol Pot came to power," Thet noted, referring to the Khmer Rouge leader.
"Democratic Kampuchea," as the Khmer Rouge renamed the country, isolated itself from the outside world. Thet lost all contact with his family and began to establish himself in Germany, giving concerts. He was allowed to travel to western Europe and the United States.
Thet named his music group Bayon, after a temple in Angkor, Cambodia. The temple's numerous towers have four carved stone faces pointing in the cardinal directions. The group's members come from all four points of the compass, too.
"We founded the group having no idea we'd earn a living with it," Thet said.
He toured East Germany, made recordings and built up an audience. Thet said he had "no inkling" at first of his countrymen's plight under the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror. An estimated 1.7 million to 3 million Cambodians were killed or starved to death from 1975 to 1979. In Thet's family, only an uncle survived.
In 1992, after an absence of more than 20 years, Thet was able to travel to his homeland. "I could only bear to be there for two weeks before I returned to Germany. It was as if the smell of corpses was everywhere," he recalled.
"When I'm feeling bad, I get out my cello and really play my heart out," Thet remarked. Then, he felt his family to be quite near. At the end of 2008, Thet went back to Cambodia for a few weeks where a documentary film is being made about him. The film is to be shown at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.
For more information, see: www.sonnythet.de
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