Golden memories ... សុវណ្ណអនុស្សារ

Ms So Savoeun is probably the best known female singer of the pre-war generation to have been spared from the wholesale purge of artists in the 1970s. I believe she was in France when Pol Pot came to power in April 1975. Of this golden generation of artists Mr In Yeng is likewise the only known male singer to have been spared from this purge. Both these legends are my heroes and inspirations for the sole reason that I had grown up hearing their songs along side those of Ms Huy Meas, Ms Ros Sereysothea, Mr Sinn Sisamouth et al, all of whom are reported to have met their end under brutal circumstances. Ms So Savoeun’s vocal is quite unique [in my view] in terms of its intense, high pitch and powerful quality, hence her richly earned nickname ‘bell cricket So Savoeun’ or ‘reay kondeng So Savoeun’ [referring to the near ‘deafening’ sounds of common crickets one hears in Cambodia today]. Mr In Yeng’s music on the other hand, competes with that of Mr Sinn Sisamouth and Mr Sos Math for the quintessential facet of the sentimental and gentle spirit of the Khmer soul. His songs and vocal have that ‘dreamy’ and trance-like quality about them that hypnotise the listener and transport him/her to a surreal realm beyond the mundane world. Come to think of it, this was probably why I fell asleep on the back of a moving motorbike after having hummed one of his famous songs [‘bopha kbal jrouy’] on the road from Phnom Penh to Svay Rieng... I doubt one will ever think the same way again about ‘bopha kbal jrouy’ after this!  - School of Vice 

So Savoeun & Plaktine ​ក្អែកបូល (ctn concert 30-03-2013 )


In Yeng - kolab Koh Keo