A characteristic of this new Cambodian rock is the often contradictory relationship between a song's lyrics and its music. Misery soaked lyrics of broken hearts and doomed fates are wailed out, all set to exuberant party tunes. The translation to Ros Sereysothea's Have You Seen My Love reads I drink until I get drunk, But I can't seem to get drunk, The sky is all black, Love has wings to fly. Sothea belts out these mysterious and melancholy lyrics with a voice that is both joyous and anguished, grating and uplifting. In the background, the band gets the people moving with a funky, fun and upbeat dance groove.
While Sothea’s career and the Cambodian music scene were thriving, Sothea was not at all happy in her personal life. During a Cambodian media interview in the late 1990’s, her living son mentioned that when his mother was alive, she constantly reminded him not to be a singer like her because she been through so much bitterness.
Her songs are proof enough that Sereysothea understood the misery and sourness that life can provide. When she cries in her songs, you can actually feel the sorrow that she is holding inside, a pure and beautiful expression of the pain coming from the depths of her heart.
Sothea was never content with her love life. Being a female singer, she didn’t get much respect from her lovers. For a woman, singing was considered a sleazy profession by many. Selling her voice taints a woman in a way, making a part of her a public good, and thus diminishing her purity and value. But a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice is always appealing to men, and Sothea had several relationships, the most publicized of which with a son of the owner of the Preah Chhann Pign Vorng Theater in Phnom Pehn.
In the late 60's Sothea was married for a time to a Cham singer, Suos Mat. Apparently Suos was insanely jealous of her success and of the men who came to watch her perform, and is said to have beaten her savagely. The two divorced in the early 70's. Later, Sothea had perhaps her most fullfilling romantic relationship with a high-ranking army parachutist working for the Lon Nol government. While invovled with him, Sothea herself joined the army and even did some parachuiting. Unfortunately, this happy time was short lived - sometime before 1975 her boyfriend was killed in combat.
Up until 1975, Sothea continued to perform and record music in the still thriving Cambodian music scene. In April of that year it all ended when the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh. Along with everyone else, Sothea was forced out of the cities and into the Khmer Rouge worksites. There are several live witnesses who have described living and working together with Ros Sereysothea during the Pol Pot regime. Mrs. Tiv Heng, who is a resident of Kompung Speu province and Mr. Yim Sambath, a government official in Soriya Ordei Khan in Reusei Keo, are two people among others who were at the same worksite as Sothea. These two have told us something about Sothea's life during those horrible years.
According to Heng, Sothea was forced to live at the Phnom Sruorch, Kompung Speu work site, where the people were forced to work on irrigation projects. When the singer arrived as a new person the villagers did not recognize her, so she managed to keep her identity a secret. But later on, as more people from Phnom Penh were moved to the site, she was recognized. In an interview Tiv Heng said, Earlier people did not believe that she was Sothea - I was really happy. I think that if people don’t believe that, Sothea could avoided being killed. But later, the news about Sothea was heard all the way to Angkar.
WASHINGTON DC - Because public management in Cambodia is still week, venerable monk Hoeurn Somnieng, is pursuing a graduate degree at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
He told VOA Khmer on Monday that Cambodia’s Buddhism in particular lacks leadership and management from the monastery to the national level. Hoeurn Somnieng said everyone needs to carefully utilize their knowledge so that it benefits the nation as a whole.
“If we serve individuals, it benefits individuals, but if we use our knowledge to serve the nation, it benefits the nation,” he said.
Hoeurn Somnieng is the founder of the Life and Hope Association and chairs a number of NGO networks based in Siem Reap province. He hopes to use the skills he takes from the Kennedy School to restructure the management of Cambodian Buddhism.
“I believe that I can help contribute to strengthening our Buddhist sector, if not for the whole country, at least the ones I am responsible for,” he said. “I cannot say I am able to reform Cambodia’s public sector, but I can say I will try to help strengthen our national institutions. I can see that the government has been trying to reform the public sector, but it is questionable whether it is effective.”
Hoeurn Somnieng said strengthening Cambodia’s Buddhist sector will require a high level of capacity and genuine systematic reform. It has to start from leadership at the monasterial level. People are influenced by their social environment, he said, wherein the rule of law and the effectiveness of law enforcement have to be taken into account.
The following are pictures of a seminar which was held by Mr. Sam Serey at the Maha Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The book "Mystery of Cambodia" was also distributed in that seminar.
Established in 1959, the Cambodian Student Society (CSS) at Cal State Long Beach is America's oldest Khmer student organization. On Sun, Aug 19th, Khmerican formally went into partnership with CSS, setting a strong foundation for Khmerican's long-term goal of connecting with student communities and educational institutions.
A reconstruction of the human skull discovered in Tam Pa Ling. CREDIT: F. Demeter
20 August 2012 Charles Choi, LiveScience Contributor
Newfound pieces of human skull from "the Cave of the Monkeys" in Laos are the earliest skeletal evidence yet that humans once had an ancient, rapid migration to Asia.
Anatomically modern humans first arose about 200,000 years ago in Africa. When and how our lineage then dispersed out of Africa has long proven controversial.
Archaeological evidence and genetic data suggest that modern humans rapidly migrated out of Africa and into Southeast Asia by at least 60,000 years ago. However, complicating this notion is the notable absence of fossil evidence for modern human occupation in mainland Southeast Asia, likely because those bones do not survive well in the warm, tropical region.
Now a partial skull from Tam Pa Ling, "the Cave of the Monkeys" in northern Laos helps fill in this mysterious gap in the fossil record.
"Most surprising is the fact that we found anything at all," researcher Laura Lynn Shackelford, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Illinois, told LiveScience. "Most people didn't think we'd find anything in these caves, or even in the region where we're working in mainland Southeast Asia. But we're stubborn, gone where no one's really looked before, or at least in almost a century."
Rough terrain, persistent scientists
The fossils were discovered in 2009 in the limestone cave, which is located at the top of the Pa Hang Mountain 3,840 feet (1,170 meters) above sea level.
"The cave is surrounded by lots of papaya and banana trees, so a troop of monkeys likes to come and forage there, therefore its name," Shackelford said.
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha in VOA Studio In Washington, DC.
The party officially filed with the government on Monday, paving the way for national parliamentary elections next year.
20 August 2012
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
PHNOM PENH - The Cambodia National Rescue Party, a new collaboration among Cambodian’s political opposition, officially filed with the government on Monday, paving the way for national parliamentary elections next year.
Pol Ham, who is the deputy chair of the party’s steering committee, told reporters Monday the registration with the Ministry of Interior had gone smoothly and now the ministry has 15 days to respond with concerns.
Ministry officials could not be reached for comment.
Supporters hope the new party, which has 85 permanent members, will help increase the number of parliamen tary seats occupied by the opposition after polls are held nationwide next year.
Currently, the Sam Rainsy Party holds 26 seats, and the Human Rights Party holds three, compared to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which holds 90.
លោកហើស សេរីធនត្រូវបានគេរាយការណ៍មកថាបានសរសេរលិខិតបំភ្លឺទៅនឹងអត្ថបទមួយរបស់ការសែត The Philippines Star ហើយបាននាំឱ្យប្រទេសហ្វីលីពីនមានការអាក់អន់ចិត្ត។
WASHINGTON DC - Members of the Khmer Krom Federation have concluded an annual convention, vowing to work harder on rights issues faced by Khmer minorities in Vietnam.
Thach Ngoc Thach, president of the group, said they discussed non-violent means of protest to avoid accusations by Vietnamese authorities. They also discussed how to “allow the world to see that KKF is a fair organization and seeking means for which the Khmer Krom people in Vietnam are free of human rights abuses,” he said.
About 200 participants attended from Cambodia, Canada, France, Europe, the US and other Asian nations, he said. The purpose of the group is to stop rights abuses and discrimination of Khmers in Vietnam, he said.
The organization also restructured its leadership, changing many of its 11 steering committee members, he said.
Synopsis:On Wednesday 15 August 2012, Hun Xen continued his antics by accusing SRP MP Son Chhay of being his spy. This is not the first that Hun Xen use this dirty tactics to threaten others by revealing secret documents and taped conversations, especially against his popular political opponents who have the ability to wrestle power away from him. Hun Xen issued a taped conversation with Kem Sokha and he threatened to reveal secret documents of his meeting with opposition leader Sam Rainsy. Lately, Hun Xen accused SRP MP Son Chhay of being his spy and his adopted younger brother.Now think about it: if Son Chhay is really Hun Xen’s spy, why would Hun Xen risk losing one of his agents by revealing his identity? Either Hun Xen is dumb or he isa pathetic liar. Enough of the dirty commie tricks, Hun Xen!
