This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic.(April 2023) |
"Oh! Phnom Penh" is a Cambodian song written by Mum Bunnaray in 1979 as the Khmers Rouges left Phnom Penh and its population returned to a devastated city. [1] It has been recognized as "Cambodia's heritage protected forever". [2]
"Oh! Phnom Penh" came out just a few months after the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed and the populations that were starving in the countryside could come back to the city from which they had been chased three years before. The lyrics of "Oh! Phnom Penh" were written by Keo Chenda, who would later be Minister for Culture and Information and governor of Phnom Penh from 1982 to 1985. Keo Chenda also wrote the national anthem of the People's Republic of Kampuchea. The music of "Oh, Phnom Penh!" was composed by Catholic Khmer composer Mum Bunnaray, who was working at the national radio station in Phnom Penh. The latter asked his sister Mum Sokha to sing in the single. The song was recorded on January 3, 1979, in Kratie province and first broadcast on January 7, 1979. [3] It was the first song to be broadcast after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. [4] According to Khmer scholar Linda Saphan, "blasted throughout the countryside, the song spread a message of hope and return to normalcy and a desperate reminder that music lived on despite the terror of the genocide." [5]
This sad song marked the beginning of a new life in the field of art, culture and other fields in Cambodia, and is one among a series of songs that have helped to serve the memory of the Cambodian people until now, to heal the wounds left from the Khmer Rouge. [6]
The use of the song, as well as the celebration of the liberation of 7 January, was controversial in the 1990s when the political parties were reunified. In the late 1990s, the song returned and was heard on public media.
In 2011, a controversy arose as Cambodian pop singers attempted to make a cover of the song while changing its lyrics. The move was sensitive and seen as offensive for a generation which still suffered greatly from this trauma. It was also revealing of a generation gap between a generation of parents who survived the war and children who have only suffered from its consequences. While this decision was not understood by foreign media seeing a media ban rather than the result of a national trauma, [7] Minister Khieu Kanharith said in his letter condemning the cover of this historical landmark song that: [2]
The meaning of the song called Or Phnom Penh Euy expresses fully enough the sufferings of the Cambodian people in the Pol Pot regime; the standing up of the patriots to save the nation; the creation of the Kampuchea United Front for National Salvation on December 2, 1978; and the great victory on January 7, 1979, when the nation was liberated and the people met each other again.
— Khieu Kanharith, Minister of Information of the Royal Government of Cambodia
Today, "Oh! Phnom Penh" has become a colloquial form of lament on the state of the city of Phnom Penh, which stills suffers from the wounds and chaos left from the war, despite significant private and public investments. [8]
The title of "Oh! Phnom Penh" echoes, as a palinode, the first words "Oh! Battambang" of the Cambodian rock classic "Champa Battambang", and the difference of tone and content between the two songs reflects the dramatic shift from the joie de vivre of the Sangkum to the devastation of Year Zero. The melody of the song is monodic and follows the lines of the Cambodian lament of smot creating an effect of nostalgia and sadness on the heart of Khmer people. [3]
Khmer version | English translation |
---|---|
ឱ!ភ្នំពេញ អើយបីឆ្នាំនឹកអ្នក គ្មានស្បើយក្នុងឱរ៉ាខ្ញុំឃ្លាតពីអ្នក ចិត្តខ្ញុំខ្លោចផ្សាខ្មាំងផ្តាច់ចេតនា អ្នកហើយនឹងខ្ញុំខ្ញុំឃ្លាតអ្នកចេញទៅឱរ៉ាឆួលក្តៅ សំដៅសងសឹកជូនអ្នក ស បញ្ជាក់នៃក្តីចិត្តខ្ញុំភ្នំពេញ ដួងព្រលឹងជាទីស្នេហាបីឆ្នាំខ្លោចផ្សា តែអ្នករក្សាបានប្រវត្តិ ថ្លៃថ្លាអង់អាចក្លាហានអ្នកដំណាងឲ្យបាន ដួងព្រលឹងខ្មែរធ្លាប់មានប្រវត្តិ ល្បីល្បាញក្នុងលោកដែរព្រលឹងជាតិខ្មែរ ស្ថិតស្ថេរគង់វង់ជ្រកក្រោមម្លប់ទង់ ប្រាសាទអង្គរ អើយស្ថិតស្ថេរគង់វង់ជ្រកក្រោមម្លប់ទង់ប្រាសាទអង្គរ អើយឱ! ភ្នំពេញអើយខ្ញុំជួបអ្នកវិញហើយទុក្ខសោកអ្នកបានស្បើយឱ! ដួងព្រលឹងអើយភ្នំពេញអើយអើយ ភ្នំពេញអើយ | Oh! Phnom Penh |
The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1974 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by then Chief of State Norodom Sihanouk to describe his country's heterogeneous, communist-led dissidents, with whom he allied after his 1970 overthrow.
Articles related to Cambodia and Cambodian culture include:
Sinn Sisamouth was a Cambodian singer-songwriter active from the 1950s to the 1970s. Widely considered the "King of Khmer Music", Sisamouth, along with Ros Serey Sothea, Pen Ran, Mao Sareth, and other Cambodian artists, was part of a thriving pop music scene in Phnom Penh that blended elements of Khmer traditional music with the sounds of rhythm and blues and rock and roll to develop a Cambodian rock sound. Sisamouth died during the Khmer Rouge regime under circumstances that are unclear.
Ros Serey Sothea was a Cambodian singer. She was active during the final years of the First Kingdom of Cambodia and into the Khmer Republic period. She sang in a variety of genres; romantic ballads emerged as her most popular works. Despite a relatively brief career she is credited with singing hundreds of songs. She also ventured into acting, starring in a few films. Details of her life are relatively scarce. She disappeared during the Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s but the circumstances of her fate remain a mystery. Norodom Sihanouk granted Sothea the honorary title "Queen with the Golden Voice."
Pen Ran, also commonly known as Pan Ron in some Romanized sources intended for English-speaking audiences, was a Cambodian singer and songwriter who was at the height of her popularity in the 1960s and early 1970s. Known particularly for her western rock and soul influences, flirtatious dancing, and risque lyrics, Pen Ran has been described by the New York Times as a "worldly, wise-cracking foil" to the more restrained Cambodian pop singers of her era. She disappeared during the Khmer Rouge genocide and her fate is unknown.
Son Sen, alias Comrade Khieu (សមមិត្តខៀវ) or "Brother Number 89", was a Cambodian Communist politician and soldier. A member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea/Party of Democratic Kampuchea, the Khmer Rouge, from 1974 to 1992, Sen oversaw the Party's security apparatus, including the Santebal secret police and the notorious security prison S-21 at Tuol Sleng.
Chea Sim was a Cambodian politician. He was President of the Cambodian People's Party from 1991 to 2015, President of the National Assembly of Cambodia from 1981 to 1998 and President of the Senate from 1999 to 2015. His official title was Samdech Akka Moha Thomma Pothisal Chea Sim.
Khieu Samphan is a Cambodian former communist politician and economist who was the chairman of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) from 1976 until 1979. As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, although Pol Pot remained the General Secretary in the party.
Ieng Sary was the co-founder and senior member of the Khmer Rouge and one of the main architects of the Cambodian Genocide. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea led by Pol Pot and served in the 1975–79 government of Democratic Kampuchea as foreign minister and deputy prime minister. He was known as "Brother Number Three" as he was third in command after Pol Pot and Nuon Chea. His wife, Ieng Thirith, served in the Khmer Rouge government as social affairs minister. Ieng Sary was arrested in 2007 and was charged with crimes against humanity but died of heart failure before the case against him could be brought to a verdict.
Ieng Thirith was an influential intellectual and politician in the Khmer Rouge, although she was neither a member of the Khmer Rouge Standing Committee nor of the Central Committee. Ieng Thirith was the wife of Ieng Sary, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea's Khmer Rouge regime. She served as Minister of Social Affairs from October 1975 until the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979.
Kampuchea, officially Democratic Kampuchea (DK) from 1976 onward, was the Cambodian state from 1975 to 1979, under the totalitarian dictatorship of Pol Pot and the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), commonly known as the Khmer Rouge (KR). It was established following the Khmer Rouge's capture of the capital Phnom Penh, effectively ending the United States-backed Khmer Republic of Lon Nol.
The Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation often simply referred to as Salvation Front, was the nucleus of a new Cambodian regime that would topple the Khmer Rouge and later establish the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK).
Lycée Sisowath is a secondary school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The school was founded in 1873 as a collège and became a lycée in 1933. It is named after King Sisowath.
The Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea was the military of Democratic Kampuchea.
The National Day of Remembrance, formerly called the National Day of Hatred, which falls on May 20, is an annual event in Cambodia. It commemorates the Cambodian genocide of the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled the country between 1975 and 1979. It became a national holiday in 2018.
The Royal Government of the National Union of Kampuchea was a government-in-exile of Cambodia, based in Beijing and Hong Kong, that was in existence between 1970 and 1976, and was briefly in control of the country starting from 1975.
The Samlaut uprising, also called the Samlaut rebellion or Battambang revolts, consisted of two significant phases of revolt that first broke out near Samlaut in Battambang Province and subsequently spread into surrounding provinces of Cambodia in 1967-1968. The movement was largely made up of dissident rural peasantry led by a group of discontented leftist intellectuals against Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s political organization, the Sangkum regime.
The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), also known as the Khmer Communist Party, was a communist party in Cambodia. Its leader was Pol Pot and its members were generally known as the Khmer Rouge. Originally founded in 1951, the party was split into pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet factions as a result of the Sino–Soviet split with the former being the Pol Pot faction, and the latter adopting a more revisionist approach to Marxism. As such, it claimed that 30 September 1960 was its founding date, then it was named the Workers' Party of Kampuchea before it was renamed the Communist Party in 1966.
Huoy Meas was a Cambodian singer and radio announcer in the 1960s and early 1970s.
"Champa Battambang" is a popular song of the 1960s composed by Sinn Sisamouth, which has become part of Cambodian heritage.