Cambodia & Music : So Savoeun, the Golden Voice of Phnom Penh Who Survived
In the 1960s and '70s, So Savoeun was one of the most recognisable voices in Phnom Penh. Unlike almost her entire generation, she survived the Khmer Rouge — and still sings today, near Paris.
A Voice, a Style
Born on 1 June 1945 in Kampong Speu province, So Savoeun released her first record in 1962, at the height of the capital's musical ferment. Where many of her peers leaned into the psychedelic rock then in vogue, she stayed closer to the traditional saravan style, earning her the nickname 'the golden cicada's voice': a powerful, steady voice, distinctive even in its higher register. Much of her repertoire was written by her first husband, composer Keo Em, who had also been her music teacher from the age of sixteen.
Duets and the Stage
So Savoeun built much of her reputation as a duet partner, most notably with singer and comedian Meas Samon, with whom she recorded some of her best-known tracks, including 'Bad From The Start.' She also sang alongside Sinn Sisamouth — their duet 'Pa Le Lai' remains among the most covered — as well as Lek Savath, Ros Sereysothea, and Pen Ran, and appeared in the 1969 film La Joie de Vivre. Her catalogue ranges from classic Khmer song ('Kaun Meas M'day') to saravan ('Oh Popech Chieb'), with Cuban and North American influences surfacing openly on tracks like 'Sranos M'lob Dong.'
Fleeing Before the Fall
In April 1975, unlike almost her entire generation, So Savoeun managed to flee to Thailand before the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh. Sinn Sisamouth, Meas Samon and most of the artists she had shared a stage with did not survive the regime.
What the War Took
So Savoeun herself has spoken about the loss of her four children during the Khmer Rouge years, in a filmed interview shot in France and published by the site KI Media in 2011. Asked directly about their fate, she nods in silence, visibly overcome, before the conversation continues. Archival material from the Cambodian Vintage Music Archive (CVMA), the U.S.-based organisation that now documents and supports surviving artists of the Khmer golden age, refers to Keo Em only as her 'former husband' — the circumstances of that separation are not publicly documented.
Starting Over in Paris
So Savoeun arrived in France through a refugee camp in Colmar, and returned to singing in the Sino-Cambodian restaurants of Paris's 13th arrondissement, where she still performs some weekends. In 1986, during the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia, she returned to the stage at Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium — one of the few documented returns to Cambodian soil by an artist of her generation since going into exile.
One of the Last Voices of Her Generation
So Savoeun is today among the artists financially supported by the CVMA, alongside Ros Saboeun (Ros Sereysothea's sister) and Kao Thong Nhok (Sinn Sisamouth's widow) — among the last direct witnesses of a music scene that was nearly wiped out. In 2025, French label Akuphone and the CVMA released the first-ever retrospective of her work, The Golden Voice of Phnom Penh, 1962-1974, sixteen tracks drawn from six decades of her career. She also appears in the French documentary Les Artistes Khmers. "I sing every day because I love it. I love my job, I love it to death," she said in that 2011 interview.
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