This morning I was awoken by a very new KHMER song written by Midada. It attracted me so much that I cannot go on sleeping. I got up and went close to the radio. I was inspired by the song to have a CD of it.
I went to the a CD shop and asked about the very new song, but the song I was looking for hadn’t been released on CD yet. I chose the last CD instead, which its album is ‘មនុស្សស្រែដូចយើង Monus Sre Dauch Yeung,’ written by Reaksa.
Although the CD was not my intension to buy, I was very much concerned when I listened to it. It combines inherited songs and the new songs. The inherited are ‘ស្ទឹងសម្ងាត់ Steung Samngat’ and ‘ឆ្នាំមុន Chhnam Mun’ which was copied by Thai singer in that period. The new songs are “មនុស្សស្រែដូចយើង Monus Sre Dauch Yeung,” “អូសឬស្សីបញ្រ្ចាស់ចុង Aus Russey Banhchras Chong,” “ម្នាក់ស្រឡាញ់ម្នាក់អាណិត Mneak Srolanh Mneak Anet,” “សន្យាស្រីប្រល័យបង Sanya Srey Prolai Bong,” and “ឈឺចាប់មិនសម្លាប់ខ្លួន Chheu Chabb Men Samlabb Kluon.”
The song ‘Monus Sre Dauch Yeung’ is the master song — the album name. Personally, I feel that Hang Meas encourages its singers/writers(melody and lyric) to produce the songs creatively, and will be awarded by putting his song as a master song. For me, I absolutely agree to this idea. Not only is the song purely produced by Khmer, but the lyric is also great. Even though the master song is not as sweet as the ‘Steung Samngat’ and ‘Chhnam Mun’ in the way of melody writing, this is a very good start of the production. The production intends to glorify the Khmer Songs to somewhat level comparing to the golden inherited songs.
I am always a supporter of any Khmer singer who can create purely Khmer songs. With many Khmer supporters, I always buy original CD of whom I support even though I don’t buy CD so often because of my limited finance. This is the only way I can do to support the Khmer Singers. With the hope of regaining the popularity of Khmer songs, which was not only popular inside the country but also spread to the countries nearby, I wish all the best to any Khmer singers and I will always be their supporter. Another way to reach the goal, I hope the productions in Cambodia hire and/or train more and more dedicated Khmer singers to work for their productions. Day by day, our songs will regain popularity like the previous period, but as long as we all support them. [Journal written on Saturday, May 19, 2007]
