Pen Ran

Pen Ran
Background information
Native name	ប៉ែន រ៉ន
Also known as	Pan Ron
Origin	Cambodia
Years active	1963-1975
Associated acts	Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Serey Sothea, Meas Samon

Pen Ran (Khmer: ប៉ែន រ៉ន, Khmer pronunciation: [paen rɑːn]), 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, animated dancing, and risque lyrics,^[1] 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.^[2] She disappeared during the Khmer Rouge genocide and her exact fate is unknown.

Life and career

Very little is known of Pen Ran's personal history. It has been established that she was from Battambang and attended the same school as the younger Ros Serey Sothea, another popular singer of the same era. Pen Ran had a sister named Pen Ram (sometimes Romanized as Pan Rom) who was also a singer in the later years of the Cambodian psychedelic rock scene.^[3][4]

In the 1960s, Cambodian Head of State Norodom Sihanouk, a musician himself, encouraged the development of popular music in Cambodia. Initially, pop records from France and Latin America were imported into the country and became popular, inspiring a flourishing pop music scene based in Phnom Penh and led by singers like Sinn Sisamouth.^[2][5] Pen Ran was an early entrant in this music scene, with the hit song "Pka Kabass" in 1963, but she became a national star when she began recording with Sinn Sisamouth in 1966.^[3][4] Starting in the late 1960s Ran recorded many collaborations with Sisamouth and other notable Cambodian singers of the period,^[6] while continuing her solo career. The debut of the popular Ros Serey Sothea in 1967 had little effect on Pen Ran's career and perhaps even broadened her popularity as the second leading lady of Cambodian popular music.^[7]

Pen Ran was known for her unrestrained personality and western-oriented hairstyles and fashions, rejecting traditional demands on Khmer women and representing new and modern gender roles.^[7] Her onstage dancing and flirtatious lyrics were considered scandalous in Cambodia at the time.^[1] Translated titles of her songs indicate her risque focus on romance and sexuality (for example, "I'm Unsatisfied" and "I Want to Be Your Lover") and a rejection of traditional courtship (for example, "It's Too Late Old Man"). Near the end of her music career Pen Ran was still an unmarried career woman in her early thirties, which was also unusual for Cambodia at the time.^[8] She addressed this topic in the song "I'm 31" which was an answer to Ros Serey Sothea's hit song "I'm 16."^[3][4]

Pen Ran was known to be a very versatile singer, having a repertoire consisting of traditional Cambodian music, rock, twist, cha cha cha, agogo, mambo, madizon, jazz, and folk songs, leaving behind a vast legacy of 1960s and 1970s Cambodian music.^[1] When discussing her vocal abilities, one researcher has said "Pan Ron hits notes that shatter glass."^[9] She is believed to have performed on hundreds of songs, many of which she wrote herself.^[7]

Pen Ran disappeared during the Khmer Rouge genocide of the late 1970s and her exact fate is unknown. Her younger sister Pen Ram said that she survived until the Vietnamese invasion of late 1978/early 1979 when the Khmer Rouge launched their final series of mass executions.^[6] Given the goal of the Khmer Rouge to remove foreign influences from Cambodian society, Pen Ran's individuality probably ensured her death.^[1] In a 2015 BBC documentary on the band Cambodian Space Project, who have covered many of Pen Ran's songs, it was alleged by an interview subject that she was tricked by the Khmer Rouge into performing one of her songs, after which she was led away and executed. Starting in the late 1990s, interest in Pan Ron's music was revived by the album Cambodian Rocks^[10] and similar CD compilations, while the documentary film Don't Think I've Forgotten described her as one of the most influential artists of her era.^[2]

Discography

Some of the songs (from the hundreds) that she actually composed and sang herself or with Sinn Sisamouth or Ros Serey Sothea include:

Solo performances

	Pan Ron - Rom Jongvak Twist Sample of Pan Ron's Rom Jongvak Twist (from the 1996 compilation Cambodian Rocks)
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	Pan Ron - Knyom Mun Sok Jet Te Sample of Pan Ron's Knyom Mun Sok Jet Te (from the 1996 compilation Cambodian Rocks)
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• Tvey beu jeung mek nov chgai
• Srolanh doj j'eung
• Mao Sereiroat
• Kmum na min tij
• Oh Pleang Euy
• Bong kom Prouy (Darling, Don't Worry)
• Cherng Maik Por Kmao
• Mamai Bei Dong
• Bondam Tunle Buon Mouk
• Chan Penh Boromey
• Chnam Oun 31
• Chrolom Pdey Keh
• Jumno Trocheak
• Juob Ter Bros Kbot
• Kam Peah
• Kdao Tngay Min Smoe Kdao Chit
• Komlos Lan Krahorm
• Konlong Pnhei Kluon
• MeMai Sabay Jet
• Meta Own Pong
• Min Jong Skarl Teh Kdey Snaeha
• Min Sok Chet Te
• Mjass Chenda
• Mtay Kaun
• Oun Skol Chet Bong Srey
• Pka Sondun
• Preah Paey Popok
• Pros Chang Reiy
• Pros Reang Yeh Yeh
• Reatrey Nov Pailin
• Rom Ago Ago
• Rom Jongvak Twiss
• Rom Som Leis Keh
• Sabay Avey Mles
• Sday Chit Del Sralanh
• Sein Kmas Keh
• Sneh Krom Mlob Chhrey
• Somleng Kmous Kah
• Sour Ey Sour Jos
• Sromai Jea Nich
• Tgai Na Bong Tomne
• Tgnai Nis Reabka Khynom
• Thngai Sonrak
• Tonsa Mok Pi Na
• Veal Smoa Khiev Kchey

References