"Champa Battambang" (ចំប៉ាបាត់ដំបង, which means "The Frangipani of Battambang”) is a popular song of the 1960s composed by

Sinn Sisamouth Sinn Sisamouth (c. 1932 – c. 1976) 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 ...

, which has become part of Cambodian heritage.

Translation

The title which literally translates as the ''

frangipani ''Plumeria'' (), also known as frangipani, is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Rauvolfioideae, of the family Apocynaceae. Most species are deciduous shrubs or small trees. The species are native to the Neotropical realm (in Mexico, ...

'' of Battambang refers to a flower commonly seen in this city of Cambodia.

History

The standard of Cambodian rock

In 1965, Sin Sisamouth's song "Champa Battambang" was the first content played on Khmer Republic Television as part of his Album Chlangden Vol. 125.Jeff Cole, liner notes, ''Cambodia Rock Spectacular!'', 2011. By the 1970s, it had become part of the ''

repertoire Repertory or repertoire () is the list or set of works a person or company is accustomed to performing. Whether the English or French spelling is used has no bearing, but it was the French word, with an accent on the first e, , that first took ho ...

'' of the upcoming scene of Cambodian rock music. It rapidly became a classic, as

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

Khieu Samphan Khieu Samphan (; born 28 July 1931) 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 a ...

remembers his Communist friend

Hou Yuon Hou Yuon (, 1930 – August 1975 (or later) was a veteran of the communist movement in Cambodia. A member of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, also known as the Khmer Rouge, he served in several ministerial posts during the 1960s (as a memb ...

singing it with a certain nostalgia before his death in 1975.

In the camps

For the Khmer musicians who managed to escape the ruthless persecution of the Khmers Rouges who forbade any foreign influence and almost every form of music apart from propaganda, the refugee camps in Thailand were a safe haven where listening to "Champa Battambang" or the Khmer version of ''The'' ''House of the Rising Sun'' and others pieces of Cambodian rock music was a certain consolation in their desolation: " Khaodang was a dream encoded in music."

Uniting generations

In 2012, "Champa Battambang" was still "one favourite amongst new musical students" in

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...

. Champa Battambang has become a Cambodian classic uniting several generations. It is the link that connects three generations in the 2018 Khmer drama '' In the Life of Music.'' The track was covered by Sin Setsochhata, the granddaughter of the "legendary Sin Sisamouth, perhaps Cambodia’s most celebrated singer from its pre-war period of cultural renaissance."

Lyrics

References

1960s songs Cambodian songs Rock songs {{1960s-song-stub