Mao Sareth ( ) was a Cambodian singer active from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s. Sareth was born in 1944 in

Battambang Battambang (, Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: ) is the capital of Battambang province and the List of cities and towns in Cambodia, third largest city in Cambodia. The city is situated on the Sangkae River, which winds its way through t ...

, with the birth name Pol Sarann. She was one of the earliest popular singers in the Cambodian rock scene of the early 1960s, in which musicians combined traditional Khmer music styles with popular forms from the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Mao was cited as an influence by later singers

Pen Ran Pen Ran (, ), (c. 1944 – c. 1979) 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. Kn ...

and

Ros Serey Sothea Ros Serey Sothea (/ ; ) was a Cambodian singer. She was the first prominent female artist in the Cambodian rock scene during the final years of the First Kingdom of Cambodia and into the Khmer Republic period. She sang in a variety of genre ...

. She is known to have performed live as late as 1973. During an interview with Huoy Meas, Mao Sareth stated that she had three sisters and that she came from a family of musicians. In her free time she liked to read romantic novels. Along with many musicians and members of other suspect professions, she was murdered by the

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 ...

sometime during the later years of the

Cambodian Civil War The Cambodian Civil War (, Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: ) was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge, supported by North Vietnam and China) against the government of the Ki ...

or early in the

Cambodian Genocide The Cambodian genocide was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian citizens by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979, nearly 25% of Cambodia's populati ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mao, Sareth 1944 births 20th-century Cambodian women singers Year of death missing People executed by the Khmer Rouge