Song composor: Nor Rithya
“I want to curse the fate” are the words of a very sweet song from the 1940’s composer, Nor Rithya which describes the very strict Cambodian tradition for children when choosing their partners to be a spouse.
While we are listening to this song which was sung by our golden voice, Mr. Sin Sisamuth, we think of Mr, Nor Rithya, the composer who was one of the best and a most outstanding composer, along with the musician, Mr. Sin Sisamut in 40’s and 50’s of last century.
At the age of 81, Mr. Nor Rithya seems so strong and vigorous in appearance but his health is not so because he has a lot of health problems. He modestly said, “In 1948, I composed a lot of songs for Mr. Sin Sisamut. Most of them are about sorrow, gravity and desperation but some were about the social situation. Before, the best singer of my music was Mrs. Marya Polen, later Mr. Sin Sisamut.”
Meanwhile, we are speaking about sadness and Mr. Rithya added, “Most of the songs the composer writes are about their real life. For instance, the song “I want to curse the fate” is about when I felt in love with a girl and I was scared to confess my love to her. On the other hand, at that time the parents prepared marriage for us, we were not authorized to choose whom we love. What I did not know was the girl I loved married my friend and I was also asked to be his groom’s man. How could I curb my paint?”
In the room which was beautified with some Buddhist sacrificial things, he added. “I composed a lot of song for Mr. Samut but not all his songs were composed by me. They were composed by many other composers such as, Mr. Pao Sipo, Mr. Poung Bopa, Mr. Sin Sinsamut and Mr. Morn Ponnareay. The first song which I wrote for Mr. Samut was “I want to curse the fate” and it was so popular then.
Most of the songs of our golden voice were sung about Battambang province, Mr. Rithya added, “The reason we wrote a lot of songs referring to this province is because we didn’t expect that we could get it back from Thailand. Once I went to this province, I saw Bagarn district and I was really sorry to our Nation. The province was not only subject of composers but also the writers or Khmer lecturers who first began their writing relating to the province also. It was a sign to show the survival of Khmer because it was a good time for Cambodian history.”
While we recalled the success of Battambang province where most songs were focused, he stated that Battambang people always keep what their ancestors had. They are not the same as the city dwellers who are not sure who they are: one the Thai came they want to be Thai, Vietnamese- they want to be Vietnamese and French- they want to be French. Mr. Rithya smilingly said, “…the most wonderful thing in my life was when I met Thai battambang governor called “Big Boss” he ran very fast to get on the train because I saw Thai high ranking officials as well as Khmer officials.”
He told about a Khmer orchestra after the collapse of the French Colony and that because he was involved in the arts from birth, he tried to collect other friends and village youths to reunite and brought their personal skills to compose a song together and some others who could play drums or other musical instruments with varying skills. At that time, most music was our Cambodian musical instruments because they did not have anything beside these.
Nearly 50’s we had a chance to study music at the Royal Palace because king Norodom Brought some musical instruments from Manila and also made a village called “Minile village” located south of the palace. People who wanted to find a beautiful girl to marry could go around this village. At that village, there was a bridge called “Hybird Bridge” where the Independence Monument is now and this place was a favorite of the King’s relatives.
Mr. Nor Rithya told about the making of Mr. Sin Sisamut’s band which was named “Sin Sinsamut band”. “The entire bands were young and at the time we could play by our own skills together and when we composed a song we always came together in my house or at Mr. Thay’s house to make music.”
“We became a professional band between 1968 and 1969 and at first our band was called “Child Band.” Later it was changed to “Reaksmey Preah Chan band.”
Mr. Rithya also told about his initial relationship with his friend: “I have known Samut since he studied at the medical school. I met him because I was also a doctor.”
At that time, no one knew Samut could sing, not even his mother. He first sang at his friend’s wedding at Odong. Unexpectedly at that time a singer for the wedding, Mr. Samon, got a cold so we had to find another singer to replace him. Mr. Samut said “Let me”. He sang very sweetly and every honorable guest was surprised by his very sweet sound. Samut was born with a beautiful voice and the last song which I composed for him was called “Chross Oyadav,” said Mr. Rithya.
Mr. Nor Rithya is not only one of the best composers but he also a film writer, a film director, and a government officer and he was a most popular actor in 40s – 50s as well.
He added, “I wrote some film stories like: The fortune of Romdol Flower [a kind of tropical flower], “The Lonely Life”, “Sopart’s Life” and “Mind Limitation Story”. Besides all these skills he is also a wonderful painter who, when he was 17 years old, gained number 2 in the world in a competition which was held in Tokyo, Japan by the U.A.L organization of United Nation in 1947.
Mr. Nor Rithya is not only a great writer and actor but he is also an outstanding hero, he said, he used to serve in the army when he was 17. Although he was very busy in the fighting field, he still took an opportunity to compose songs such as the “Chross Oyadav.”
Because he brought his talent from birth, he added, “I became a film actor and got very popular in our country as well as Asia-wide from 1948-1961 I received a Gold Apsara award for film writing.”
Rithya is also an historian and from 1979-1993, he compiled Cambodian history which was written in France with titles such as “My Mind still with You”, “The Sunset over Prey Nokor City”, “Absentia History”, “The Internal Conflict of French Policy on Indochina”, “The Sunset of The Three Wars of Indo-China” and “War Slaves of Viet Ming.”
He uses the term, “Three Generation of Youth”, because he does not want to hear the word “old”. His first generation was when he was a student, the second is his research and the third is his compiling. Now 81 he has compiled a lot of Cambodian history for the younger generation to do research about what happened in their country.
Mr. Nor Rithya used to be a handsome man, but now he can only sit in one place as it is very hard to move because of his poor health he said, “I absolutely care about the country and I was parted from family in the Pol Pot regime without knowing anything about them and time has caused me to become seriously ill with my heart and blood pressure and a stroke which affected my left body since 1995.”
“I am a person who was unlucky with love since I was a youth. I was never happy with love as most people are because I sacrificed my heart, my soul, my mind, my spirit and my knowledge even my youth to the nation which gave me birth. I am always proud of my success which lets me die happily without any remorse.
(Written by May Titthara, Source: Cambodia The Life, Photo: Courtesy of Cambodia The Life)
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