Historical figure
Kong Bunchhoeun
Kong Bunchhoeun, also written Kong Bun Chhoeun,[1] was a Cambodian novelist, playwright, poet and songwriter. His career began in the 1950s.[2] He wrote more than 200 songs during the 1960s and 1970s, sung by Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Sereysothea and other singers of the time.[3] He was known as the "Master Poet of the Sangkae River".[4][3]
Early life
He was born in Battambang province.[2][3] The sources differ on the year: Words Without Borders gives 1939,[2] and VOA Khmer, the Khmer service of the Voice of America, gives 1930.[3] The Cambodia Daily gave his age at death as 78.[5]
Writing
Words Without Borders writes that his prose often blends romance with the supernatural, and that his satiric novels take aim at corruption, social injustice and the exploitation of the weak. In 1963 he spent six months in prison for a novel that criticized a high official in the royal government.[2] Several of his novels were made into feature films before the Khmer Rouge took power.[1]
His songs were performed by singers from Sinn Sisamouth to Preap Sovath.[5] One of the songs he wrote for Sinn Sisamouth, "The Shade of the Tenth Coconut Tree", was first recorded in 1972. Words Without Borders published it in an English translation by Trent Walker in 2015.[4]
Khmer Rouge years
He barely escaped death under the Khmer Rouge.[6] VOA Khmer writes that the regime moved him to Kampong Thom province and that he was to be executed after cadres found his films and accused him of working for the Central Intelligence Agency. A senior official of the regime who had read his novels saved him. He was held at a security camp and survived by selling paintings to cadres.[3] In the account given by Words Without Borders, the cadre who saved him spoke for him as a writer with a "profound sense of social justice".[2] Apart from those years, he never stopped writing and publishing.[2]
Later life
He returned to Cambodia in 1981.[2][6] In 2000 he left the country after publishing a novel, The Destiny of Marina, which drew threats against his life.[2][1] In 2003 his work appeared in French translation in the magazine Europe.[6] He was granted asylum in Norway in 2005 and lived there for the rest of his life.[5]
He died in Norway[5] of cancer, on April 17, 2016.[3]
Song rights
By August 2017 the copyrights department of the Ministry of Culture had given his family the rights to 41 of the 70 songs they had asked for, after a review of about a year.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Cambodia Daily, Ouch Sony, Song Rights Awarded to Bun Chhoeun Family (August 2, 2017)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Words Without Borders, Kong Bunchhoeun, contributor page (undated)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 VOA Khmer, Hul Reaksmey, Families of Deceased Singer Seek Intellectual Property Rights (June 24, 2016)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Words Without Borders, Kong Bunchhoeun, The Shade of the Tenth Coconut Tree, translated by Trent Walker (November 2, 2015)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The Cambodia Daily, Kang Sothear, Famed Songwriter, Novelist Dies in Norway at 78 (April 18, 2016)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Cambodia Daily, Michelle Vachon, Works of 5 Cambodians To Appear in French, US Magazines (June 10, 2003)