Cambodia Travel Haiku - Sinn Sisamuth Poem by john tiong chunghoo

sinn sisamuth's songs
i feel so much closer
with Cambodia

two strange looks
from the CD shop owner
as i ask for all his sisamuths

I first came to know about singer Sisamuth through a Japanese programme which described him as still a phenomenon in Cambodia two decades after his death. He too suffered under the hands of Khmer Rouge. Nobody knows where his remains is. Sisamouth has such a beloved voice, one would just fall in love with his songs
upon first hearing. I found out that he recorded many Cambodian versions of many Taiwanese hits in the 60s and 70s. That makes him so much endearing to me as I used to love Taiwanese hits when I was a teenager.