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Pen Ran (Ron) was known for her unrestrained personality and western-oriented hairstyles and fashions, rejecting traditional demands on Khmer women and representing new and modern gender roles.[8] Her onstage dancing and flirtatious lyrics were considered scandalous in Cambodia at the time.[1] Translated titles of her songs indicate her risque focus on romance and sexuality (for example, "I'm Unsatisfied" and "I Want to Be Your Lover") and a rejection of traditional courtship (for example, "It's Too Late Old Man"). Near the end of her music career Pen Ran was still an unmarried career woman in her early thirties, which was also unusual for Cambodia at the time.[9] She addressed this topic in the song "I'm 31" which was an answer to Ros Serey Sothea's hit song "I'm 16."[3][4]

Pen Ran was known to be a very versatile singer, having a repertoire consisting of traditional Cambodian music, rock, twist, cha cha cha, agogo, mambo, madizon, jazz, and folk.[1] When discussing her vocal abilities, one researcher has said "Pan Ron hits notes that shatter glass."[10] Decades later, Nick Hanover described the unique combination of Cambodian and Western influences in the track "Rom Jongvak Twist" as "a Cambodian spin on American dance crazes that sounds less like Chubby Checker than Lydia Lunch."[11] Throughout her career, she is believed to have performed on hundreds of songs, many of which she wrote herself.[8]

Pen Ran disappeared during the Khmer Rouge genocide of the late 1970s and her exact fate is unknown. Her younger sister Pen Ram said that she survived until the Vietnamese invasion of late 1978/early 1979 when the Khmer Rouge launched their final series of mass executions.[7] Given the goal of the Khmer Rouge to remove foreign influences from Cambodian society, Pen Ran's individuality probably ensured her death.[1] In a 2015 BBC documentary on the band Cambodian Space Project, who have covered many of Pen Ran's songs, it was alleged by an interview subject that she was tricked by the Khmer Rouge into performing one of her songs, after which she was led away and executed.[12] Starting in the late 1990s, interest in Pan Ron's music was revived by the album Cambodian Rocks[13] and similar CD compilations, while the documentary film Don't Think I've Forgotten described her as one of the most influential artists of her era, as well as one of the most popular artists amongst younger Cambodians.[2] (Wikipedia)

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from Songs of the City of Four Faces - Cambodian Pop Music of the 1960's, released August 19, 2020

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metal postcard records Sydney, Australia

Metal Postcard Records is an independent record label based back in Sydney and influenced by the likes of Fast Records / Factory / Postcard / Island / Stiff and Bill Drummund's wonderful Zoo records

We believe in new music from around the world ... not world music ! ... more

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