Midada was born on 2/3/1981. His father’s name is Kim Sapoun - a Khmer traditional musician and Lakorn Basak actor. He passed away on 10/10/2007 at the age of 66. Please see the news article about his father’s death here. His mother is Ben San. She is now 69 years old. She lives with him today. Sapoun Midada has two brothers with no sister in the family. He is the youngest child. Both brothers are not in performing arts nor Khmer entertainment. They are working and live on their own with their families. Sapoun Midada was born in Kean Svay – Kandal Province. He went to study in Sam Roung Elementary school in Kean Svay. He then came to live in Phnom Penh and studied at Vath Kos and then Sisovath College. Because his father knew French very well, he learned French from his father since he was young. Because French was his favorite field and he already had a good base of it already, Sapoun Midada initially thought that he would pursue a career in French. So he then decided to continue to study French at a French cultural center in Phnom Penh.

When he was in his second year, he realized that spending 8 hours a day in school studying French while his family was desperate was not a good idea. So he decided to quit French to study something with which he could make money to support the family faster. So he then took journalism as he was very good at Khmer literature. While he was studying journalism, Sapoun Midada also tried to study music – playing guitar after school as that was something he always liked since he was young. He said the places where he studied journalism and music were far away for each other. So at the end of each day when his journalism lesson ended, he had to run to his music school or he would be late. He had no money to buy a bike or pay for transportation.

Because he did not have money to pay for the class, he could only study from the outside of the classroom. He would sit outside of the classroom and listen to the teacher through the window. His big problem was he did not have enough money to buy a guitar to practice. “The guitar only cost $8 but I just didn’t have the money to buy one!” Sapoun Midada said that three times to emphasize how poor he was at the time. With his shaking voice, I could tell that he was little emotional when he got to this point. So what he did was to clean the classroom at the end of the class in exchange of borrowing a guitar to practice for an hour or two each day from the instructor. Because he liked music and he had talents, with his strong determination he learned music very fast. He said he learned even faster than students who were in the classroom.

Sapoun Midada then worked as a free-lance news reporter. He wrote news articles and sold them to magazine and news companies. While he worked as a journalist, he created a music band with some of his friends. So he was able to earn enough money to support his family by being both a journalist and musician. His band was hired to play for restaurants and various social and traditional events. There was one day when his band was invited by TVK to perform for a TV program. That was when he was seen by a Rasmey Hang Meas (RHM) production manager. He was then hired to work as guitarist. Since he studied music, Sapoun Midada could not only play the guitar, but he could also compose music and write songs for RHM. His work ethics, performance and character were gradually recognized by RHM management team and he was then allowed to sing and record songs. In 2004, Sapoun Midada was awarded with a 5 year contract by RHM.

Most of his fans know Sapoun Midada’s songs were mostly sad, emotional and slow songs typically describing a heart broken love story, his hometown or his parents. Those songs were originally written about his past unsuccessful love and most of his fans know that. When asked about his past love story, he was first hesitant but a few second later, he decided to tell the story that induced him to write all the songs. He defined the story as “shadow of the past.” When he was in Sisovath College, he had a loving relationship with a classmate named Lina. The relation went every well, and they both had built a lot of memories together. The fairy tale went on until one day when Lina decided to leave him and married someone else because he was poor. That terribly devastated him big time. He endured tremendous pains from his betraying love and nothing seemed to help him to release those pains but music.

To ease the pains, he took every opportunity he had to express himself through his music and songs. His first two songs he wrote were Debey Awey Tov Oun and Krup Yang Debey Ouen. Please watch videos below. There were many other sad songs he wrote about his love for Lina. Now, Sapoun Midada was completely recovered from this “shadow of the past.” He was very upbeat with his career and his future. He said when he looked back he was very happy that Lina decided to marry someone else or he would have been a father with many children on his load by now, and he might not be the same famous Sapoun Midada today. It was wonderful that he was able to turn the pains from his failed love into something he could use to motivate and focus on his career. He even wrote a song to thank Lina for breaking up with him. The song title is Or Kun Oun that Ban Kbot Bong (Thank You for Betraying Me).

So far, he has not played in any big scale movie yet. That is because RHM has not done very many big scale movies and he can’t play for any other movie production companies as he is in a contract with RHM. Part of the interview, Sapuon Midada took the time to explain about his candidacy for the Sdach Korn character for the upcoming RHM movie. At this point he said the decision as to who would play the Sdach Korn role has not been decided. The scripts and appointment of Sdach Korn character have to be approved by government as Sdach Korn movie is a part of Khmer history. However, he was told to be prepared and stand by. He is now practicing and training how to perform traditional fights, ride horses, climbing trees, etc. Though there have been other rumors as to who will play Sdach Korn character, Sapoun Midada and Preap Sovath are the two likely candidates for the role. Angkorthom.US has been running a survey and so far Sapoun Midada seems to be leading.

When asked about his current dating, Sapoun Midada did not say specifically that he was having someone in his heart but said in a joking way that it was typical that he was as a star there were always girls chasing. On a serious note, he said it wouldn’t be too soon and it wouldn’t be too long when he would marry someone and get settled down. He knew his mother was getting old and he wanted to get marry while she was still alive. When asked if his mother was going to find someone for him or she was going to accept a girl who he loved. He said his mother already told him that she would not interfere with his marriage and that she would accept any girl he wanted to marry.

It was a very pleasant experience to talk with Sapoun Midada. At a personal level, he is a very smart and friendly – down to earth kind of person. He likes talking very much. Without asking many questions, he told his story like reading from a book. Among all other stars, I have interviewed, Sapoun Midada is the most committed to Khmer entertainment. He said, “I was born for Khmer entertainment and I will die for Khmer entertainment.” This sentence alone says it all about the love he has for Khmer entertainment. He also said the reason he landed on what he is doing today was not accidental, he had planned and worked hard for it. If he was old and couldn’t sing or act any more, he would compose music, write songs or teach. That is his future plan. He is also dedicated to Buddhism. After his father passed away, he took time from his busy schedule to serve as a monk to pay respects to his parents and Buddhism in March 2008 for 15 days. His education, determination and disciplines have shaped him for who he is and it was all reflected in the way he presented himself.

Like other most contracted RHM singers, Sapoun Midada has not got to visit any other country except Malaysia so far. So if his visa application is successful, USA would be the big first Western country he visits. He said he was very excited and he wanted to see how USA is and bring back ideas to help Cambodia. Just on a side note, Sapou Midada likes American politics very much that he follows everything about US politics. The over all feeling I got from the interview is he is calm, confident, intelligent and very upbeat about his future. Angkorthom.US is honored to talk with him. We hope his visa application for visiting USA is successful and that he can come and visit Khmer communities in USA in the near future.