Yoeun Mek was born in 1939 in Battambang province. He taught himself to play the two-string tro sao at age 15, earning a place to study under the great Master Sareoun, who taught instruments by singing the music.
Twenty-five years ago, Master Yoeun Mek was well known as a skilled performer of Cambodian music. It was his skill on "authentic" Khmer instruments that saved him from death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge - a fate that met almost all other musicians and performers during the "killing field" years. During the Khmer Rouge period, Master Yoeun Mek taught and played with Arn Chorn-Pond (who later started CLA) in a prison camp near Battambang.
After the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, he worked for the government's Department of Art and Culture as a musician in a local dance troupe in Battambang province. The music and dance troupe with which he performed served as a vehicle for spreading political ideology. In exchange, the government also gave him a brick house to live in. Master Yoeun Mek worked for a total of 15 years until he reached the age of retirement.
After retirement, he didn’t have work to do, despite being a nationally ranked musicians on several instruments, so he decided to become a barber and open his own barbershop. Arn Chorn-Pond found him in 1999, and he became a CLA Teacher. Now, he teaches traditional wedding music in Battambang province.