By Tenley Woodman
Boston Herald Features Reporter
From a tormented history an opera is born.
“Where Elephants Weep,” a fusion of traditional Cambodian arts and the Western influences on the war-torn country’s displaced masses, previews Friday night at Lowell High School.
The weekend-long engagement is the only scheduled performance prior to its premiere in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in January 2008.
“Silence and fear were dominating. The arts were the opposite. (They) take a real voice and enormous risk,” said the opera’s executive producer, John Burt, about the violent Khmer Rouge regime’s genocidal grip on Cambodia from 1975-1979.
The opera resurrects an arts tradition that was nearly lost under the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror. Approximately 90 percent of the country’s oral historians and artists were wiped out.
“This was a huge, incredibly devastating loss. It’s an oral tradition, so the work hasn’t been written down. If the master knew the songs and didn’t pass them down, when he was killed, they were just lost,” said Beni Chhun, development officer for Cambodian Living Arts, a project of World Education of Boston, which commissioned the opera.
“Where Elephants Weep” tells the story of a young Cambodian man returning to his homeland after fleeing from its civil unrest. It is an experience not uncommon to residents of Lowell, home to the second largest Cambodian community in America.
Lowell-raised Tony “Re-al” Roun, 28, a refugee who fled Cambodia with his family when he was 5 years old, narrates the opera through rap.
“From my experience, the music I am composing speaks a lot about identity crisis,” said Roun, a member of the Cambodian rap group Seasia.
“I really want people to come experience something - to understand the cross-culture of a refugee,” he said.
Funding for Cambodian arts came under scrutiny in January when state lawmakers were faced with budget constraints. Recipients of state funding included Cambodian classical dance and folk tale education programs for Lowell teens.
The opera is being funded by a public/private partnership among numerous organizations including John Burt Productions of New York, the Cultural Organization of Lowell and the Cambodian Artists’ Association.
“The arts are a way of bringing healing in a couple of ways. By having people in the process of learning the art, they are learning trust and confidence in themselves,” said Chhun. “In Cambodia, that is a big challenge.”
“Where Elephants Weep,” 50 Fr. Morissette Blvd., Lowell. Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m. and April 29 at 2 p.m. $10-$20. 617-931-2000. For more information, go to www.whereelephantsweep.net.
“Where Elephants Weep,” a fusion of traditional Cambodian arts and the Western influences on the war-torn country’s displaced masses, previews Friday night at Lowell High School.
The weekend-long engagement is the only scheduled performance prior to its premiere in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in January 2008.
“Silence and fear were dominating. The arts were the opposite. (They) take a real voice and enormous risk,” said the opera’s executive producer, John Burt, about the violent Khmer Rouge regime’s genocidal grip on Cambodia from 1975-1979.
The opera resurrects an arts tradition that was nearly lost under the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror. Approximately 90 percent of the country’s oral historians and artists were wiped out.
“This was a huge, incredibly devastating loss. It’s an oral tradition, so the work hasn’t been written down. If the master knew the songs and didn’t pass them down, when he was killed, they were just lost,” said Beni Chhun, development officer for Cambodian Living Arts, a project of World Education of Boston, which commissioned the opera.
“Where Elephants Weep” tells the story of a young Cambodian man returning to his homeland after fleeing from its civil unrest. It is an experience not uncommon to residents of Lowell, home to the second largest Cambodian community in America.
Lowell-raised Tony “Re-al” Roun, 28, a refugee who fled Cambodia with his family when he was 5 years old, narrates the opera through rap.
“From my experience, the music I am composing speaks a lot about identity crisis,” said Roun, a member of the Cambodian rap group Seasia.
“I really want people to come experience something - to understand the cross-culture of a refugee,” he said.
Funding for Cambodian arts came under scrutiny in January when state lawmakers were faced with budget constraints. Recipients of state funding included Cambodian classical dance and folk tale education programs for Lowell teens.
The opera is being funded by a public/private partnership among numerous organizations including John Burt Productions of New York, the Cultural Organization of Lowell and the Cambodian Artists’ Association.
“The arts are a way of bringing healing in a couple of ways. By having people in the process of learning the art, they are learning trust and confidence in themselves,” said Chhun. “In Cambodia, that is a big challenge.”
“Where Elephants Weep,” 50 Fr. Morissette Blvd., Lowell. Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m. and April 29 at 2 p.m. $10-$20. 617-931-2000. For more information, go to www.whereelephantsweep.net.
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