Students make offerings to the spirits of past generations of artists in the traditional sampeah kru ceremony before the beginning of the Festival. (Photo: Courtesy of Cambodian Living Arts)Cambodia is preparing for an expansive arts festival in August, one that will bring artists of all ages from at home and abroad to demonstrate some of Cambodia’s nearly lost traditions.
Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Washington Tuesday, 27 April 2010
The Cambodian Youth Arts Festival will be held in Phnom Penh’s Chaktomuk Conference Hall from Aug. 1 to Aug. 6, and organizers expect at least 20 different organizations to take part, representing as many as 10,000 young and professional artists.
Song Seng, project coordinator of Cambodian Living Arts, told “Hello VOA” Monday the festival will provide an opportunity for artists “to share and learn a variety of traditional arts forms developed from elder traditions.”
It will also “help generate national renewal through arts and culture, and to provide opportunities for all participating groups to demonstrate mastery of what they have learned through workshops, demonstrations, and performances,” Song Seng said.
Cambodian Living Arts established a teaching program in 1999, encouraging surviving master musicians and performance artists to resume work with young apprentices.
The festival will allow some of these apprentices to showcase work they have practiced for years.
Kong Boran, a student of “chapei dang weng,” a musical oral tradition, said he learned from his father, Kong Nay, for seven years at the organization. The tradition includes melodies that are passed down from one generation to the next, though its lyrics are often newly composed or even improvised on the spot.
Lun Sophanith, student of the “khsae diew” instrument, learned from his grandfather, Sok Duch, for four years. Images of the soothing instrument, made partly from a gourd, can be found on the walls of Cambodian temples dating back to the 10th Century. It was popular with modern kings and leaders, who requested solo performances of the instrument to help them relax.
Sok Duch may be the last living master of the rare instrument, but he now teaches young apprentices. Two of them may become masters.
Much of Cambodia’s traditional culture was nearly silenced by the Khmer Rouge, which killed up to 90 percent of the country’s performers. The traditional cultures were passed down orally from teachers to students, so many skills were not recorded in writing.
“Each surviving performer is a living cultural treasure with a unique body of skills and knowledge to pass on,” Song Seng said. “A living library of Cambodia’s cultural legacy.”
Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Washington Tuesday, 27 April 2010
“Each surviving performer is a living cultural treasure with a unique body of skills and knowledge to pass on. A living library of Cambodia’s cultural legacy.”Cambodia is preparing for an expansive arts festival in August, one that will bring artists of all ages from at home and abroad to demonstrate some of Cambodia’s nearly lost traditions.
The Cambodian Youth Arts Festival will be held in Phnom Penh’s Chaktomuk Conference Hall from Aug. 1 to Aug. 6, and organizers expect at least 20 different organizations to take part, representing as many as 10,000 young and professional artists.
Song Seng, project coordinator of Cambodian Living Arts, told “Hello VOA” Monday the festival will provide an opportunity for artists “to share and learn a variety of traditional arts forms developed from elder traditions.”
It will also “help generate national renewal through arts and culture, and to provide opportunities for all participating groups to demonstrate mastery of what they have learned through workshops, demonstrations, and performances,” Song Seng said.
Cambodian Living Arts established a teaching program in 1999, encouraging surviving master musicians and performance artists to resume work with young apprentices.
The festival will allow some of these apprentices to showcase work they have practiced for years.
Kong Boran, a student of “chapei dang weng,” a musical oral tradition, said he learned from his father, Kong Nay, for seven years at the organization. The tradition includes melodies that are passed down from one generation to the next, though its lyrics are often newly composed or even improvised on the spot.
Lun Sophanith, student of the “khsae diew” instrument, learned from his grandfather, Sok Duch, for four years. Images of the soothing instrument, made partly from a gourd, can be found on the walls of Cambodian temples dating back to the 10th Century. It was popular with modern kings and leaders, who requested solo performances of the instrument to help them relax.
Sok Duch may be the last living master of the rare instrument, but he now teaches young apprentices. Two of them may become masters.
Much of Cambodia’s traditional culture was nearly silenced by the Khmer Rouge, which killed up to 90 percent of the country’s performers. The traditional cultures were passed down orally from teachers to students, so many skills were not recorded in writing.
“Each surviving performer is a living cultural treasure with a unique body of skills and knowledge to pass on,” Song Seng said. “A living library of Cambodia’s cultural legacy.”
2 comments:
Dear righter, please use Khmer word to caractirize the occasions gesture accordingly.
This is a formal Khmer word usage to say:
- THVAY KROO instead of using (Sam-peah Kroo). It's the samething with THVAY PREAH, Khmer do not use Som-peah Preah either Som-peah Kroo. Som-peah Suor & Chum-mreap suor is wisely n Khmer sociaty.
Note: there is not wrong to use Som-peah but the formal word usage is.
Khmer Observer!!!(K.O)
The government should take a lead in reviving and promoting Khmer arts by setting aside minimum financial funds that recognised artists who otherwise live in dire poverty could access.
Art is more than an expression or embodiment of cultural entity; it adds colours and meaning to most people's daily routine and/or often monotonous existence.
Most people also learn far more from popular mediums like TV shows or cinema. Thus, all contents broadcast by such mediums have an important public educational function to perform, particularly, in Cambodia's cultural context in terms of educational and moral poverty.
We should also make live performing arts in their various forms, including royal ballet etc. more accessible to ordinary people (rural or urban) rather than limiting them to tourists and affluent audience so that all Khmers could enjoy and identify with their nation's cultural heritage, whilst ensuring that social distinctions are kept to a minimum.
Many of Cambodia's living artists are often 'disabled', one of whom is master of Chapei Dong Veng Kong Nay whose fame and talent would have made him and his family materially comfortably off in most other countries instead of living in the slum and being threatened with eviction.
On a brighter note, it is good to see Khmer TV drama series and cinema are making marked improvement. This does show that the nation does have talent that remains to be nurtured and supported.
To the directors and producers as well as the actors: well done and keep up the good work!
School of Vice
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