Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Preserving Cambodia's endangered music genres

Preserving Cambodia's endangered music genres

Preserving Cambodia's endangered music genres

In past generations, Cambodians believed their illnesses were caused by spirits, and that only spirits themselves could cure them.

To summon healing spirits, a person would lend his body and serve as a medium during a ceremony, where the otherworldly beings were lured with food, alcohol, and a particular style of music known as areak.

Nowadays, with most people turning to treatments at hospitals rather than through spirits, the areak musical tradition has come close to extinction.

As part of an ambitious recording project, non-profit cultural organisation Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) has now begun to record areak in an effort to preserve its legacy, together with three other traditional musical forms: Smot chanting, kantaoming funeral music, and classical wedding music.

Originally, CLA only intended to record the latter three forms after launching a project earlier this year meant to preserve musical forms in danger of extinction.

But in the process of locating “living masters” – elderly musicians who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide and are among the only experts in their art forms – CLA stumbled upon a previously unknown areak ensemble in Kampong Speu province.

Seeing that this form had not previously been recorded, CLA coordinators decided to incorporate it into the on-going project.

“We’ve found some masters. They are quite old and even sick,” said Marion Gommard, the Communications Manager at CLA, of the elderly musicians. “This archive project is about preserving the traditional arts, so they can pass their knowledge to the next generation.”

While CLA has compiled master recordings in the past, the current archiving project, sponsored by the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, is its most ambitious yet.

It may take up to one year to complete, according to Gommard, and has so far included recording sessions in both the masters’ hometowns and at CLA’s Phnom Penh studio.

The organisation hopes to issue a total of 4,000 CDs by the end of November.

Chhuon Sarin, the technical program coordinator at CLA, said that although some traditional musical styles are still played in Cambodia, many have not been recorded.

Styles such as areak, whose popular use is in slow decline, are most at danger of disappearing. After all, if people don’t turn to spirits for cures, they will no longer need this style of music.

“In the past, people were Hindu, and they believed in curing patients with spirits. To bring spirits, music played a very important role,” said Sarin. “Spirits also have their ranks. The higher ranking spirits prefer a music ensemble with up to 10 drums ... So the music is slightly different from one place to another.”

Mao Yin, 68, from Preah Khe village in Kampong Speu province, is an areak master. His ensemble, which has five musicians and one singer, has a repertoire of approximately 25 songs, all of which will be recorded by CLA.

The musical instruments that they perform include tro ou (half violin and half guitar), chapei (a long necked two-string guitar), a traditional drum and a pei or flute.

“When I was young, areak was so popular,” said Mao Yin. “When we used to host areak music to bring spirits to cure a patient, the relatives of the patient would share food for the ceremony.”

Despite its waning popularity in the era of hospitals, however, the master says the spiritual music is not yet fully extinct. “Now, some people who cannot get their sickness cured at a medical hospital come to seek spiritual treatment, so they still hire our ensemble to perform music sometimes.”

While areak is generally known by Cambodians around the country, kantaoming funeral music has survived only in Kampot and Siem Riep provinces, according to Sarin.

Different from the conventional Buddhist chanting still used at funerals, kantaoming is traditionally performed at a funeral with musical instruments. Sarin believes that this particular musical style is not well known because people in most of the Kingdom stopped performing it for a long time.

Khem Sokha, 56, belongs to a five-man kantaoming ensemble that CLA established contact with in Sre Pong Ruong village, Kampot province, and which is also part of the recordings.

“When I was very young, I always heard elderly people ask their children to host kantaoming music for their funeral when they died,” said Khem Sokha. “People in my village still hire my ensemble to perform up to two days of the funeral. But in other places, they have already given up this music.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Roth Meas at [email protected]

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Ministry orders all schools, public and private, to close for SEA Games

    From April 20 to May 18, all public and private educational institutions will be closed to maintain order and support Cambodia's hosting of the 32nd SEA Games and 12th ASEAN Para Games, said a directive from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. Cambodia will host the

  • Wat Phnom hornbills attract tourists, locals

    Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide

  • Almost 9K tourists see equinox sunrise at Angkor Wat

    Nearly 9,000 visitors – including 2,226 international tourists – gathered at Angkor Wat on March 21 to view the spring equinox sunrise, according to a senior official of the Siem Reap provinical tourism department. Ngov Seng Kak, director of the department, said a total of 8,726 people visited Angkor Wat to

  • Angkor Beer strengthens national pride with golden new look and fresher taste

    Angkor Beer – the "Gold of Angkor" – has a new look, one that is more stylish and carries a premium appeal, as well as a fresher taste and smoother flavour, making it the perfect choice for any gathering. Angkor Beer recently launched its new design, one