Cambodia4Kids.Org

Phatry's Lucky Week For Meeting Khmer Legends

Phatry Derek Pan has had an incredible week!  He met, interviewed, and posted about his experience meeting two Khmer legends, Master Kung Nai and Mr. Vann Nath.

Kung Nai is a master musician of the long-necked guitar, known as the chapey dong veng.  I first learned about him from Arn Chourn Pond's project, Cambodian Living Arts, and then the POV Documentary The Flute Player.   You can hear a recording of Kung Nai here.   Phatry heard him perform at pre-CD release party at the restaurant, Romdeng. (Romdeng is run by the NGO, Street Friends, and provides restaurant training for youth)

Mr. Vann Nath is the famous painter of S-21, the KR's torture machine, a high school turned prison. For one full year in Tuol Sleng, he painted KR propaganda and of Pol Pot. For his talent, his life was spared. For being alive, he witnessed humanity's cruelest moments of execution.

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Jinja offers some khmer fusion music picks

I'm a big fan of fusion music - music that fuses two different styles. One of my favorites is Akendengue’s 1993 album Lambarena which brought together the classical compositions of Bach and the traditional music of Gabon.

We've listened to a few of the khmer fusion music (jazz and rap) that Jinja mentions, but the blues musician, Bonny B, is new to me.  Thanks, Jinja, for pointing it out.

Dengue Fever in Cambodia

I love the band Dengue Fever.  They are based in LA and do a sort of Khmer fusion.  The lead singer, Chhnom Nimol, is Cambodian.  We discovered them because they did the sound track for Matt Dillion's City of Ghosts.   PR from Forever in Transit has written about one of my favorite songs, I'm Sixteen.   And, Jinja, has also referenced the band in his comprehensive post about Cambodian music.

Apparently, they are touring and have performed in Cambodia, although they had to cancel their first appearance because of some issues around equipment.   

Anth, an expat and blogger who is in Cambodia now caught their performance, complete with photos (including the one above.)

There is an informal update from the band on their web site about what they've been doing in Cambodia the last couple of weeks, including this tibit:

"today was not stop. we recorded with a blind master musician named kong nai 8am. he is like a Cambodian Ray Charles who plays the chapai..we had a connection, he was super sweet."

Wow, Kong Nai! We learned about him from the Flute Player on PBS.   Later, I got a DVD of one of his performances when I was in Cambodia.   Here's the description from the flute player site:

Kong Nai plays the chapei dang veng, a two-string long-necked guitar. He also practices the Khmer tradition of improvisational singing while he plays. Improvised lyrics were traditionally satirical or humorous, but this was forbidden by the Khmer Rouge, and he was forced to sing songs of praise for the government. He now performs less controversial songs, mostly stories and fables. Kong Nai has been a teacher at the Cambodian Master Performers Program since 2002.

Here's a clip of what he sounds like via the Flute Player site.

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Khmer Rap

Thanks to Jinja for this link to Angkor Rapper: DJ Sdey, the Khmer King of Rap

Here's what I clipped from the site:

In this eagerly anticipated one-off / first of a series, DJ Sdey, the Khmer King of Rap, relates his path from a childhood in a Khmer Rouge re-education detention camp through his ascendancy to the top artist in one of Cambodia's newest art forms, borrowed from the USA: Rap and Hiphop music. Great built in audience via Asian American viewer demographic, social issue (Khmer Rouge) educational component, and inherent interest of Rap fans worldwide make this a doc of great interest - even outside of culture/arts channels!

Who is this guy?

Chan Sour Sdey was born in Phnom Penh. He is married and has 2 children. In 1997, he learned to rap from Dr. Dre, Nelly, Eminem, and other American rapers when he was attending private rap school in Phnom Penh. Now he is working as an English Teacher, music composer, and a raper in Phnom Penh.

What does Khmer rap sound like? 

Click through this link to one of DJ Sdey's selections - Oh No or You Can't Go Home.   Hmm .. makes me want an IPOD.

P.O.V. - The Flute Player | PBS

"The Flute Player" is a one-hour documentary film about the life and work of Cambodian genocide survivor Arn Chorn-Pond.   The site describes the film:

Arn Chorn-Pond's story provides insight about the specific ways in which the past continues to influence the lives of refugees living in the United States today by illuminating and probing some of the most critical issues of our time: What does war do to the psyche of individual survivors? What steps can a country and its people take to rebuild after experiencing profound destruction? Why is the preservation of culture important to personal identity and survival? "The Flute Player" explores these questions as it tells a riveting and enlightening story about hope, healing and the will to survive in the aftermath of war.

The site has excellent resources for educators, including three special features on topics related to the film.

1.   Teaching with the film:  "The Flute Player" Lesson Plan: Lost Childhoods:
Exploring the Consequences of Collective Violence. Subjects: world history, language arts, sociology, psychology.  Grade Level: 9-12. 

2.    Conduct a Cambodian Ensemble  With a simple mouse rollover, site visitors can conduct court or folk ensemble.  There is also guide to the instruments in each.   This web-based resource is an excellent compliment to Silent Temples, Songful Hearts: Traditional Music of Cambodia by Sam-Ang Sam and Patricia Shehan Campbell.

3.    Cambodian Master Performers Program archive  You can listen to recordings of the masters.