Sunday, August 17, 2014

Amatak Traditional Music Festival


This little girl is the first known female player of this rare traditional Cambodian musical instrument made from bamboo and one of only 3 living players of this instrument in Cambodia after the devastation of the Khmer Rouge genocide targeted artists and intellectuals in the 1970s.





The Amatak Music Festival was put on by Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) which was founded by my dear friend and major inspiration, Arn Chorn Pond


Some context on the performing arts in Cambodia historically from CLA's website: 

"Before the Khmer Rouge era, Cambodia was home to some of the most diverse and abundant arts and culture in Southeast Asia. Music, dance, theater and cinema flowed strongly through the blood of the Cambodian people. There were singers on every corner, musicians in every village and a dancer in every child. Art flourished. But in the years between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge brought a devastating end to all of that. It is estimated that during those years, 2 million Cambodians died from execution, starvation and overwork. It is also believed that among the dead were 90% percent of Cambodia’s artists, who were specifically targeted for execution, a devastating blow to Cambodia’s oral traditions. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, this human and cultural tragedy was compounded by two subsequent decades of crippling economic hardship. Of the Master Artists that survived, few could make a living by performing or teaching."









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