Unofficial Translation

Selected Comments at the "Closing of National Conference on Khmer Visual Arts: 30 Years of Survival and Development"

22 July 2009

… I am so moved by the Bassac (a kind of Cambodian classical music) song which urged us Cambodians to think about development and conservatism of the Khmer arts in general. The performance has indeed shown us about a blend of development and conservatism altogether. As you know normally we use traditional music instrument to perform the Bassac … but as you and I have seen just now, both traditional and modern music instruments have pooled the play together … No matter what we have the basic form of Bassac, this is what I wanted to talk about.

… Months ago I noticed that the Cambodian TV (CTV) station slotted the show of singer Him Sivorn who enacts a song “A Pitiful Son, A Miserable Mom” that depicts my life and my wife’s … CTN music performance was by the orchestra of mixed instruments – traditional and modern ones. It was superb. As you see now both forms of instruments could get along with one another … In South Korea, where some of our music professionals have visited, all instruments played together all ASEAN countries’ music … I see this a core relation not only between music instruments and performance but also among cultures …

No Rail if Cambodia to Pay Alone

Having been absent from the country for a while, I come back to face heap of dossiers … One of them is about the construction of the Cambodian rail … I have come to a pause if Cambodia should go on with the project. Cambodia at this moment could get money from nowhere else other than China … They call it ASEAN rail but none of the countries involved expresses any intention to assist in this matter … It is impossible to let Cambodia fund the project all alone … It is true that the rail will be in Cambodia but it is also true that once it is built everyone will benefit from it ...

Internationalize Cambodian Arts

On the point about internationalization of Cambodian visual arts and culture … Internationalization in the sense that we want our arts to be learned and well known among other cultures … I have even asked the Ministry of Tourism to classify and offer rewards for hotels that have incorporated the Khmer arts the most … There is this recent feeling that Samdech Ov Preah Norosdom Sihanouk is an artist. But to be frank, Samdech Ov led the movie productions in the 1960s and they have been kept to today …

Look at it this way. Tourists have come from afar to see and learn about our arts. Why do we in some instance serve them of what they have at where they are from? I do not mean we should stop using their instruments but we have to find a way to get them along with what we have and can resemble what they used to have … like violin and Cambodia Tro (a kind of instrument with two strings) …

Localize Khmer Art Performance

HE Him Chhem, Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, requested promotion of mobile art activities to rural areas … I think this can be done if there is a good cooperation with the local authorities … I may have your attention on this though. Professional art performance of any kind at the present could be at disposal in any given events … The art and cultural performance by teams from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts would be only to complement those groups … Look, after the liberation, the country had so many visual art performances and the team led by Samraing Kamsan from Kompot province was well known … but up to the present, only three teams survive – Kompong Cham, Phnom Penh and Takeo …

I have a lesson that I learned from what is defined to be “Arts to Survive Arts” … and I have seen that many groups have been making progress this way … It would not survive if the group is organized to depend solely on government budget support. The group has been allowed to perform in group or in smaller groups which they could do three things at the same time – 1) they do publicity which educates and get the message across to viewers, 2) they make perfect from practicing, and 3) they made additional income that will support their families and will serve as a source of encouragement them to improve their art skills … In the past, the government or Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts covered the cost of performance but as of present it is the host of event that pays for it …

More of Economists than Talented Artists

I could recall the time when I met Ta Nai (Nai is a famous Cambodia soloist, Japei, who plays Cambodian two- string guitar along with lyrics that are improvised) in one trip that I made to my native village in 1980. The village was not yet peaceful and under constant threat from the Khmer Rouge … It is now almost 30 years … I have, because of their hard-to-find skills and commitments – decided to financially help them with their livings and there have been many of them. It would be easier now if I were to look for two to three hundred economists but to find just a bunch of good Ayai (a traditional Khmer art normally performs in sole, in pair or in playwright by singing lyrics that are either pre-written or improvised) singers or Japei soloists.

Imported Arts, Culture and/or Movies

Aside from traditional visual arts like Japei, Ayai, Bassac, etc. we have one other issue of concern. It is imported culture and/or movies at the time that our movie industry is starting to make a return. On this occasion I would suggest our script writers and directors to think harder of improving quality … Whether your production will get a hit or not should be story itself too. Efforts must be made to have own and not to copy from others … the Bayon TV had in the past aired two films that are almost whole copy from foreign movies …

In one of the three songs – 1) Hard life of a Husband-Disappeared Wife, 2) Life of the Pagoda Boy and 3) Cry of a Dirt Road - that Hang Meas VDO requested my permission to enact in Karaoke, every body knows “Life of the Pagoda Boy” is depicting my life … It was well done, though, if I may, it is a bit too straight forward that I have been depicted to have left my wife, had corn instead of rice, crossed a river, and returned being a hero. It was not delivering the right message and true event ... please take it as both my complimentary and constructive opinion …■

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