Help Young Cambodian Artists Start Their Career

This quarter our scholarship students came together for two workshops; one aimed at training them on the art of debate and the other aimed at creating an understanding of the difference between gender and sex.  No matter the course of study our students are currently on, we believe their newly found skills and enhanced techniques in persuasive speaking will serve them well in life, as such techniques contribute to the development of self-confidence, critical thinking skills and analysis.  Together, the workshops served as preparation for our scholarship program’s yearly debate.  Next quarter, fourteen to sixteen students will come together at the Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) office in Phnom Penh to formerly debate the role of gender in the arts.

Did you know that many of our scholarship students work as artists in our other programs?

All the arts training in the world amounts to little if after years of training, there aren’t viable employment opportunities for artists and arts professionals.  CLA’s Creative Industries program works to empower emerging arts professionals through their development and employment, while reaching out to larger audiences.

Two of our current scholarship students are artists in Plae Pakaa.  Plae Pakaa (translated as “fruitful”) is an original production featured exclusively at the National Museum of Phnom Penh.   The first student, who has been studying Smot (a form of poetry chanting) for over three years with CLA, is the Master of Ceremonies at the beginning of Passage of Life and sings Smot during the last scene of the production. The second student plays the Ksae Keiv, a string instrument made from a gourd and played while being held close to ones chest.

Another program making use of the creative talents found in our scholarship students is The Khmer Magic Music Bus (KMMB).  KMMB is the brainchild and newest endeavor of Arn Chorn-Pond, founder of Cambodian Living Arts and for whom our scholarship program is named after.  The project links back to Arn’s early vision for CLA – helping Cambodian Master Musicians revive traditional musical performances for the people of rural Cambodia.  One of our scholarship students is currently a musician on the bus and plays Chapei Dang Weng, a two-stringed, long-neck guitar that has been played in Cambodia since 500 B.C.

Scholarship Announcements

Scholarship announcements for 2015 opened this quarter and were made available to the public through our website, emails to our partners, and announcements in various classes.  The announcement was also broadcasted locally on 102.5 FM radio.  At the time of this report CLA had received over 65 applications from aspiring arts professionals.  Interviews will be held during July.  Successful applicants will be awarded scholarships from 1 October 2014 through 30 September 2015.

Links:

• Scholarship Announcement
• Reviving A Golden Age

With your support, we are happy to share with you the following achievements from two of our scholarship students (names have been changed to protect their identity). 

Scholarship student Boramy studies Smot.  Smot is a chanted form of poetry that tells stories about the life of the Buddha or Khmer stories that teach religious principles.  Smot can be challenging to learn because the melodies and vocal style are quite different from modern songs.  The words used in Smot are written in Pali, not Khmer, and include obscure vocabulary that can be difficult to memorize at first.  Through his scholarship, Boramy has learned five new Smot songs since October and has written a new song using Smot melody.  This new song was written with the intention to educate young people about the bad effects of drug use and was performed during the scholarship students 4^th Quarterly Meeting. 

CLA regularly holds demonstrations of the various arts forms it works with in communities across the country, with the aim of exposing and encourage a new generation to learn, preserve and develop the arts in Cambodia.  In addition to preforming his unique song at the scholarship students 4^th Quarterly Meeting, Boramy also performed his self-written song at a Smot demonstration in his village at Chrey Ho Pnov High School.

Scholarship student Sarin studies Roneat.  Roneat is a xylophone and an important part of the Pin Peat ensemble.  Pin Peat originated in Cambodia’s royal courts and temples at least a thousand years ago.  The music was played by orchestras or music ensembles to accompany court dances, masked plays, shadow plays, and religious ceremonies.  Through his scholarship Sarin is able to study music notation, musical beat and time signatures used in modern music.  Since October Sarin has learned six new songs and was able to purchase his own personal Roneat.

As part of our Creative Industries program, CLA facilitates paid performances for its troupes of professional and emerging artists.  Sarin, currently performs every Wednesday at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh and is a member of the front of house team for Plae Pakaa.  Plae Pakaa (translated as “fruitful”) is an original production featured exclusively at the National Museum of Phnom Penh.  This season, CLA offers three rotating performance six nights a week, Children of Bassac, Mak Therng, and Passage of Life.

Many of our other students have realized achievements over the past few months and with twenty-five scholarship students in total, this year, we plan to continue sharing these achievements with you in future reports.

In addition to individual achievements, all 25 students were invited together on December 20, 2013 for a scholarship community meeting.  The purpose of this meeting was to get all the students together to share experiences while building up a social network.  The meeting also served to prepare students for the next quarter while providing additional information and/or to answer any questions about the scholarship program students may have.

Links:

• Scholarship Awards Keeping Classical & Folk Arts Alive