Dear Friends,
Thank you all for your generous and kind support of our School and of our Blind Students. Your help has provided them with nourishing meals, clothing, medical care and Tuition!
On the 10th August with very kind funding from the Michael Merriman Family Foundation, our Blind Studnts and Masters have completed 12 professional Recordings of Tradtional Cambodian Mohori Music, using "Changvat Pi Chuon", (the beautiful double-rythmn of the Skor Romonear drum, reserved for the ancient Mohori Music).
The Recordings were done with expertise and patience by Sound engineer Rob O'Hara, (Mute-speaker studios), with the ghost track done in our Main Hall at our School and subsequent Solo voice and Instrumentals recorded in a studio setting.
In this report, we would like to share with you some of the beautiful photographs kindly taken by Photographer Steve Porte, with the permission of our Students and Masters.
These Recordings will be available for the public soon and are part of our Student's progress towards becoming Independent Professional Musicians. The name of their Traditional Khmer Music Ensemble is, "Pikar Duntray Vitay Santepheap" - also known in shorter version as "The Path of Peace".
Our enormous and profound gratitude goes to Loak Kru Ros Samouen, our Mohori Music Master for his priceless dedication and Teaching. Our Thanks also to Neark Kru Lyda.
On the 11th August, we also celebrated our 29th Anniversary since our Founding.
We are so Grateful to each Person who has supported our School over nearly 3 decades.
With much love and blessings to everyone!
Catherine and Everyone at KCDI!
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Dear Kind Donors,
Thank you for your wonderful donations and constant support and kindness.
At the beginning of April this year, our School, together with the wonderful Epic Arts and other groups, hosted the Kampot Arts Festival. A Festival to celebrate Cambodian Artists and Cambodian Arts. The opening ceremony was given at our School and we also held workshops open to the public.
Our small Children performed Traditional Yike Dance, which is an ancient Sung Dance- form, deriving from the Cham and era of the Kingdom of Champa (2nd -17th C.a.d). They also performed the Khèam Dance. This features the Khèam instrument, a rare wind instrument now almost lost to Cambodia. Our Blind Students also performed Mohori and Yike Music.
During the Workshops, our Blind Students who have now created a Professional Traditional Cambodian Orchestra entitled "Vichak Santapheap" - The Path of Peace, and who continue to perfect their skills with our Mohori and Yike Masters, gave lessons in Mohori Musical instruments to local Cambodian Children during the Arts Festival in Kampot Town, Southwestern Cambodia where our School is based, further enhancing their self-confidence and skills.
Our Day Students who come from the TaPream Primary School are going strong and have learned two full Pin Peat Music Pieces.
After this, we celebrated Khmer New Year and we wish everyone many Blessings for the Cambodian New Year!
I Thank you all and my beloved staff for their immense dedication, kindness and love.
*Photographs by Loak Kru Sothy, Loak Kru Sambo and Neark Kru Tara: Made with permission of KCDI students
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Dear Kind Donors,
Thank you all for your most wonderful and kind support this last year!
With you Help, we have been able to begin Teaching Traditional Khmer Music and the Performing Arts to Primary School Children from the TaPream School in Tray Koh. They come from very poor families and so we provide them with nourishing evening meals and transport to and from their villages.
Importantly a very kind and supportive donor, has helped sponsor our Performance Project for our Blind Students. These Students have been living at our School since 2015 and have with daily Practice and hard work andt he wonderful skilled Teaching from our Masters, formed a professional Traditional Khmer Music Orchestra.
When our Blind Students were growing up in their villages and could net yet read or write, (because there was no access to School or Braille in their remote villages), their extended families and village communities were often quite cruel and humiliated them because of their disabilities.
Therefore the Performance Project where they Performed as a Professional Orchestra, was held in each of the different Pagodas from the village districts in Kampot Province where they were born and grew up.
It has been an amazing experience, with our Students Beautifully performing Pin Peat, Mohori, Yike and Plein Ka Music and their Concerts being eagerly attended by their entire village and district community.
As this Project is also about the Restoration of Traditional Khmer Music, we were so glad that many, including young people and Children attended.
This December we also began re-construction of our Main Hall Roof. Our Main Hall was designed by the late Royal Architect, You Sam El, who gave of his services for free to our School, firmly believing in our Vision to preserve Traditional Khmer Arts for future generations of Cambodians, after the Khmer Rouge genocide had killed 90% of all Artists..
The Main Hall is the central focal point of our School, where all Children from within and from communiies outside, come and study Traditional Khmer Music, Dance, Yike and Shadow Puppet Theatre. It was designed and built in the Traditional Pagoda Style, typical of the National Museum and University of Fine Arts Plastic Faculty, because Traditional Khmer Music and Arts is considered Sacred in Cambodia.
After twenty years, the roof beams were rotting, the eaves crumbling and the tiles letting in rain. A complete re-construction was needed, vital for the safety of our Child and Staff . We are most grateful therefore to our two donors from the USA, for their generous and kind support. So far, we have completed about 30% of work. When all is completed and the roof restored to its glory, we will present another report.
We Thank you all from our Hearts for helping us.
We Wish you all, Peace and Happiness for 2023 and beyond.
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Dear Kind Donors,
Thank you all for your most wonderful help and support to our School.
As always we take long-term care of very Vulnerable Children who have nowhere safe to live and we also provide Rehabilitation and Education and Vocational Training through tuition of Traditional Cambodian Music to Blind Youth. We provide Emergency Food Packages to Children in Kampot Province and give Emergency Temporary Shelter to Children in danger, found on the streets and to parents (with Children) who have suddenly become destitute. We are a member of International Childsafe and all our Staff receive Training in Childcare and Child Protection.
Two weeks ago we began a new Project with the Boueng TaPream Primary School in Tray Koh District, Kampot Province.
Thirteen very impoverished Children now come to our School every day, from Monday to Friday, to study Traditional Cambodian Music, Dance and Yike as well as Lakoun Sabaik Toch (Small Shadow Puppetry).
Our School provides them with Transport to and from their Village School and a Nourishing evening Meal, Clothing, Medical care, School books and Hygiene Materials. Some of the Children are so malnourished that their hair is red. As in all rural villages in Cambodia, water is not drinkable without first boiling it.
This Project is specifically for Assisting Impoverished Children and the Revival and Preservation of Traditional Khmer (Cambodian) Music and the Performing Arts. These Art-forms, designated “World Intangible Cultural Heritage” by UNESCO, are now in danger of dying out. They are over one thousand years old and have been passed down using the Oral Tradition and not written down, from Master to Student.
Firstly, between 1975 -1979 during the Khmer Rouge genocide, 90% of Cambodian Artists were killed or perished due to the terrible conditions, when a third of the Population of Cambodia was decimated. But now, efforts to conserve Traditional Cambodian Cultural Heritage are threatened by Western globalisation, the domination of China over Cambodia, Social media and many other factors in Cambodia.
Your help and support provides these Children with nourishing meals, clothing, transport, medical care, tuition of the Arts, electricity, water, School materials and Hygiene Materials. We Thank you All for so very Kindly and Generously Supporting this Project.
We will keep you all posted about our progress!
With Every Best Wish!
Catherine
Dear Kind Donors,
Thank you all so much for your precious help to our School and to our Children.
In the last three months, we have continued on with our work to provide Emergency Food Packages and Counselling for very vulnerable and impoverished Children in our community. Since January 2022, we have been able to help 128 Children, from new-borns to adolescents, (some with disabilities.)
Our Blind Students who live at our School, are flourishing and they have been studying hard at their Traditional Music (Pin Peat, Mohori, Plein Ka and Yike Music) and also their scholastic lessons at State School, with the support of their Braille Teacher.
We are also creating a Memorandum of Understanding with the Royal University of Fine Arts in the capital Phnom Penh, so that those Students who are very talented and choose the Arts and Music as their career, can further their studies and become professionally-qualified Artists and Musicians.
As well as renewing our Program to Teach Traditional Cambodian Music and the Arts for those Children and Youth living in the local community and those living at our School, we also Teach these subjects to the Children of our Staff. Our Staff are able to come and work at our School and bring their Children when they need. Thus Children and parents are not separated all day because of work, and both benefit immensely from this practical and loving support and a sense of belonging.
With so many devastating social problems, violence and poverty afflicting Cambodia and with so many wars around the World, yet our School is a safe-haven of Peace in a large garden, full of trees, fish ponds, flowers and little birds.
So many of our Children have suffered a great deal in their early lives and many have nowhere else safe to go.
Thank you all so very much for helping make it possible for them to live at our School.
(Photographs, kindly taken by Steve Porte with permission of the students and staff of KCDI).
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