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EMERGING ARTS
ROB SAVAGE EXPLORES CAMBODIA’S EXICITING CULTURAL RENAISSANCE AND MEETS THOSE LEADING THE REVOLUTION
THROUGH the wholehearted dedication of a new generation of artists, Cambodia is a nation on the brink of a cultural renaissance. All across the country – from provincial villages and city slums to the capital’s educated elite – there is a growing confidence that visitors will soon be just as aware of Cambodia’s rediscovered and contemporary cultural identity as they are of the horrors of its recent past.
Vice Dean of Phnom Penh’s University of Fine Arts, So Chenda oversees the current generation of art students and believes that a re-invigoration of the Khmer arts scene is on the horizon.
He explains, “I always thought that it would be 20 years from the defeat of the Khmer Rouge and the start of democracy for a successful contemporary Cambodian art scene to begin again.”
ARTY PAST
This is not the first time, of course, that the country has taken these first steps to an artistic revolution. In the ’50s and ’60s, Cambodia was an island of relative peace, surrounded by troubled neighbours.
Embracing their post-colonial status with a new optimism, the emerging urban elite experimented with defining a modern Khmer identity. Among them was a core group of artists, film-makers and musicians who led the way in creating a debate on the nature of contemporary art in their homeland.
At Phnom Penh’s Sala Rajana, or School of Art, Japanese lecturer Suzuki’s “observational” techniques inspired a new generation of Khmer artists. Battling classical restrictions that saw painting and drawing as little more than the precise reproduction of traditional images, they embarked on exploring new forms of self-expression.
Former students of Suzuki, such as Nhek Dim, struggled and overcame the commercial restraints of producing contemporary art in Cambodia. The creative community thrived and Nhek Dim went on to become one of the period’s most successful artists.
Music too, relished a newfound freedom through its fusion with western influences. When Chum Kem recorded the song “The Cambodian Twist”, debate reverberated through the readers’ letters to the national press about whether the new dance craze had a place in Khmer culture.
Not to be held back, the music of this new generation of performers took the public by storm. Sin Sisamouth, the “Emperor of Khmer music”, was the most popular of these singer-songwriters, recording hundreds of songs that interwove both western and traditional Khmer sounds to create a unique musical style.
But with the ’70s came revolution, the Khmer Rouge and “Year Zero”. Artists disappeared, and only one in 10 of the Khmer artists, film-makers, actors, dancers and musicians survived the trials of the three years, eight months and 21 days of Democratic Kampuchea.
The individual was rejected in favour of the collective and the very idea of self-expression was stamped out of a generation of Cambodians. Both Nhek Dim and Sin Sisamouth were amongst those who lost their lives.
ARTISTIC LICENSE
Today, the parallels with ’50s and ’60s are clear. Despite their enthusiasm, young Khmer artists are facing the same economic and cultural challenges as before.
So Chenda explains, “We are starting again. The problem is that it is so early for contemporary art and most people still only like the traditional. Although young people are creating contemporary art, look in the galleries; they are just commercial copies.”
However, with a growing market comes a growing confidence. Royal University graduate and lecturer Sophon Samkan received his first commission as a result of his involvement with the Peace Art Project. The venture took decommissioned small arms and turned them into sculptures symbolising Cambodia’s newfound peace – and immediately won international applause.
Samkan speaks proudly of the “Bird of Peace” sculpture that he and collaborator Chhay Bunna created, which stands in front of the Australian Embassy at the foot of Wat Phnom.
“We were commissioned by the Australian Embassy and the Municipality of Phnom Penh to create this piece,” he says. “It took three months to complete and then they mounted it here. It makes me happy that so many people get to see our work.”
Samkan also believes that there is a growing interest in Khmer contemporary art. “I see that people are interested in what we do and it is much easier now to sell our work,” he says.
Sasha Constable, former World Monuments Fund Artist in Residence and tutor at the Royal University of Fine Arts, helps her former students such as Samkan, to organise exhibitions.
After the opening night of the first all-Khmer exhibition to be held in Siem Reap’s newest exhibition space, The Art House, Sasha is visibly pleased. She proudly reveals, “We sold five sculptures, two paintings and received two commissions in the first few hours alone.”
Asked if things have changed in the six years she has spent in the Khmer art community, she replies, “Definitely! With very few exceptions, there wasn’t any contemporary art. Now there is real interest and some of the artists are starting to make a living out of their work.”
MODERN MELODIES
Khmer music too, is finding a renewed vigour. Although much of popular music is dominated by hits that copy Chinese, Thai and American musical styles, traditional forms are beginning to resurface, thanks largely to the efforts of Salapak Khmer Amatak or Cambodian Living Arts (CLA). Through the CLA’s Masters Programme, traditional music masters across Cambodia are provided with a small income to teach the next generation of Khmer musicians.
Nowhere is there a greater concentration of beneficiaries than in Phnom Penh’s Tonle Basaac slum. Despite the imminent threat of forced eviction, the arts community here is thriving. Among the musicians are four masters and 70 students supported by the CLA. One of them is Kong Nei who, with his trademark dark glasses, is Cambodia’s most recognisable traditional musician.
Kong Nei’s nickname, the “Ray Charles of Cambodia”, is more than just a simple observation of his blindness, shaded eyes and engaging smile. Kong Nei is a master of the Chapei, a traditional form of improvised song-making that is often compared to American Delta Blues.
Named after the Chapei Dong Veng, a long-necked, two-string guitar that accompanies the singing style, Chapei is not bound by the restrictions of other traditional forms and lends itself to a fusing with modern styles.
Outside his small shack, Kong Nei sits on a rickety, raised wooden platform with his female protégé, Ouch Savy. Savy is one of the new generation of Chapei musicians who are at the beginning of an emerging musical awareness that could come to rival imported karaoke and pop.
“There is nothing wrong with popular music,” she says, “but we Cambodians have to do something new for ourselves rather than merely copying other countries’ music. By putting traditional and modern music together, I want to play something that young people have never heard before.”
Savy has already made over 20 television appearances and performed improvisational pieces with the Los Angeles-based Khmer American fusion outfit, Dengue Fever. Her talent is widely recognised.
“I will always sing and play traditional Khmer music,” she says. “But I also want to learn another instrument so that I can make modern music.”
With the support of the CLA and other organisations, Savy’s dreams are slowly turning into reality.
INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM
No better evidence for Cambodia’s cultural revival can be found than in the attitude of the global commercial sector. Established eight years ago, Artisans d’Angkor has become the premier producer and exporter of high quality Khmer crafts. With outlets in Phnom Penh, Paris and Hong Kong, no one is in a better position than those involved to assess the international market’s attitudes towards Cambodian art.
Artisans d’Angkor’s senior artist and designer, Muy Lim Theam has been following the change: “Just last year, there wasn’t a big demand, but today, I am being asked to select new products. Now, we have to take the second step and move into the art market.”
Helping to make this a reality is Artisans’ French designer Eric Stoker, who is planning a contemporary art training programme. “Our craftsmen currently have 10 years of traditional stone-carving and silk-painting skills behind them. Now we are going to ask them to fashion something for themselves,” he says. “My hope is that by July 2007, we will have some people here with interesting ideas and creating something new.”
As with Artisans’ growth, commercial music sales also signify an increased international awareness of Khmer music – particularly in the United States where a large Khmer refugee community is influencing tastes.
A revival of the ’60s classics has seen Dengue Fever’s fusion of old and new receiving rave reviews, with the LA band performing regularly on both sides of the Pacific. Encouraged by a musician exchange programme that promotes experimentation with jazz, popular music and traditional Khmer sounds, the CLA has been prompted to release a CD in the United States. Plans are underway to launch an album by Savy in the coming months as well.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Clearly, the cultural renaissance of the ’50s and ’60s was not an accident. An understandable desire to preserve and revive traditions has dominated the past 20 years, but creating new styles is becoming equally important for an up-and-coming generation of artists and musicians.
From the Indian influences at Angkor to the European and American music of the ’60s, Cambodia has never shied away from external influences while unconsciously reshaping them to suit their own tastes.
The next few years will be telling. Formal art traditions are set to further merge with western contemporary styles, and popular karaoke will fuse with a revived classical music.
The result? A unique Cambodian contemporary culture, to rival that of the mid-20th century, is set to blossom.
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Over four days in April this year, the Veal Menh Square in front of Phnom Penh’s National Museum became a public stage for over 400 artists, musicians, actors, dancers and circus troupes from across Cambodia at the first Phnom Penh Arts Festival (PPAF).
Together with a group of Cambodian organisations and expatriates who share an interest in the arts, director of the festival, Jane Martin had decided it was essential that artists got the opportunity to perform.
She explains, “Since the National Theatre burned down over 10 years ago, there has been no national performance venue.”
The diverse talent ranged from the fusion of contemporary and classical theatre by the Sovanna Phum troupe to the music of Cambodian Living Arts’ supported artists Kong Nei and Ouch Savy.
“It was great for the artists to meet and exchange ideas for the first time,” says Jane. “There is often little interaction between the different groups. The festival gave them the chance to see what other artists were doing.”
Phnom Penh Arts Festival, PO Box 908, Phnom Penh, email ppaf@online.com.kh, www.online.com.kh/~ppaf
ARTS DIARY: NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2006
APSARA ARTASSOCIATION
An independent organisation whose mission is to promote the accessibility of Cambodian arts through holding regular performances that are open to the public in Phnom Penh. 71 Street 598, Phnom Penh. For more 
information, contact Wann Sithen, tel +855 (0)12 979335, email apsara_arts@online.com.kh, www.apsara-art.org/
THE ART HOUSE
This new hub features regular exhibitions of contemporary international and Cambodian art upstairs at The Warehouse bar. On view now are Srey Bandol’s series of drawings documenting the lives of those who live and work on Battambang’s crumbling railways. Opposite the Old Market, Siem Reap, tel +855 (0)12 699249, email info@thearthousesiemreap.com, www.thearthousesiemreap.com
CAMBODIAN LIVING ARTS (WORLD EDUCATION)
Ongoing music, dance and theatre performances are held at the Wat Bo Lanka pagoda and hotels in Siem Reap. There is a performance of traditional dance, puppetry and music at Wat Bo Lanka on 6 November. For more information, contact Song Seng, Project Coordinator, tel +855 (0)12 583891, email song_seng2002@yahoo.com
REYUM GALLERY
Reyum was one of Phnom Penh’s first public exhibition spaces and showcases a changing series of art exhibitions as well as a collection of educational material on Khmer history, culture and the arts. 47 Street 178 (opposite National Museum), tel +855 (0)23 217149, email reyum@camnet.com.kh, www.reyum.org
POPIL PHOTO GALLERY
This photo gallery is always worth a visit for its permanent and rotating exhibits of photography from around Cambodia. Recent acclaimed shows include John Vink’s Feather Weight photo essay (and accompanying book) on Cambodian boxing. 126 Street 19, Phnom Penh, tel +855 (0)12 992 750, email lepopil@hotmail.com, www.lepopil.com
JAVA CAFÉ & GALLERY
This Phnom Penh exhibition space for the Java Arts network aims to support Cambodia’s growing arts scene through creative projects, workshops, artist exchange, publicity and building a community of artists. “A Shimmer of Saffron” 
– impressionistic photography by Sandy Shum – is on display now. 56E1 Sihanouk (Street 274), email info@javaarts.org, www.javaarts.org
SOVANNA PHUM
Watch performances of traditional shadow puppetry, Lakhoun traditional theatre and Khmer dance every Saturday evening at 7.30pm. 111 Street 360 (corner 105), Phnom Penh, tel +855 (0)23 987564, www.sovannaphum.org
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