The Khmer Music Scene
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The music scene in Cambodia
If you like musical acts such as Dashboard Confessional and the Pussycat Dolls—even any form of bluegrass— you would enjoy the music scene in Cambodia. The music in Cambodia has many similarities to the music scenes of other countries: there are many different styles, music is sold and distributed at live shows, it is used for religious ceremonies, and fans follow popular acts. You can even find videos and tour dates for popular Cambodian music acts such as the alternative rock band Coconut and the pop/hip-hop singer Tata Young from You Tube and their Myspace pages.
Similar to other types of music, Khmer music began as an accompaniment to religious rituals, like weddings. Westernized weddings often include the wedding march, and love songs like Fred Astaire’s The Way You Look Tonight that usually play while the happy couple enjoys their first dance. Khmer weddings also play traditional (folk-like) music during a processional. Although Khmer weddings are stricter with the idea of “proper cultural rituals”, some younger couples can include popular music like Khmer artist Meng Keo Pich Chenda’s love ballads.
Another similarity that Cambodian music has with others is that it is expressed visually as well as aurally. You can find murals across the globe that display musical influences, whether it be a graffiti mural dedicated to the memory of hip hop singers like TuPac and Notorious B.I.G. or whether it’s a mural on the stone monuments of Angkor Wat, where music and traditional Khmer instruments are displayed (most of which are still used today).
Would you consider Metallica an alternative band or a hard rock band? What genre does Marilyn Monroe’s music fall into? Why does New York consider Rascal Flatt a Pop band, and California considers it a country band? Or are they both? In places like the UK and the United States, the number of categories of music is large, they don’t adhere to strict restrictions to fit into a definition for a category, they can vary from region to region, and artists can belong to more than one category. Filing your music by genre can become very difficult, but not if there are only two main categories (Folk/Classical or Popular) like in Cambodia, although the number of sub-categories are growing. Within the Popular category there are two sub-genres: ramvong (slow dance music) and ramkbach (like Thai folk). Another form that has become increasing popular in Siem Reap is Kantrum, which originated from Thailand.
Cambodian music consists of ancient forms of music as well as high influences from modern westernized music. Cambodian folk music has influences from both Hindu music and ancient forms of music. Most westernized music is based around three main instruments -drums, guitar, and bass- then adding more instruments to change the sound. Traditional Cambodian music consists of a variety of string, wind, and percussion instruments (like a conch shell horn-Saing- and gong). Some of the instruments are also made of bamboo and reed. Instead of MTV and music videos that often depict a small story, Cambodians pride themselves on religious (classical) dancing that depicts stories, ancient myths, and lessons; and are sometimes accompanied by a pinpeat orchestra (usually includes a fiddle, flute, gong, banjo, cymbal, bamboo xylophone, and oboe). While Popular music in Cambodia is trendy and appeals to younger generations, Cambodia is better known for its traditional music based on string, wind, and percussion.
Contributed by jessica_ledford
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I would like to thank you and your company very much for its excellent organisation of our visit to Siem Reap earlier this month. We greatly enjoyed the visit and found it most interesting. We were well looked after from the moment we arrived to the moment we left. In particular we would like to thank Mr Sophoam, our guide. He was extremely friendly, polite and knowledgeable about his country, its history and the temples we visited. I shall be pleased to recommend your company to others visiting Cambodia and beyond.
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