Soprano Singer Looks To Elevate Khmer Music

Cambodia’s Royal Ballet performed in New York earlier this month for the first time in decades. The performance, part of the Season of Cambodia arts festival, was not just a pleasure for Americans to see, however. It also brought pride to many Cambodians who fled their home country and ended up as far as Canada and the United States. VOA Khmer’s Poch Reasey reports from New York.

An estimated 80 percent of Cambodia’s artists were among some two million victims of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s; their skills and knowledge were lost since Cambodian culture is still largely oral. But in the last two decades, a new generation of Cambodian artists has sought to revive those classical arts and invent new forms. VOA’s Carolyn Weaver reports on New York's “Season of Cambodia”, a festival designed to help further that revival.

The novel tells the story of a beautiful woman with a secret, who witnesses the building of Angkor Wat, its rise and internal violence there.

“Woman of Angkor,” by retired American journalist John Burgess, took 10 years to write. But Burgess’s love of the period started much earlier: he first visited the Angkor complex in 1969. Burgess told VOA Khmer at a recent book reading in Washington that the temples have ever since captivated him. “I would love for Angkor to become better known in the world,” said John Burgess, a former assistant foreign editor for the Washington Post. “In the western world, we all grow up knowing about ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome. We know who were the great kings, what were some of the historical events, but the Angkor civilization is very much the equal of those civilizations in terms of Gloria and grandiose and construction and arts and yet almost no body in this country knows about Angkor. So, I hope that through this book a few more people will become familiar with this great great civilization.” (Im Sothearith, Washington)

The museum’s decision comes as the Cambodian government seeks the return of another statue from the auction house Sotheby’s, which is fighting the claim.

The Cambodian American Heritage group recently put on a cultural performance in Arlington, Va., outside of Washington. More than 500 people attended the show, which included arts, culture and tourist attractions. VOA Khmer's Pin Sisovann reports from the performance.

Back at school, Bosba Panh said she wants to sing opera one day, to bring Cambodian music to the world stage.

Leang Seckon was recently in New York as part of the Season of Cambodia arts festival, in which hundreds of artists perform in some of New York’s top venues in April and May.

Known as “a small lady with a big heart,” Ravynn Karet-Coxen aims to bring her team of sacred dancers to perform at Buddhist temples and to meet Cambodian communities in the US later this year. Karet-Coxen, who left Cambodia in 1970 and returned in 1992, told VOA Khmer’s Men Kimseng in a recent interview that she had created a dance troupe to pray at temples to help call for greater spirituality for Cambodians, and to call on divine powers to return to the temples and “bless our land, our people, our government.”

Sculptor Sopheap Pich is one among many Cambodian artists whose work has flowered in recent years.

Cambodia spends only about 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product on cultural preservation, including museums and heritage sites.

As Cambodian-Americans prepare to celebrate the Khmer New Year, different communities must pick different weekends to celebrate in April. Sok Sovannarorth, of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, shares her New Year’s plans with VOA Khmer’s Men Kimseng.

Across the country this weekend, Cambodian-Americans welcomed the Year of the Snake. At the Wat Buddhikaram temple in Silver Spring, Md., Cambodian residents welcomed others from the community in celebrations. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett called the Khmer New Year celebrations "a major annual event" demonstrating how Cambodian-Americans "continue to make significant contributions to enhance the quality of life" in Maryland. VOA Khmer's Im Sothearith reports from the temple.

Thailand told the court through a representative in its oral arguments Wednesday that the court did not rule on the border near the temple in 1962 and should not be asked to do so now.

Many of California's 100,000 Cambodians welcomed the Year of the Snake this weekend. That includes the city of San Bernandino, east of Los Angeles. The city has struggled financially since the 2008 crisis. And many here are hoping now for a prosperous New Year. Thousands of Cambodians now live in this city, which filed for bankruptcy last year. This year, they want to see a change. (Cheang Sophinarath, San Bernadino)

A Cambodian play called "Maktheung" was featured along with popular games and other art performances for Khmer New Year celebrations at the Buddhikaram Temple in Silver Spring, Maryland, last week. The play depicts the value of loyalty, love and justice. VOA Khmer's Im Sothearith speaks with organizer Ben Bao about the importance of justice and its application to Cambodia today.

The documentary "Golden Slumbers," which explores the heyday of Cambodian films, showed recently in Washington. Filmmaker Chou Davy joined a panel to discuss the award-winning film with former New York Times correspondent Elizabeth Becker and others. The documentary shows how important film was to Cambodia, prior to its rapid decline following the Khmer Rouge takeover. (Im Sothearith, Washington)

A group of performing artists in Cambodia say they are working to ensure that Cambodia is internationally known for more than a genocidal regime that ruled the country more than 30 years ago. That includes the ongoing performances now underway in New York for the Season of Cambodia festival—where many works and performances are on display in April and May. In Phnom Penh, dance rehearsal is underway. VOA Khmer's Say Mony reports from Phnom Penh.

Yun Mane told VOA Khmer that the companies being granted large land concessions have become a major threat for traditional ways of life.

The troupe will perform at the Abrons Arts Center in New York April 18 and April 19. Their performance, “Olden New Golden Blue,” explores the dancers’ relationship with their past.

Vorn Kim Heng, who won Third Runner Up in the 2010 Miss Asia USA contest, says she now hopes to give something back. She arrived in the US in 1982, and she tells VOA Khmer's Poch Reasey she entered a beauty contest to highlight Cambodia's culture and tradition.

At Phare Ponleu Selpak, an arts organization in Battambang city, Ot Veasna has been learning painting for about five years now. The 31-year-old artist, who has been deaf and dumb since birth, told VOA Khmer in a recent interview that the skills have helped him express his feelings through abstract paintings. Using sign language and an interpreter, he explained the meaning of the painting skills he is honing. VOA Khmer's Say Mony reports from Battambang province.

Four years in the making, the "Season of Cambodia" festival will include 125 artists and take place at some of the most prominent venues in the city of New York in April and May. Say Mony reports on artists' preparations from Phnom Penh.

Some 2,000 Cambodians live in Austria, some came in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge, while others migrated after studying in the former Czech Republic.

Four years in the making, the “Season of Cambodia” festival will include 125 artists and take place at some of the most prominent venues in the city of New York.

Cambodia is working with the US Department of Justice to have the Sotheby’s statue seized and returned to Cambodia.

For many Cambodians, Facebook has become a hit. But for one Cambodian, Facebook made her a hit. The singer, who identified herself as Oun Phea, began posting video of herself singing on Facebook a few weeks ago. VOA Khmer's Poch Reasey reports on what happened next.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy told VOA Khmer that the security forces were not to blame, because the salaries they receive from the government are so low.

The late former king Norodom Sihanouk left a long-lasting legacy for Cambodia during his decades of service to the nation. Despite of his early affiliation with the Khmer Rouge, his death late last year drew over one million mourners to the capital, where his funeral ceremonies were held this month. But what will be next for the monarchy? VOA Khmer's Ly Moryvann and Men Kimseng discuss the future of Cambodian royalty.

90 monks, representing the 90 years of Sihanouk’s life, performed chants to mourn his passing.

A royal procession Tuesday carried a portion of King-Father Norodom Sihanouk’s cremains to the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers, a place known as Chaktomuk and considered supernaturally powerful by many Cambodians. The cremains were walked onto a ceremonial boat by a delegation led by Prince Norodom Yuvaneath, one of Sihanouk’s sons. The boat floated into the river before the cremains were cast into the water. VOA Khmer reporter Heng Reaksmey has more.

The body of Norodom Sihanouk was cremated Monday night in an elaborate Buddhist ceremony, under bright lights and stars, surrounded by tens of thousands of the people who looked up to him as a leader for more than six decades. The central quarter of Phnom Penh near the Royal Palace was filled with Cambodians, scores of them weeping. VOA Khmer's Say Mony spoke from the cremation site with VOA Khmer's Poch Reasey in Washington.

Thousands poured onto the streets of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh for the royal funeral procession carrying the casket of former King Norodom Sihanouk. He will be cremated Monday in a Buddhist ceremony. Cambodians old and young mourned the revered Norodom Sihanouk, who passed in Beijing in October at the age of 89. His casket moved through six kilometers of central Phnom Penh streets, departing the Royal Palace and arriving at the nearby cremation ground. They wept. They chanted. They prayed. Among them was a 59-year-old farmer from Kampong Cham province named Tia Tha. In tribute to the late King, Tia Tha chants a poem he wrote when he learned of Sihanouk's death. VOA Khmer’s Say Mony reports from Phnom Penh.

Hundreds of thousands of Cambodians flooded streets of Phnom Penh Friday for funeral proceedings for King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who died in October in Beijing. Emotion escalates amongst Cambodian mourners as the funeral procession carrying his casket move through the streets of the capital city to cremation site next to the palace, where he was crowned as a teenager king 1941. Rick Valenzuela reports for VOA from Phnom Penh.

Mourners from throughout Cambodia gathered at the Royal Palace on Friday to pay their last respects to former King, Norodom Sihanouk. The coffin was at a crematorium after a funeral procession where it will remain for three days before the King's cremation on Monday. A woman from Phnom Penh said that the King remains a symbol of solidarity and peace among Cambodians. Reuters, Phnom Penh.

The funeral procession for Cambodia’s former king, Norodom Sihanouk, began Friday, starting in the pre-dawn hours as soldiers and military in ceremonial garb gathered in Phnom Penh, where between 1 million and 3 million mourners are expected to travel in coming days. Sihanouk will be cremated Monday, after days of ceremony, as Cambodians remember his legacy, which began with the country’s independence from France in the 1950s, carried into the Khmer Rouge era, and only ended in 2004, when he abdicated and passed the throne to his son, Norodom Sihamoni. (VOA Khmer’s Say Mony reports from Phnom Penh)

Funeral procession ceremonies begin Friday for former king Norodom Sihanouk, whose body will be cremated on Feb. 4. Up to 1 million people pour into the streets of Phnom Penh to mourn the former monarch, known to many as “King Father,” who died following a heart attack in Beijing in October. (VOA Khmer’s Heng Reaksmey, Phnom Penh and video footage from Reuters and AP)

Norodom Sihanouk, the revered former king whose cremation ceremonies begin on Friday, was a music lover, singer and composer. In Phnom Penh, two separate groups of music students have decided to pay tribute to the former monarch by performing some of his favorite music. The musicians say that though the “King Father” is gone, his songs remain. Opera student Hy Kimchanthavuth, recently performed in Phnom Penh, singing three Sihanouk classics: “Charming Lady,” “November Breeze” and “Love Without Hope.” VOA Khmer’s Say Mony reports from Phnom Penh.

As US government attorneys continue to seek the return of a Khmer statue to Cambodia from the noted auction house Sotheby’s, court documents say a second statue, which is held at the Norton Simon Museum, in Pasadena, Calif., was stolen in the 1970s. Chheang Sophinarath reports from Pasadena.