Forgotten form of theatre comes out of the shadows

Photo by: Pha Lina
Actors rehearse a sbek por performace of the traditional Cambodian tale Preah Tinavong and Neang Pov.

KHAM Sokneang grasps two wooden sticks attached to a cow hide that has been cut into the shape of a young man and painted in bright colours. He holds the hide against a black screen and shakes it while he rehearses his lines for his role as Preah Tinavong, a character in the traditional Cambodian tale Preah Tinavong and Neang Pov.

The rehearsal was for a performance at Chaktomuk Theatre as part of the National Drama and Arts Festival, held from February18 to March 1 to mark the lead-up to National Culture Day, which falls on March 3.

Although Kham Sokneang, 31, has practiced many classical art forms as a professional in the past 17 years, he said he had to dig deep and use all of his talents for the Preah Tinavong and Neang Pov performance, rendered in a type of Cambodian shadow theatre called sbek por (colourful skin).

“While we are speaking, we have to shake the hide to show that the hide is also talking,” Kham Sokneang says, explaining the difficulty. “When we bow down, we have to make the hide bow down, but we still keep talking.” ( Please read more )

Organic meat lovers set to go hungry in Reap

This could be your grill: Just follow the instructions below.

Bad news for carnivorous expatriates living in Siem Reap who like their food natural and unprocessed: First Modern Butcher Shop, the only retail outlet in town supplying organic meat to consumers, has shut down due to lack of patronage.

“There were actually a lot of Koreans coming, but we just didn’t have enough customers to sustain it,” owner Rasy Sim said of the shop, which had opened on January 3, 2008.

But the good news is Rasy Sim has vowed to open another retail outlet in the future, so Eurocentric Siem Reap residents will be able to get their paté and sausage fix.

And he’s still supplying wholesale organic fruit, vegetables, meat and poultry from his farms in Pouk commune to hotels, restaurants and markets around Siem Reap. His buyers include such big names as Le Meridien Angkor and Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor. ( Please read more )

Villagers risk life and limb to tap sap from palms

Photo by: Roth Meas
A tapper uses a bamboo ladder to scale a palm tree near the village of Dorkrong in Kampong Chhang province.

Every morning Long Lonh wakes in the predawn darkness, washes his face and loads his bicycle with plastic containers. With his trusty knife hanging from his belt, he pedals slowly along the paved road from his house to a rice field where thousands of palm trees grow.

Despite the early hour, Long Lonh isn’t alone in the field. Other men have arrived before him, some climbing to the tops of the swaying trees, others walking from one trunk to the next carrying containers of sap they have already collected from the palms’ highest reaches.

Long Lonh parks his bicycle near one of the trees. He ties a plastic container to his belt and starts climbing, using a bamboo ladder that he has permanently tied to the trunk.

Once at the top of the tree, he removes a plastic container filled with sap that has collected overnight, and replaces it with the empty container he has brought with him. Then he descends to the safety of the ground. (Please read more )

An artist transforms dreams into reality

Photo by: Sam Rith
Painter Norn Saran works on a Buddhist mural at a pagoda in the village of Tuol Ksach.

A benevolent Buddha beams down at the visitors to the quiet temple in Kampong Chhnang province.

The mural artist painting new icons onto a blank wall of the temple pauses occasionally to choose a fresh palette from several bottles of brightly coloured paint standing on a bench.

Adorning the other walls are paintings of cruel giants’ faces and and other depictions of Buddhist legends.

Norn Saran, a temple painter in Tuol Ksach village in Kampong Chhnang’s Rorlea Paear district, said he learned his trade at the Macha Tep private school in Battambang.

Although he was trained as a billboard painter, he developed his skills painting the interiors of temples.

Norn Saran’s father is a taxi driver and his mother is a housewife, while his younger sister works in a garment factory. Through his work as a painter, Norn Saran earns money to help support himself and his family. ( Please read more )

Children of Sunrise Village celebrated in new exhibition

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON
Kids perform the coconut dance in Kandal province. The dance will be performed at the opening of Dance to the Light at FCC.

TRACEY Shelton’s Dance to the Light photo exhibition, which depicts the lives of orphans at the Sunrise Children’s Village, debuts tonight at the FCC.

“The idea we had was to take the traditional dances the children perform and take them into the traditional areas where the dances evolved,” says Shetlon. “The title of the exhibition and the images themselves evoke a sense of hope, new directions, and new beginnings for the children.”

Proceeds from the exhibition will go toward Sunrise’s funding.

Shelton came to Cambodia as a volunteer at Sunrise in 1998, saying she was inspired by an interview she saw on TV in Australia with Sunrise president Geraldine Cox. ( Please read more )

Villagers find a hole new way to catch fish

Photo by: ROTH MEAS
Meas Seiha crouches down next to a hole that attracts Snakeheads seeking warmth.

The sun hasn’t risen yet, but several teenagers have got up and left their beds, bound for nearby rice fields. It takes at about 15 minutes for them to walk the one kilometre down a narrow path to some holes they have dug near the edge of the paddy.

Carrying a plastic container, Meas Seiha, 17, a young boy with muddy trousers, takes the thatched cover off one of the holes at the corner of a rice field. Meas Seiha sticks his hand in recess hoping to find trei ros, or Snakehead fish, that might have crawled in during the night.

Snakeheads are a strange evolutionary phenomenon. They are one of the few species of fish that can breathe in and out of water. A small cavity allows for air intake, so they can survive for hours out of water, and can even move on land.

During the cooler months of October, November and December, the people of Kampong Preah commune, Sangke district, Battambang province, dig holes at the edges of their rice fields to catch these fish.

“The fish look for the holes because they don’t like the cold paddy water during the cool season,” Meas Seiha explained.

Seiha says that the fish crawl out of the cold water and seek the holes too keep warm. ( Please read more )

Hitting all the right notes

Photo by: Ou Mom
Retired arts lecturer Yan Borin is teaching a group of teenage students who want to learn the traditional form of Khmer poetry and set it to the sounds of the flute.

While many of Phnom Penh’s teens listen to hip-hop and R&B, a group of around 30 teenagers at Baktouk High School are listening to a retired teacher of traditional drama.

The youngsters have formed a group to learn to compose and recite traditional Khmer poems and accompany them on flute, under the tutelage of 61-year-old Yan Borin.

The former Royal University of Fine Arts lecturer said he had given up his Sunday mornings to nurture the teenagers’ keen interest in studying this traditional artform.

“The students created this study programme and just invited me to teach them,” Yan Borin said. “I didn’t demand a fee from them, but they gave based on their capacity.”

Yan Borin said that while music is part of the curriculum in many countries, the Cambodian education system lacked resources to teach students to play musical instruments. So he endeavours to give his students two hours per week, saying he is proud of them and that they are gifted in poetry. ( Please read more )

Cambodia looks to host ‘Hair Olympics’

Photo by: PHOTO SUPPLIED
Cambodian hairdresser Sun Heang at the Hair Olympics in the Phillipines.

Hairdressers in the Kingdom are stylin’ up in an effort to become the host country for an international hair and make up competition.

The Asia Pacific Hairdressers and Cosmetologist Association (APHCA) recently invited Cambodian hairdresser Sun Heang to act as a judge in its 13th Hair and Make Up International Competition, held in Manila last October.

And although Cambodia has no such association, the APHCA is still planning to hold its “Hair Olympics” in Cambodia in 2011.

Sun Heang, director of Christina Beauty School, said she felt honoured that Cambodia was selected as one of the Asia Pacific countries to be represented on the committee.

“I gained much experience in my profession, and learnt how to host for the competition in the future,” she said.

Through Sun Heang’s professionalism and experience, Cambodia became a member of APHCA in 2007. She said the purpose of the organisation was for cultural exchange and the development of hairstyles.

“Now we are considering a lot about being a host of this competition,” she said.

And while Cambodia is restricted by the modesty of its Khmer culture and tradition, Sun Heang said most of Cambodia’s stylists were young.

“Moreover, Cambodia’s traditional hair, tie and clothes are perfect and unique, which can be an advantage in competition,” she said.

Phnom Penh Post, Thursday, 24 December 2009
By Ou Mom

Artists more than able in their minds and spirit

Photo by: KIM HAK / MELON ROUGE
Kong Nai, the blind Khmer chapei musician who not only plays the blues but lives them.

ON DECEMBER 3, hundreds of people gathered at the park next to Wat Botum for a special ceremony – and to share talents and ideas – in celebration of the 26th International Day of Persons with Disabilities. This happy gathering was different from others in the park – though one could hardly tell at first glance – because most of the participants, who hailed from numerous NGOs, happened to be disabled.

The day has been an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992, typically organised by volunteers. In Cambodia this year’s event was co-organised by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation [CDPO].

Messages of support from both the King and prime minister were read to the 3,500-strong crowd. A representative from the CDPO, Ngin Saorath, later requested the government ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. After the serious business, however, games and wheelchair races started up, finishing the day on a fun note.

Two days later, on December 5, many of the same people showcased their abilities in the Spotlight 2009 arts performance, co-organised by London-based NGO Epic Arts and the Nippon Foundation. In front of Chenla Theatre, the strains of classical music, played by a group of disabled children near the theatre’s entrance, wafted over the street. ( Pleasd read more )

Demining deadline extended by decade

Photo by: Photo Supplied
The winner of the online Miss Landmine contest, Miss Battambang, Dos Sopheap, was announced Thursday on the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities. She received 2,315 online votes.

PARTIES to the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty have formally approved Cambodia’s request to push back the deadline for clearing all antipersonnel mines by 10 years, though the government’s formal extension request asserts that “current productivity levels will not be sufficient” to meet the revised goal.

Leng Sochea, deputy secretary of the Cambodia Mine Action Authority [CMAA], on Thursday confirmed that the request had been approved Wednesday at the Summit on a Mine-Free World, which is being held this week in Cartagena, Colombia.

“Whether we completely clear all land mines in the country or not, it will depend on the money that we receive from the donor countries and other donors,” he said.

A Cambodian delegation attending the summit said clearance efforts for the next 10 years will cost approximately US$330 million.

Cambodia became a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty, formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, in 1999, thereby committing to clear all antipersonnel mines by the end of this year. ( Please read more )