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 )
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