PLÔW-TCHA (the booklet)
Village melodies
Since Cambodia's independence in 1953, its history has been a long, practically uninterrupted tale of violence and upheaval for which the rural world has paid a heavy price. Between 1970 and 1973, American B52s dropped over a hundred thousand tons of bombs on the Cambodian countryside which was at the time largely supportive of the communist opposition. But the worst moments of this bloody history were without doubt the years 1975 - 1978, during which period Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge fighters undertook a veritable "self-genocide" which counted, according to estimates, two to three million victims.
During the Vietnamese occupation (1978 - 1989), and then under the supervision of the UN and during the period of pacification, the village of Rohal was nevertheless protected from Khmer guerillas and landmines because of its position completely enclosed within the site of Angkor. In memory of these difficult times and to bear witness to the permanence of the Khmer culture, the musicians of the village of Rohal have chosen to call this recording Plôw tcha (or Phleuv chas), "the old path".
The village of Rohal
The small village of Rohal consists of a group of hamlets, each of which shelters one family and its relations. In this isolated place, the dwellings are still traditional: wooden houses constructed on pilings, roofs of sugar palm fronds and dried grasses. The main activity of the village is the cultivation of rice. Up until recently, forestry development provided access to monetary exchange. In the village of Siem Reap, twenty kilometers from Rohal, the villagers sold wood, latex and various resins necessary for the manufacture of incense. In turn, they bought salt, prahok - a condiment based on fish - and dried fish.
Since 1995, the increased protection of the site and the development of tourism have partially transformed the local economy. Forestry development and the expansion of cultivable land are today strictly limited in the temple area. However, craftwork and the increasing demand for various services induced by the development of the tourist industry, create important sources of income which indirectly benefit the villagers of the region. The population's living standard - while it has improved slightly - nevertheless remains precarious, and community structures are practically inexistent. Apart from the recent opening of a primary school near the site, the paths remain unpassable in the rainy season, and there is no electricity network or distribution of drinking water.
Music and instruments
Rural Cambodian music figures during all religious ceremonies and feasts and is generally performed in the pagoda. Approximately fifteen feasts are held there each year: the feast of the dead (generally in October), the feasts to celebrate the beginning and end of the rainy season, the celebration of certain lunar months, the religious commitments of the various stages of life, etc. Music is also essential for marriage ceremonies which last two days. The first day, the musicians perform between the ceremonies. On the second day, they perform in the morning, before the arrival of the guests, around ten o'clock, and at the wedding feast. But music is also performed during annual feasts (feast of the waters, feast for the New Year, in April) and, more rarely, during occasional feasts organized by individuals. Finally, representations for tourists, in constantly increasing demand, are progressively compensating the decrease in collective demand. In the countryside, musicians are sometimes farmers, sometimes craftsmen or traders; in the towns, there are numerous groups of professional musicians.
A village ensemble generally comprises one or more two- to four-stringed hurdy-gurdies or "Chinese violins" (tro ) with bow, a drum (sko) and a zither (kum or khem ), to which can be added, as in these recordings, one or other improvised percussion instrument such as an empty beer bottle struck wth a metal spoon. Instrumental technique is acquired by emulating the elders and anyone can become a musician, though in practise, family traditions predominate the transmission of knowledge. In towns and cities, where international pop music is gradually gaining ground, traditional pieces are often modified to fit the demands of fashion and a young audience. The themes are updated, rhythms modified and certain traditional instruments are sometimes even replaced by an electric guitar, a drum set... But is musical tradition preserved in the countryside solely "thanks to" the enormous development deficit from which the rural world suffers?
Mi Sot, the singer of the group, was just fourteen years old when these recordings were made. Three generations of musicians currently walk the old path which follows the enclosure of a ruined temple, the Ta Prohm, to the village. As far back as can be remembered, it has been thus in Cambodia.
CD tracks
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