SOUNDING THE SPIRIT OF CAMBODIA: THE LIVING TRADITION OF KHMER MUSIC AND ...

487 Pages·2004·15.94 MB·English

by  William Wong

ABSTRACT
Title of dissertation: SOUNDING THE SPIRIT OF CAMBODIA:
THE LIVING TRADITION OF KHMER MUSIC
AND DANCE-DRAMA IN A WASHINGTON, DC
COMMUNITY
Joanna Theresa Pecore, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004
Dissertation directed by: Professor Carol E. Robertson
School of Music
Since the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia in 1975, the desire to preserve,
reconstruct, and document Khmer performing arts has motivated many important
projects that aim to strengthen these traditions worldwide. These projects typically
focus on dance and promote the notion that authenticity is linked with ethnicity and the
geographical designation, Cambodia. This presentation stands in stark contrast to the
reality of the devoted activities of living artists who keep these traditions alive across
the globe. Additionally, Khmer music usually exists as an audible yet forgotten
soundtrack to these projects. When it is recognized, listings of instruments, descriptions
of musical structure, names of ensemble types, and pages of notation (that many Khmer
musicians themselves cannot read) frequently overshadow its human dimensions. Major
chasms divide current scholarship from musical practice.
To help bridge these gaps, this dissertation takes readers on a visit to a
community that lives and breathes Khmer music and dance-drama today in the
Washington, DC area. It explores the experience of more than forty individuals who
participate in the activities of Cambodian American Heritage in Virginia and the
Cambodian Buddhist Society in Maryland. Ethnographic “sound-spheres”—constructed
from interviews, conversations, and observations—join their stories. A bifocal
lens—including the experience of the author as a music student and that of her teacher,
master musician, Ngek Chum—organizes the “sound-spheres.” They are arranged
according to “four concentric worlds of musical meaning” (musical experience, local
community, the United States, and the world) that illuminate the dual reality of
historical, geographical, political, economic, social, and cultural change and the
enduring timeless, placeless essences of the tradition.
This collective story illustrates the fundamental role that music (especially pin
peat) plays in linking contemporary residents of the Washington, DC area to the spirit
of an ancient, distant Cambodia. It demonstrates how Khmer music: 1) unifies sound,
movement, story, and social interaction, 2) embodies cultural ideals that resonate across
Buddhism, transmission processes, and performance, 3) retains lessons about the
continuity of life and exceptional conduct, and 4) balances personal with group needs.
SOUNDING THE SPIRIT OF CAMBODIA:
THE LIVING TRADITION OF KHMER MUSIC
AND DANCE-DRAMA IN A WASHINGTON, DC COMMUNITY
by
Joanna Theresa Pecore
Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
2004
Advisory Committee:
Professor Carol E. Robertson, Chair
Professor Carol Burbank
Dr. Adrienne L. Kaeppler
Professor Marie E. McCarthy
Professor Jozef M. Pacholczyk
Professor Nancy J. Smith-Hefner
© Copyright by
Joanna Theresa Pecore
2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables.............................................................................................................v
List of Figures............................................................................................................vi
Introduction: Experiencing the Sound of Cambodia ....................................................1
“What Does It Mean…?”: Dissertation Overview............................................1
The Study of Musical Meaning and the Study of Cambodian Music:
A Literature Review........................................................................2
Experiencing Cambodian Music: Methodology..................................12
“Sounding” Cambodian Music: Data Presentation .............................27
“What Does It Mean…at This Time…?”: Dissertation Structure ...................37
“What Does It Mean…in This Place…?”: Relationships in Khmer Music .....43
“What Does It Mean…With These Participants?”: Cultural Patterns..............49
Chapter 1: Pathways across the World: Migration .....................................................55
Ngek Chum’s Musical Beginnings ................................................................56
“Everyone Knows What War Means”............................................................61
Risky Business ..............................................................................................68
Keeping the Heritage.....................................................................................71
Chapter 2: Encountering the United States: Resettlement ..........................................82
“The Dance Was Inevitable” ........................................................................84
Old Traditions in a New Land .......................................................................91
Expanded Interchange ...................................................................................98
Chapter 3: Local Bridges to the Past: Establishing Community Programs ...............114
“It’s Really More Like a Family” ................................................................116
“I Think I was Meant to Dance, It’s Part of Me”..........................................118
“Going There, My Daughters Really Help Me Out a Lot” ...........................122
“I’ll Go Back. I Still Have that in My Mind.” .............................................123
“When They Come to the Temple, They Should Feel Like Cambodians” ....126
Ringing in the Year of the Ox......................................................................137
Chapter 4: The Sounds of Building Local Bridges:
Pin Peat Music, Structure, and Performance ......................................148
“Music is Like Soup” ..................................................................................150
Fateful Lessons ...........................................................................................158
“You Can Say that the Roneat Aik Is the Leader” ........................................159
“I Like to Preserve My Tradition” ...............................................................161
“My Father Lives through Me in My Voice” ...............................................164
“When Something Goes Wrong, They’ll Blame the Xylophone” .................167
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“When the Performers are Good,
the Dancers and the Sampho Move Together” ........................................169
“If You Don’t Know the Song, You Won’t Remember” ..............................174
Linking Dramatic Expression with the Skor Thom.......................................175
Performing Creative Conflict for a Prosperous New Year............................182
Chapter 5: Sounding the Spirit of the Krou: Spiritual Foundations of Pin Peat........199
“Today is Thursday. I Come to Pay Respect to You.” .................................200
“Because I Had So Many Teachers, I Could Play Any Music Well” ............203
“My Grandfather Was One of Those Strict Teachers”..................................206
“To Me, Krou Nit Was the Best Teacher”....................................................209
“Everyone, Everywhere Knew Krou Chhuorm and His Roneat”..................211
“His Hands Move Just Like Krou Van’s” ....................................................213
“I Coached Them,
But They Were Still Considered to Be My Teacher’s Students”..............214
“Sathukar is a Teacher Song” ......................................................................217
“Everything You Need is in Homrong” .......................................................219
“Eight Pin Peat Groups Played and Played Until the Temple Was Finished”222
“The Sampho is Like Everyone’s Krou” ......................................................228
“Playing Music is Kind of a Dangerous Job” ...............................................232
Chapter 6: Rien Tam Krou (Learning through the Teacher): Transmission ..............249
“Generations Later, This Tradition was Inevitably Passed Down to Me” .....252
“In the Old, Old Times, You Didn’t Ask Questions, Period” .......................255
“It Was Soooo Difficult…But, Oh, I Got It”................................................257
Finding Your Own Path...............................................................................260
Learning From the inside Out ......................................................................279
Chapter 7: Local Bridges in the Present: Building Community with Music .............291
“Families, Certain Key Families,
Are the Ones Who Seem to Keep it Together” ........................................293
“You Possess the Treasure” ........................................................................296
“The Music Spirits Come to Everybody while We Play Together” ............. 298
Chapter 8: Compromising with the United States: Adaptation.................................343
“It’s Weird. Sometimes It’s Like I Have Two Worlds”................................345
“You Can’t Tell People It’s Not Lost, If They’re Not Listening” ................ 353
“This is Not the Kind of Thing That You Learn
and Then Just Forget About” .................................................................370
“At Times I Want to Give Up.
But When the Weekend Comes, I Change My Mind” ............................377
Chapter 9: Conversing with the World: Tradition in the Global Context..................388
Reassembling Angkor on Constitution Avenue............................................388
Trusty Technologies ....................................................................................393
Which Way is Home? .................................................................................400
iii
Conclusion: Tuning In to Musical Experience.........................................................413
What Did We Learn through the Sound of Cambodia? ...............................414
How Did We Learn through the Sound of Cambodia? ................................429
Why Learn from the Sound of Cambodia? ..................................................434
The Jersey Girl System of Romanizing Khmer Terms:
Some Words about Transliteration .....................................................................443
Appendix: List of “Community Voices” in this Volume..........................................448
Glossary..................................................................................................................457
Bibliography...........................................................................................................466
iv
LIST OF TABLES
1. Transliteration of Khmer Consonants ................................................................446
2. Transliteration of Khmer Vowels ......................................................................447
v
LIST OF FIGURES
1. Joanna Pecore at Angkor Vatt in July 2001 ...........................................................39
2. Concentric Worlds of Musical Meaning ................................................................41
3. Linear Configuration of Concentric Worlds of Musical Meaning ..........................41
4. Vorn and Ngek Chum in Khao I Dang Refugee Camp ..........................................73
5. The Chum Family in 1983.....................................................................................93
6. Sovann Chum at his Carnegie Hall Gig in 1984.....................................................97
7. Sovath Chum Dances while Ngek Chum Plays Roneat Aik and Sovann Chum
Listens in 1984 ............................................................................................121
8. The Cambodian Buddhist Temple in Silver Spring, Maryland .............................127
9. Sampeah Krou Offerings.....................................................................................140
10. Sam-Ouen Tes and Sovanny Chun Bless Students by Tying Strings around their
Wrists..........................................................................................................143
11. Ngek Chum Prepares a Bowl of Koyteav in 2002 ..............................................150
12. Ngek Chum as a Monk at Vatt Anlong Vil ........................................................207
13. Krou Nit Chou ..................................................................................................210
14. Ngek Chum and Yoeun Mek Cross Paths at Vatt Damrey Saw in Battambang in
2001 ............................................................................................................214
15. Ngek Chum and his Wife have their Fortunes Told in Vatt Sangker ..................225
16. Sampho .............................................................................................................228
17. Ngek Chum’s Kansaeng Yoan...........................................................................237
18. Students Preparing for the Parakeet Dance ........................................................266
19. Surrounding “Uncle Gary” ...............................................................................294
vi
20. Sovath and Sovann Chum .................................................................................349
21. Sovann Chum Demonstrated his Talent for Roneat Aik Back in 1984................357
22. Memorial Chaidey to Aunt Yat Um...................................................................409
23. Ngek Chum Descends the Staircase of his Childhood Home in 2001.................412
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