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Photo KT/ Mai Vireak.
The art form chapey dong veng was has been certified by UNESCO as part of Cambodia’s intangible cultural heritage .

The UN body agreed to provide more than $230,000 to support its protection and potential resurgence as an art form.

At a UNESCO Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Wednesday, it was agreed to put the chapey dong veng on the list after two previous applications for the art to be recognized had been rejected.

The chapey is an instrument with two to four strings used for traditional music, and when combined with poems in Khmer, becomes the chapey dong veng art form...

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/32696/ ... esco-list/

Cultural Appreciation Class starts now





Actually it's pretty good.

Master Kong is rock 'n' roll, if one feels that 1 hour long drones and buddhist verse recitals is rock, that is.

I love this stuff. I guess not that many do. It reminds me a little bit of Moroccan Gnawa, like the band Naess El Ghiwane. I guess the similarity are the simple string instruments with very few strings.

When I was young, I liked to listen to Chapey because they composed rhyme words and meaningful to educate us.

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prettyvacant wrote:Master Kong is rock 'n' roll, if one feels that 1 hour long drones and buddhist verse recitals is rock, that is.

You seem to have completely missed the point there. The Chapei is usually played in conjunction with Khmer folk protest poems, which are often ad libbed. Unless you know the Khmer language and it's various nuances and word-plays very well you will never understand the verses. It's in the main humorous, but often scathing. There is nothing particularly Buddhist about it. Get a clue before you complain about something you know nothing about.

John Bingham wrote:

prettyvacant wrote:Master Kong is rock 'n' roll, if one feels that 1 hour long drones and buddhist verse recitals is rock, that is.

You seem to have completely missed the point there. The Chapei is usually played in conjunction with Khmer folk protest poems, which are often ad libbed. Unless you know the Khmer language and it's various nuances and word-plays very well you will never understand the verses. It's in the main humorous, but often scathing. There is nothing particularly Buddhist about it. Get a clue before you complain about something you know nothing about.

You mean it's something like a Khmer cultural equivalent of rap or slam poetry ? Plus the humour.

John Bingham wrote:

prettyvacant wrote:There is nothing particularly Buddhist about it. Get a clue before you complain about something you know nothing about.

Thanks for the clarification. Now work on your reading comprehension. I wasn't complaining.

A meeting of the Chapey masters
Fri, 27 January 2017
Vandy Muong

Once an important musical form and storytelling tool, Chapey Dang Veng is now fighting for survival. Some of its most celebrated players met together last Saturday to celebrate the craft and to discuss its preservation.

They came from all over – four chapey masters converging on the home of the very oldest practitioner of the craft, Prach Chhoun, in Takeo province. Blind since the age of 7, 81-year-old Chhoun is now too ill to travel. So the others made the journey to pay their respects.

After decades of playing the long-necked Chapey Dang Veng for the public, the masters find themselves largely ignored today, despite the musical form being recognised by UNESCO last year as an intangible cultural heritage.

But today is meant to be a celebration and a reunion. The youngest of the bunch, 59-year-old Neth Pe begins by telling his story in song. Living in a pagoda and blind since childhood, he picked up the chapey because he loved the sound of the chapey masters on the radio. His style differs from the traditional form; whereas older players like Chhoun stick to scripts inspired by Buddhist texts and religious stories, Pe sings stories about daily life...
Full article: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weeke ... ey-masters

I remember way back when the Capital restaurant was loaded with prostitutes. There was a young chapey troubadour who would serenade them. The girls were uncontrollably laughing. I didn't understand Cambodian at that time but I seriously doubt the were being morally educated. Does anyone know if this instrument is used for bawdy songs?

Giant Long-Chapei On Display At Angkor Sangkranta This Afternoon
Published: 12/04/2017



Phnom Penh (FN), April 12 - Long-Chapei will be displayed at Angkor Sangkranta Wednesday afternoon at My Village, which is located north of Bayon temple in Siem Reap province.

The processional of traditional Long Chapei will be headed by Hun Many, chairman of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia and will be attended by volunteers, working staff, Apsara Authority officials, and the public.

The Chapei is 10 meters long and is the first of its size.

The instrument is a symbol of Cambodia's rich cultural heritage and is used as a means to protect traditional rituals as well as communicate values, knowledge, and access to Khmer history.

The Long Chapei was designated as a part of UNESCO's Intangible Culture Program in 2016 in response to the loss of Chapei masters during the Khmer Rouge.
=FRESH NEWS