Cambodian Ministry of Culture's Hopeful for Cambodian Male Masked Dance Inscribed to UNESCO
01/09/18 16:43
Phnom Penh (FN), Aug. 31 - The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts is optimistic for the successful inscription of Cambodian Male Masked Dance as World's Intangible Cultural Heritage after submitting required documents to UNESCO for almost a year without any objections from other countries, Thai Norak Satya, spokesman of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts told Fresh News on Friday.

UNESCO World Heritage Committee has already listed four Cambodia’s Intangible Cultural Heritages, namely Chapei Dang Veng (2016); Tugging rituals and games (2015); Royal ballet of Cambodia and Sbek Thom, Khmer shadow theatre (2008).

Intangible Cultural Heritage, according to UNESCO, means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.
http://en.freshnewsasia.com/index.php/e ... 47-37.html

Cambodian FB users rage over dance ownership
By The Nation -
September 2, 2018

United Nations’ cultural agency Unesco’s Facebook page has hosted a heated debate between Cambodians and Thais over Bangkok’s proposal for the inclusion of “khon” masked dance on the agency’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Social network users across the border have claimed the dance was Cambodian, not Thai, in Facebook comments since mid-August

Read the full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/ ... l/30353444

Seriously lots of traditional and cultural stuff are not Thai but copied from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. My Thai colleagues confirmed it. Simply go check where that famous jade buddha come from.

TOP NEWS: Cambodia’s Male Masked Dance Inscribed to UNESCO
28/11/18 18:58

Phnom Penh (FN), Nov. 28 – UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided Wednesday to list Cambodia’s Male Masked Dance as Intangible Cultural Heritages, according to Prime MInister HE's Facebook page.

The decision was made at the 13th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Mauritius, Port Louis on 28 November 2018.
Fresh News.

Expect Drum Beating Celebrations Tomorrow, 30 November 2018

TOP NEWS: Cambodian PM HE Appeals Citizens to Make Noise to Congratulate the Inscription of Male Masked Dance to UNESCO
29/11/18 11:57

Phnom Penh (FN), Nov. 28 – Cambodian Prime Minister HE appealed to the general public to beat the drum and make some noise to congratulate the inscription of Cambodia’s Male Masked Dance as Intangible Cultural Heritages.

In a congratulatory letter released on Wednesday, the premier wrote, “let’s congratulate by beating drum and making noise as you may at major public places, including pagodas, at 10 p.m on 30 November 2018”.
Fresh News

30 November 2018: Celebrations in Siem Reap .

Seen from Thailand: Editorial Bangkok Post
'Khon' dance no reason for discord
2 Dec 2018 at 04:35
Members of the public this week rejoiced as the khon mask dance earned global recognition with Unesco adding it to its cultural heritage list after a long wait.

Unesco's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage which met this week in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, decided to inscribe "Khon Masked Dance Drama in Thailand" on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The meeting also added Cambodia's mask dance, known as lakhon khol, to the listing.

"The government will organise various activities associated with khon to boost participation and public knowledge of the performance," said the prime minister.

The dance, which is performed in several countries across Southeast Asia, is a contentious issue between Thailand and its immediate neighbour Cambodia where a masked dance is also presented in a similar format. Some people, driven by nationalism, have tried to claim ownership over the performance. Thailand made its bid for nomination to Unesco in 2016, shortly after Cambodia applied for the status. The efforts drew ire from both sides of the border, with some Thai -- and also Cambodian -- nationalists calling for their government to shoot down the other's bid. Such a contest is ridiculous.

Inarguably, these nationalists, many of whom are stuck in the long-standing Preah Vihear dispute, were blinded by the misconception that status given to one would block the other from receiving recognition. The fact is each country had its own right to make such a nomination and that's why Cambodia's lakhon khol won the status at the same time as Thailand's.

In past years, academics and historians have tried to play down attempts by the two neighbours to claim ownership of the show. Instead, they argue the art is a heritage item that is to be shared. They view the contest over who owns the masked dance as an example of the immaturity of certain people in both Thailand and Cambodia.

The fact is that both countries, like several Southeast Asian countries, inherited the original performing art from India where the epic, written by Valmiki, is known as the Ramayana. Thailand's version is called Ramakien, while it's Reamker for Cambodia.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opi ... or-discord

Institutions in the dark as to 10pm ‘drum celebration’
30 November 2018

The government and the Minister of Education, Hang Chuon Naron, released a letter on Thursday morning which called on all educational institutions, including schools and universities, to bang drums at 10pm on Friday night.

The drumming is intended to celebrate the inclusion of classical Khmer dance Lakhon Khol on Unesco’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

However, the director of Phnom Penh’s Chraing Chamreh Primary School, Chantra Pich, told The Post on Thursday that he had not received such a request.

“If there is a call from the minister, then I and some of the academic staff will organise a celebration on Friday night to congratulate the success of our Lakhon Khol being included on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage,” he said.

Likewise, Wat Khtor Prek Leap’s chief monk, Tith Sarom, said he had also not been instructed by the Ministry of Cults and Religion or the local sangkat as to arranging drumming on Friday night to celebrate the historic event, and so he would not do so.

“On Friday night, I will not dare to beat or play drums because no high-ranking monks or senior officials at the Ministry of Cults and Religion have instructed me to do so yet. The beating of drums at night without the notification of local authorities would make the people living close to the pagoda unhappy because it would disturb their sleep,” he said.

However, he added that on Friday morning he would organise national and religious flags to fly in front of the pagoda to celebrate .
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... elebration

January 4, 2019 / 7:22 AM / Updated 5 hours ago
Masked dance tradition rises from near extinction in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH/BANGKOK (Reuters) - Cambodia’s centuries-old tradition of masked dance was nearly wiped out by the Khmer Rouge’s “Killing Fields” regime, but a handful of artists managed to keep it alive and are now working to pass it along to a new generation.

Sun Rithy’s father and grandfather were both performers of the Lakhon Khol masked dance, but the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge - who scorned most art as decadent - banned its study when he was a child in the 1970s.

Now 48, Sun Rithy leads one of the last Lakhon Khol troupes in Cambodia, made up of about 20 performers and students aged six to 15. For him, teaching a new generation is a matter of survival for the tradition.

“I don’t want Lakhon Khol ... to go extinct,” Sun Rithy told Reuters.

Lakhon Khol was recently listed by UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, as an intangible cultural heritage, along with neighboring Thailand’s version of the dance, known as Khon.

There are different variations in Southeast Asia, all featuring dancers wearing elaborate painted masks depicting the Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic poem in which a prince rescues his wife from a demon with help from an army of monkeys.

But in Cambodia, the art form is still struggling to recover from the Khmer Rouge, under whose genocidal 1975-79 rule at least 1.7 million people, including artists, dancers and writers, died, mostly from starvation, overwork, disease, execution or torture.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heri ... SKCN1OY00P