The ethnic Cham community of Cambodia
no longer has an active tradition of performing arts. In contrast,
several Chinese community associations in Cambodia have Lion Dance teams
which perform during Lunar New Year and other Chinese festivals.
Each of the hill tribes residing within Cambodian borders has its own
unique music and dance traditions, which function together with the
production of art objects to propitiate the spirits and celebrate the
many social milestones in the lives of members of the community.
Musical instruments are crafted with great ingenuity from natural
materials such as stone, wood, gourd, bamboo, animal horn and reed to
accompany a wide range of solo and group songs and dances. In common
with their cousins in southern Laos and the central highlands of Việt
Nam, many groups utilise bronze drums as an integral part of their
ritual ceremonies. The Jarai and Rhade (or Ede) in particular are
renowned for their indigenous musical instruments, from stringed bronze
gongs to the unique k’longput, made of bamboo tubes into which the
players force air by clapping their hands.
Many of Cambodia’s ethnic minority groups still maintain the services
of shamans to intercede on their behalf with the world of the spirits.
These perform special ceremonies and trance-dances to the accompaniment
of ritual music.
Most of Cambodia’s hill tribes have their own dances, which
originated largely as a celebration of everyday events and pastimes.
Many of these have been adapted for theatre presentation over the past
50 years.
The best-known ethnic minority dances are the skorl (bamboo) dance of
the Stieng, the warrior dance of the Kui, the buffalo sacrifice and hot
(bamboo pipe) dances of the Jarai, plus a range of dances by Pearic
peoples which include the wild ox dance, the cardamom picking dance, the
sen ploy spirit possession dance and the Pursat peacock dance of the
Pear, the ritual and
drum dances of the Suoy and the port chor rung dance of the Samre.
The National Theatre Company of Cambodia Folkloric Dance Troupe
includes a wide range of these highly-choreographed ethnic minority
dances in its repertoire; however, those wishing to see the dances in
their original form must travel to the villages.