The Soul Of Khmer – Khmer Music

The era of the Khmer Empire has seen the beginnings of the famous Khmer music and it has taken its place as an important aspect of the Cambodian culture, leaving behind all other ethnic music of Cambodia.

The Angkorskaya period saw the peaking of Khmer music. This music was the heart of all temple ceremonies, religious events and weddings. The temples of Angkor pay homage to this beautiful music, with beautifully sculpted figures of the celestial dancers dancing to the music coming from the musical instruments that are vividly depicted on the walls.

Khmer music was initially used to communicate with God and to summon the spirits. The sound that came out from all the instruments was believed to have this capacity.

The structure of the pentatonic or five-tone Khmer music is determined through its rhythm. The main instruments used in an orchestra are a variety of drums, gongs and bamboo xylophones. Khmer music, with different sounds emanating from the different musical instruments may seem to lack coordination and harmony, but it has its own uniqueness that needs to be understood.

Classical Khmer music is divided into three categories: Pinpeat, Phleng kar and Mahori. Pinpeat, which consists of both stringed and percussion instruments, is associated to all classical performances, prayers and other ceremonies. This ensemble dates back to more than a thousand years ago, to the Angkor era. The beginnings of this ensemble are traced back to the courts during that era. It holds the pride of place in Khmer music and is the strongest ensemble of all. There are said to be more than 250 theme melodies in this ensemble. Each and every piece is associated with relevant actions performed on the stage. The sound from these instruments is one of the most enchanting, with the capacity to make people happy.

The Pinpeat ensemble is said to be the basis of other ensembles, such as the phlaeng mahaori, phlaeng knong schoor and khlang chnak. Mahory uses only stringed instruments. Today’s music ensembles are found everywhere in Cambodian villages, like the pinn, skor yol, chhing, which are similar to those of the old.

In the absence of any notation for Khmer music, it has always been passed down from the master to the disciple. This led to improvisation and slowly American influences began to be noticed. Western musical instruments such as the flute, guitar and organ are used in the modern version of Mahori/Mahori Samai.

Khmer musicians are adept at playing all the instruments in an ensemble, while achieving perfection in one. This leads to a better understanding of the musical instruments by all the musicians and brings to fore their musicianship.

For Cambodia, coming to terms with the violent past is not easy, but the hypnotic Khmer music, which has survived those tragic years; brings the glory of the past to the present and fills the hearts with joy. Khmer music is the soul of Khmer; it soothes the mind and heals the heart of every Cambodian.

Visit KhmerPortal.com for more information about Khmer music and Khmer karaoke.

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