The Genocide museum

From 1975 to 1979, Cambodia went through a very tough and dark time. During the rule of Khmer Rouge, 25 percent of population lost their lives because of genocide. Most of the musicians, artists, and intellectuals died during these 4 years.

To know more information about the Cambodia genocide:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide

We would like to know more about the influence it has had on the music, people, and arts in general in Cambodia. Therefore, we visited the Genocide museum in Phnom Penh in between our busy schedule.

It was heart-breaking and sad for us to see the torture rooms and photos from the victims. The Cambodia composer Him Sophy composed a requiem for them as a memoriam. We learned so much from the sad history and hope the victims could rest in peace. Also, we hope that the arts could be a way for people to remember and prevent history from repeating itself.

A nice evening with a cello student from RUFA

We asked Tou Tou, a cellist who studies at RUFA, to be our tour guide in the evening. Tou Tou introduced us the independence monument and showed us the statue of the King Norodom Sihanouk. He told us about how the king was actually a musician himself and that he composed many pieces. Also about how musical culture was flourishing before the Khmer Rouge. He showed us this video of how the same Independence monument area looked like in the 1960’s as well as the composition by the king. Unfortunately, it is only available through this link on facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/944862935601356/videos/964415046979478/?v=964415046979478

After that, we went to eat some nice street food! Tou Tou is around the same age as us so it was a great experience to chat with a music student in Cambodia and hear about student life here. It seemed basically similar to our own studies but there is not so much chamber music courses and contemporary music. However, it seems that Cambodian traditional music classes are a big thing here!

Tomorrow we’re heading to Siem Reap to premiere Bosba Panh’s piece!

Feel free to comment below with a question for a musician in Cambodia! First five questions will receive a postcard sent from Cambodia.

AEKI ensemble