Art and Handicrafts

Visual art

Stone carving at Banteay Srei (Angkor)

Main articles: Visual arts of Cambodia and Khmer sculpture

The history of visual arts in Cambodia stretches back centuries to ancient crafts; Khmer art reached its peak during the Angkor period. Traditional Cambodian arts and crafts include textiles, non-textile weaving, silversmithing, stone carving, lacquerware, ceramics, wat murals, and kite-making. Beginning in the mid-20th century, a tradition of modern art began in Cambodia, though in the later 20th century both traditional and modern arts declined for several reasons, including the killing of artists by the Khmer Rouge. The country has experienced a recent artistic revival due to increased support from governments, NGOs, and foreign tourists.

Music

Especially in the 60s and 70s, the 'big two' duet of Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea had been a large hit in the country. However after their deaths, new music stars have tried to bring back the music. Cambodian music has undergone heavy Westernization.

The Cambodian pinpeat ensemble is traditionally heard on feast days in the pagodas. It is also a court ensemble used to accompany classical dance for ritual occasions or theatrical events. The pinpeat is primarily made up of percussion instruments: the roneat ek (lead xylophone), roneat thung (low bamboo xylophone), kong vong touch and kong vong thom (small and large sets of tuned gongs), sampho (two-sided drum), skor thom (two large drums), and sralai (quadruple-reed instrument).

Dance

Cambodian Dance can be divided into three main categories: classical dance, folk dances, and vernacular dances.

Khmer classical dance is a form of Cambodian dance originally performed only for royalty. The dances have many elements in common with Thai classical dance. During the mid-20th century, it was introduced to the public where it now remains a celebrated icon of Khmer culture, often being performed during public events, holidays, and for tourists visiting Cambodia.this classical Dance is famous for its using of hands and feet to express emotion which known as there are 4,000 different gestures in this type of dance. Provided as repeating a golden age in 1960s, Khmer Classical Dance which know as The Royal Ballet of Cambodia after select as UNESCO'sMasterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, has lead one of its dance to be a outstanding dance of all for culture and society. Reamker, a khmer version of Indian, Ramayana had influced strongly to Khmer classical dance. It involved in khmer gesture, movement and story line.The dance that divided from Reamker Dance known as robam sovann macha and robam moni mekala. In Facts, all of Dance reminded the audience of celestial dance which is an angel or Apsara in sansrit mythology in goal of bring the good luck and success to the viewer. The Classical dance is create by the heart of high art as the performer is decorated with themselves with a branches of jewellry.

Apsara Dance, a khmer dance that has survived since the Angkor Era, has been singled out to attract foreign tourists and to make the richness of khmer culture known to the world. Apsara Dance was promoted by Princess Norodom Bopha Devi before the Khmer Rouge times and recently has received an award as one of the main symbols of Cambodia.

Khmer folk dances, which are performed for audiences, are fast-paced. The movements and gestures are not as stylized as Khmer classical dance. Folk dancers wear clothes of the people they are portraying such as Chams, hill tribes, farmers, and peasants. The folk dance music is played by a mahori orchestra.

Cambodian vernacular dances (or social dances) are those danced at social gatherings. Such dances include ram vong, ram kbach, ram saravan, and lam leav. Some of these dances have much influence from the traditional dances of Laos. But rom kbach, for example, take heavily from the classical dance of the royal court. Other social dances from around the world have had an impact on Cambodian social culture include the Cha-cha, Bolero, and the Madison.

Literature

A testimony of the antiquity of the Khmer language are the multitude of epigraphic inscriptions on stone. The first written proof that has allowed the history of the Khmer Kingdom to be reconstructed are those inscriptions. These writings on columns, stelae and walls throw light on the royal lineages, religious edicts, territorial conquests and internal organization of the kingdom.

Following the stone inscriptions, some of the oldest Khmer documents are translations and commentaries of the Pali Buddhist texts of the Tripitaka. They were written by the monks on palmyra palm leaves and kept in various monasteries throughout the country.

The Ram Ker (Rama's fame) is the Cambodian version of the Ramayana, the famous Indian epic. The Ram Ker comes in rhymed verses and is staged in sections that are adapted to dance movements interpreted by local artists. The Ram Ker is the oldest form of Cambodian theatre.

A scene depicts the love storm of Tum and Teav in theTum Teav illustration.

Cambodia had a rich and varied traditional oral literature. There are many legends, tales and songs of very ancient origin that were not put into writing until the arrival of the Europeans. One of the most representative of these tales was the story of Vorvong and Sorvong (Vorvong and Saurivong), a long story about two Khmer princes that was first put into writing by Auguste Pavie. This French civil servant claimed that he had obtained the story from old Uncle Nip in Somrontong District. This story was put into writing in Battambang. In 2006 the Vorvong and Sorvong story was enacted in dance form by the Royal Ballet of Cambodia.

Tum Teav which has been compared to a local version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is a khmer famous literature,originally based on a poem written by a Khmer Monk named Sam. The story is took place during Lovek era, about tragic love story that has been told throughout Cambodia since at least the middle of the 19th century.The story has been portrayed in many forms including oral, historical, literary, theatre, and film adaptions. The story also have a role in Cambodia's education in the 12th grade as a topic for Khmer language examination for several times. Although its first translation in French had been made by Étienne Aymonier already in 1880, Tum Teav was popularized abroad when writer George Chigas translated the 1915 literary version by the venerable Buddhist monk Preah Botumthera Som or Padumatthera Som, known also as Som, one of the best writers in the Khmer language.

The notable people especially in royalty caste which in attraction and talented in khmer literature known as King Ang Duong (1841-1860) and King Thommaracha II (1629-1634). King Thomaracha had reserved for Khmer young generation with a well loved poem and a educated poem while King Ang Duong famous for his novel called Kakey, an inspiration from Jataka tales about an unfaithful woman and a female law which now become a notable law, used to teach the young khmer girl in some notable famil today.

Shadow Theatre

Nang sbek (shadow theatre) (or Lkhaon Nang Sbek; Khmer: ល្ខោនណាំងស្បែក) is closely related to the Nang Yai of Thailand, Wayang of Malaysia and Indonesia like the Islands of Java and Bali, thus implying that nang sbek may have came from an Indonesian or Malaysian origin from many centuries ago. Nang sbek is also a dying art form and may disappear because of the decline in popularity over the years with the introduction of modern entertainment. Before the spread of modern technology such as movies, videos and television the Khmers enjoyed and watch shadow theatre apart from the other sources of entertainment available around during that time. There are three kinds of shadow theatre in Cambodia:

• Nang sbek thom is an art that involves mime, song, music and having to dance as well as narration to the accompaniment of the Pinpeat orchestra.It is mainly features the Reamker.
• Nang sbek toch also called nang kalun and sometimes called ayang (small shadow theatre) uses smaller puppets and a wide range of stories.
• Sbek paor (coloured puppet theatre) uses colored leather puppets.

Film

Cinema in Cambodia began in the 1950s; King Norodom Sihanouk himself was an avid film enthusiast. Many films were being screened in theaters throughout the country by the 1960s, which are regarded as the "golden age". After a decline during the Khmer Rouge regime, competition from video and television has meant that the Cambodian film industry is relatively weak today.