This piece introduces the endangered Cambodian musical instrument Angkuoch, its makers and players, and a project documenting the making process. It also reflects on ethics of instruments in museum collections

Grant, Catherine

Song, Seng

English

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World Music Textbook Volume 2 Article 2 2021 Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch: Documenting a Rare Musical Instrument, its Makers and Players Seng Song Catherine Grant catherine.grant@griffith.edu.au Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/wmt Recommended Citation Song, Seng and Grant, Catherine (2021) "Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch: Documenting a Rare Musical Instrument, its Makers and Players," World Music Textbook: Vol. 2 , Article 2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25035/wmt.2021.002 Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/wmt/vol2/iss1/2 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@BGSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in World Music Textbook by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@BGSU. Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch:Documenting a Rare MusicalInstrument, its Makers and PlayersSONG Seng | CambodiaCatherine GRANT | Griffith University (Australia)Abstract: This piece introduces the endangered Cambodian musical instru-ment Angkuoch, its makers and players, and a project documenting the mak-ing process. It also reflects on ethics of instruments in museum collections.Keywords: heritage, musical instruments, public musicology, sustainability,Southeast AsiaThe online version of this chapter includes all embedded content and is available athttps://worldmusictextbook.org/song-grant-2021.The musical instrument popularly known as the “Jew’s Harp” (also jaw’sharp, mouth harp, trump or guimbarde) is found in many countries around theworld. The origin of the name, and of the instrument itself, remains unclear toscholars, though it is believed it is an ‘extremely ancient instrument’ that mayhave originated in Asia, perhaps China (Fox 1988, 22, 49).The Cambodian version of the instrument is unique. Called angkuoch inKhmer, it is a precious part of Cambodia’s living cultural heritage (Libin 2014;Narom 2005).Nowadays, angkuoch and its associated practices are in need of urgent safe-guarding. Social and cultural shifts in Cambodia over the last half-century, in-cluding the devastation of the Khmer Rouge era in the 1970s, mean that onlya few people still know how to make and play angkuoch (Miller & Williams1998, 204).Supported by the Endangered Material Knowledge Program of the British Mu-seum (UK) and by UNESCO (Cambodia), in early 2020 we (the authors) led ateam documenting angkuoch and angkuoch-making as it is practised in SiemReap Province in northern Cambodia. Our aim was to help preserve knowl-edge about angkuoch for present and future generations.By briefly introducing the angkuoch makers and players who participatedin this project, and by presenting some of the information they shared with usduring our fieldwork, this article serves as an introduction to angkuoch. It of-fers a sense of the changes to angkuoch-making over time, and the current stateWORLD MUSIC TEXTBOOK, ISSN: 2767-4215; © 2021, CC-BY-NC-NDhttps://doi.org/10.25035/wmt.2021.002Song and Grant: Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch 2Figure 1: BIN Song making angkuoch daek (iron Jew’s harp) (with his wife,standing). Photo: Catherine Grant, 8 January 2020.of the instrument in its social and cultural context. It also reflects on one of thekey outcomes of the fieldwork: identifying the likely maker of the angkuoch inthe British Museum.The Angkuoch DaekBIN Song (b. 1942) may be the only living person who still knows how to makethe iron Cambodian angkuoch: angkuoch daek.1 He was first introduced toangkuoch daek as a child, by a man from the neighbouring Kuy ethnic com-munity. Intrigued, he taught himself how to play angkuoch, and eventuallyto make it too. As a young man, he became known for his skills with theangkuoch.Like artists all over Cambodia, BIN Song stopped making and playing theangkuoch when the despotic Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. When the1Khmer names are usually said and written with the family name first and the given namesecond. In this article, Khmer family names have been written in all capital letters for clarity. Itis also common that children use their father’s given name as their family name, which is whyKRAK Chi’s sons are named CHI Chen and CHI Monivong.3 World Music Textbookproject team encouraged him in late 2019 to make an angkuoch daek, he hadnot made an instrument for nearly fifty years.At first, BIN Song hesitated to accept our invitation. He was concerned thathis eyesight was no longer up to the task. Moreover, since he had lost his teeth,he could not test the instrument out as he made it. Yet he agreed and laterhe told us: “I’m getting old now, and when I reflected on it, I realised it wasimportant to pass this knowledge on to the next generation. If I don’t, whowill? If not now, when?”The British Museum will keep in its collection the angkuoch daek that BINSong made for this project, along with video documentation that shows everystep of the process. While BIN Song is happy that people from all aroundthe world will have a chance to learn about the angkuoch daek, his foremostmessage is to young Cambodians: “do not give up on angkuoch! This is ourculture and heritage!” He urges:I want to tell people in the next generation that no matter what,you should certainly play this angkuoch. Learn to play! . . . Keep italive! Don’t let it be lost!The Language of the AngkuochSON Soeun and BIN Song (both born 1942) are lifelong friends. In the 1950sand ‘60s, they grew up together in Preah Ko village in Siem Reap Province,even entering the monkhood together for a time.When the young BIN Song began to make and play the angkuoch daek,SON Soeun became intrigued by the instrument too. Over time, SON Soeunlearnt to play proficiently. In the local lingo, the instrument was called “angkuochbird” on account of its shape. The two boys would often slip an angkuoch birdin their pockets to play for pleasure whenever they chose.When the two boys were growing up, boys and young men often usedthe angkuoch to flirt with girls and young women. Words can be “spoken”through the instrument, although it takes some practice to interpret them (Miller& Williams 1998, 204). In this way, young people developed a secret language– the language of angkuoch. As youths, Song and Souen would often use theangkuoch for this purpose. SON Soeun recalled:When I was a bachelor, I went to visit the houses of girls at night.When I reached my lover’s house, if she was already asleep, I playedto call her. If I kept calling, she would wake up and come to meetme. And then we sat together. I could call her to meet me whereverI wanted as long as she heard the sound of my angkuoch.In addition to its role in wooing potential lovers, angkuoch traditionally ac-companied “Prern”, a genre of folksong that was popular in Siem Reap Provinceat the time BIN Song and SON Soeun were growing up (Khean et al. 2003). AnSong and Grant: Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch 4Figure 2: SON Soeun playing angkuoch daek (iron Jew’s harp), with his child-hood friend, instrument-maker BIN Song. Photo: Catherine Grant, 11 January2020.especially popular Prern song was “Santouch.” BIN Song recalled its lyrics forus (in part):Standing near the water pond, if your share with me your rice wine,I will dance for you to see, my dear.Several angkuoch players – both male and female – could join in, firstsinging and dancing together, then playing angkuoch with one hand and danc-ing with the other. People also enjoyed playing and listening to angkuoch dur-ing festivals or special celebrations.A Family of Angkuoch Russey MakersKRAK Chi (b. 1950) is a rice farmer and bamboo angkuoch-maker from SrahSrong village, a stone’s throw from the world-famous temple complex of AngkorWat. KRAK Chi has childhood memories of his father playing the angkuochin the evenings for pleasure. Chi also remembers local children buying theangkuoch russey (a bamboo angkuoch) from instrument-makers in the village,5 World Music TextbookFigure 3: KRAK Chi playing angkuoch russey (bamboo Jew’s harp). Video:THON Dika, 5 January 2020. Scan the QR code or visit the website to viewexamples.then selling the instruments on in the dozens to tourists at the nearby Angkortemples.People played angkuoch in their houses. When they were free,sometimes they brought it to the rice field and played it right there.If they lived close to Sras Srong lake, they brought it to play aroundthere. (KRAK Chi)As with the iron angkuoch daek, boys and young men liked to use angkuochrussey to woo lovers. KRAK Chi told us:Boys and girls flirted with each other through the angkuoch. In thispresent generation, people use the phone to talk to each other - butat that time they used the angkuoch.KRAK Chi remembers an old custom of putting “charming wax” on theinstruments to make sure that any advances that were made via the angkuochwere irresistible.KRAK Chi’s young son CHI Chen (b. 1988) used to buy angkuoch russeyfrom the famous angkuoch maker MONG Koeuy in the neighbouring PreahDak village, and then sell them on to tourists by the dozen at the famous TaProhm temple near his village Srah Srong. By his teenage years, CHI Chen hadbecome a proficient player and successful seller of the instruments.Watching MONG Koeuy make the instruments, KRAK Chi decided to learnhow to make them too. He was motivated partly by the prospect of a mod-est income from selling the instruments and partly by the desire to keep alivethe tradition of his ancestors. At one stage, KRAK Chi could make around 15angkuoch in a day.KRAK Chi then taught his other son, CHI Monivong (b. 1990), how to makethe instrument. The two brothers, Chen and Monivong, soon became knownas new-generation makers and players of angkuoch russey. However, in theirtwenties they found that fewer tourists knew about angkuoch. Consequently,Song and Grant: Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch 6Figure 4: KRAK Chi making angkuoch russey (bamboo Jew’s harp). Photo:Catherine Grant, 5 January 2020.7 World Music Textbookfewer people were buying the instrument and it became harder to earn an in-come by making and selling it. CHI Chen explained:Not many people know about angkuoch anymore. Most who doare old. When old people saw me playing at the temple, they said:‘Chao (grandchild)! This is angkuoch. This instrument has existedsince the era of our ancestors.’ But younger people said, ‘Brother!What are you holding? Is it a wooden pin to fix nets?’ I told them:‘No, it is an angkuoch. People use it to make music.’ I played forthem and they were happy.Now Chen and Monivong are in their early thirties with full-time jobs, andthey no longer have much free time for angkuoch-making. However, theyare happy that their father is teaching his two young grandsons how to makeangkuoch. They hope that the family tradition will continue and develop, andthat people of all ages will know and enjoy the angkuoch in the future.MONG KoeuyAt one time, MONG Koeuy (c.1937-2012) was a renowned angkuoch russeymaker in Siem Reap province. He lived in Preah Dak village, not far fromwhere KRAK Chi and his sons CHI Monivong and CHI Chen live. It wasMONG Koeuy who introduced the angkuoch to the young CHI Chen, andwho later taught Chen’s father KRAK Chi how to make the instrument.MONG Koeuy learnt to make angkuoch from his father when he was achild. He sold the instruments he made to tourists at the nearby temples, alongwith coconuts and other things. Later, as a young man, MONG also worked asa farmer and a carpenter.MONG married his second wife LAV Mech (b. 1945) during the KhmerRouge era. He began selling angkuoch again soon after the fall of the KhmerRouge, and the income supported their children through school.MONG Koeuy passed away in his late 70s in 2012. Four of his sons areproud to continue their father’s tradition.The Angkuoch in the British MuseumUntil the recent acquisition of two new angkuoch through this project,2 theBritish Museum had only one angkuoch in its collection, an instrument of un-known maker, donated in 1966 by a certain W Hanson Rawles, about whomnothing further is known. Today, museum practices carefully document, wher-ever possible, the provenance and donation circumstances of items to their col-lections.2In December 2020, the British Museum acquired two angkuoch made for this project: anangkuoch daek made by BIN Song and an angkuoch russey made by CHI Monivong.Song and Grant: Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch 8Figure 5: Siblings KOEUY Leakhena and KOEUY Reatha with their motherLAV Mech (seated), wife of angkuoch-maker MONG Koeuy. Photo: CatherineGrant, 17 January 2020.9 World Music TextbookWhen the research team showed a photo of the Museum instrument do-nated by Rawles to the brothers CHI Monivong and CHI Chen and their fatherKRAK Chi, they all thought that the instrument bore strong resemblance to theunique style of MONG Koeuy, especially in its shape, thickness and length, aswell as a characteristic node near the tongue of the instrument.When we showed MONG Koeuy’s wife LAV Mech and her children Leakhenaand Reatha the photo of the British Museum instrument, they became emo-tional. They too recognised features of their father’s instruments, which hehad once sold widely to local and foreign tourists. In Leakhena’s words:When I first saw this photo [of the British Museum angkuoch], Iwas very excited. I never knew my father’s craft had been pro-moted internationally. Even locally, some people do not even knowabout it, so I had not thought it was very prized. Seeing this angkuoch,I miss him. To my family, the angkuoch symbolises my father.On request of the family of MONG Koeuy, the project team is working withthe British Museum to include in its catalogue this new information about thelikely provenance of the instrument. We feel that this is important for tworeasons. First, making this knowledge publicly available enriches the very lim-ited contextual information known about this object. Since this object repre-sents angkuoch in the museum’s collection, making accessible the new find-ings about this specific instrument will expand the internationally available(English-language) information about angkuoch in general, and contribute tothe preservation and documentation of knowledge about it for future genera-tions.Second, as museums around the world strive to redress past questionable—-or simply plain unethical—-practices, adding this new information to the cat-alogue will finally duly acknowledge the likely maker of the object, MONGKoeuy, over 50 years after the British Museum acquired the instrument. Suchan acknowledgement is evidently and understandably important to the familyof MONG Koeuy. While we as authors hope that this project makes an im-portant contribution to documenting and safeguarding angkuoch, we also be-lieve that acknowledging the knowledge and skills of this historical angkuoch-maker is no less important.Additional MaterialsAcknowledgementsThis project was funded by the British Museum’s Endangered Material Knowl-edge Programme, supported by Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing andPeter Baldwin. UNESCO (Cambodia) provided additional funding for dissem-ination of outcomes in Cambodia. We are grateful to the angkuoch makers andplayers who shared with us their knowledge and skills: BIN Song, SON Soeun,KRAK Chi, CHI Monivong, and CHI Chen. We also acknowledge LAV Mech,Song and Grant: Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch 10Figure 6: KOEUY Leakhena with a copy of the British Museum catalogue entryfor the angkuoch russey in its collection.11 World Music TextbookKOEUY Leakhena, KOEUY Reatha and the family of MONG Koeuy, whosestory we share here with their permission. Finally, thanks to research assistantSAY Tola and videographer THON Dika for their input to the project.Discussion QuestionsWhy do you think it might be important to document knowledge about instrument-making and instrument-makers? Consider the various types of people whomight wish to access such documentation, now or in the future.• Do you know of any other examples of projects that document musicalinstruments, instrument-making, or instrument-makers?What ethical considerations arise from housing musical instruments in muse-ums?• How did this project relate and respond to one of those considerations?• Can you think of any other ethical considerations arising from this project?How might the project team have addressed these?Recommended ReadingsMurphy, Bernice L., ed. 2016. Museums, Ethics and Cultural Heritage. Oxon, UK:Routledge.SAM Sam-Ang. 2008. “The Khmer People of Cambodia.” Garland Handbook ofSoutheast Asian Music, 85. New York: Routledge.Wright, John. 2001. “Jew’s harp.” Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford Univer-sity Press.Digital ResourcesJew’s Harp. British Museum.The current catalogue entry for the angkuoch in the British Mu-seum collection. During the course of this project, the British Mu-seum updated its online catalogue; the earlier entry we used duringfieldwork in January 2020 (shown in Figure 6) includes a photo-graph of the asset.Documenting the Instrument and Instrument-making of Angkuoch, Cambodian MouthHarp. Endangered Material Knowledge Program, British Museum.The webpage for this project, which (from 2021) will link to theEMKP Digital Repository, where all project outputs will be freelypublicly available. Outputs include an 18-minute video-documentary,a 24-page booklet, and nearly 400 files documenting angkuoch-making(photographs, audio files, video recordings, and interview tran-scriptions).Song and Grant: Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch 12International Jew’s Harp Society. >The website of the International Jew’s HarpSociety, including a blog post (30 January 2020) introducing the angkuochdocumentation project.Works CitedFox, Leonard. 1988. “Introduction.” In Fox, Leonard, ed. The Jew’s Harp: AComprehensive Anthology, 15-44. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press; Lon-don: Associated University Presses.Libin, Laurence. 2014. “Akuoc [angkuoch, kangkuoch].” Grove Music Online.Oxford: Oxford University Press. Accessed 1 October 2020.NAROM Keo. 2005. Cambodian Music. Phnom Penh: Reyum.KHEAN Yun, KEO Dorivan, LINA Y., and LENNA Mao, eds. 2003. TraditionalMusical Instruments of Cambodia, second edition. Phnom Penh: United Na-tions Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.Miller, Terry E. and Sean Williams, eds. 1998. “Southeast Asia: The KhmerPeople.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Vol. 4, 151-217. New York:Routledge.

Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch: Documenting a Rare Musical Instrument, its Makers and Players

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Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch: Documenting a Rare Musical Instrument, its Makers and Players

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