BANGSOKOL :
A REQUIEM FOR CAMBODIA
M U S I C B Y H I M S O P H Y M U L T I M E D I A P R O J E C T I O N B Y R I T H Y P A N H C H O R E O G R A P H Y B Y E M M A N U È L E P H U O N T E X T B Y T R E N T W A L K E R
Nearly four decades after the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge, no major symphonic work has
emerged in Cambodia to address the traumas of the late 1970s.
BANGSOKOL: A REQUIEM FOR CAMBODIA, an extraordinary new commission that fuses voice,
music, dance, and stunning visuals, shifts this history.
This multimedia work adopts the Western requiem form for a predominantly Buddhist Cambodian
context. The score combines a Western chamber orchestra and chorus with Khmer instrumentalists and
vocalists. The libretto incorporates Pali and Khmer liturgies for healing the sick and offering merit to the
dead. The accompanying projections include archival footage from the Khmer Rouge period and
imagistic interpretations of the regime’s horrific impact.
BANGSOKOL: A REQUIEM FOR CAMBODIA is the first collaboration between contemporaries Rithy
Panh and Him Sophy, both survivors of the Khmer Rouge. Their work showcases the inspiring
revitalization of the country’s once devastated artistic community, illuminating the universal power of
culture and art to act as vehicles for healing.
Cambodian Living Arts commissioned this major composition, which was originally workshopped as a
part of the critically acclaimed Season of Cambodia, a festival of Cambodian arts and culture held in
New York in the spring of 2013.
BANGSOKOL: A REQUIEM FOR CAMBODIA is a dynamic and wholly original collaboration by some
of the country’s leading artists whose goals transcend artistic achievement. The work itself, in its
conception, creation and presentation, is an act of cultural renewal; it aims to return the arts to a
central place of pride in Cambodian society. BANGSOKOL: A REQUIEM FOR CAMBODIA will
premiere at the temples of Angkor (Angkor Wat) in late 2016 followed by an extensive international tour
throughout the 2017-18 presenting arts seasons.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
theofficearts.com
[email protected]
"When I think back to the
kind of atrocities that I
witnessed, I always feel
very affected and this is
the feeling that I want to
express through my music.
Some composers compose
with their head. I compose
with my heart."
– Him Sophy
“Bangsokol is a vital act
of memory. It is an
attempt to give dignity to
the dead; to reconcile
with our own past; to give
a face and a name to the
victims... to give their
souls peace."
"That is the essential
meaning of this major
musical work by Him
Sophy."
"The stage will offer a
simple and pure vision
with minimal artifice.
The entire work—the sets,
costumes, choreography—
will be created by
Cambodian artists: those
whose carry with them this
tragedy, and who bear the
responsibility to pass on
the story.”
– Rithy Panh
project collaborators
H I M S O P H Y
composer Cambodian composer and Khmer Rouge survivor Him Sophy is composing music for Bangsokol that combines a Western chamber orchestra and chorus with Khmer instrumentalists and vocalists. The traditional Khmer musical forms represented include several endangered forms of funeral music, such as kong skor, smot, and pin peat. These traditional musical forms are crucial for honoring the dead; unfortunately, live performances are seldom heard in the capital and the form is rapidly disappearing in the countryside. Trained at the Moscow Conservatory of Music as well as the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Dr. Him brings a unique perspective to this project. His previous works, including the acclaimed rock opera Where Elephants Weep, have demonstrated an unparalleled facility for bringing Western and Khmer musical worlds into intimate conversation. R I T H Y P A N H filmmaker Rithy Panh, recently named Asian Filmmaker of the Year by the Busan International Film Festival, is an internationally and critically acclaimed Cambodian documentary director and screenwriter who received his formal education at the Institute for High Cinematographic Studies in Paris. He is the first Cambodian filmmaker ever to be nominated for an Oscar—for The Missing Picture in 2013. In the same year he received the Jury Prize at the “Un Certain Regard” at the Cannes Festival. He has also directed many documentaries, including S-­‐21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, for which he was awarded the prestigious Albert Londres Prize in 2004. Panh will be creating a visual element to accompany the Requiem performance. He will curate projections that range from historical footage to imagistic interpretations of the Khmer Rouge regime. E M M A N U È L E P H U O N choreographer Emmanuèle Phuon is French-­‐Cambodian and lives in Brussels, Belgium. She began her dance training with the Royal Ballet of Cambodia at age five. In 1975 she moved to Bangkok with her mother where she lived until she was 16. At that time she decided to become a dancer and left for Avignon, France, where she studied at the Conservatoire National de Danse, graduating in 1986. In 1987, she moved to New York. Emmanuèle has performed with the Elisa Monte Dance Company (1989 – 1994), the Baryshnikov White Oak Dance Project (1995 – 2001), and has worked with Martha Clarke, Joachim Schloemer, and Meg Stuart, among others. She is a 2009 Asian Cultural Council grantee and has been working with Yvonne Rainer since 2010. She will bring movement and gesture to the chorus and singers of Bangsokol. T R E N T W A L K E R l i b r e t t i s t Trent Walker is a young scholar of Southeast Asian Buddhist music. Trained in jazz and Western classical music, Trent spent several years in Cambodia studying with vocal masters Prum Ut, Koet Ran, and Yan Borin while working for Cambodian Living Arts. A former Buddhist novice monk, he regularly performs and gives lectures on the Cambodian Dharma song (smot) tradition of Buddhist chant. At present Trent is a Ph.D. student in Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where his research focuses on Southeast Asian Buddhist liturgies in Khmer, Lao, Pali, and Thai. i n s t r u m e n t a t i o n | t e c h V O I C E Soprano Tenor Narrator C H O R U S Soprano Alto Tenor Bass [ 3 ] 1 1 1 (Khmer Style) (Khmer Style) (English and Khmer) [ 2 0 ] 5 5 5 5 We are exploring the possibility of the chorus being sourced at each location or region. C H A M B E R O R C H E S T R A st
Violins 1 10 nd
Violins 2 8 Violas 6 Cellos 4 Double Bass 2 Harp 1 Timpani 1 [ 3 2 o r 2 5 ] or or or or or or or 8 6 4 3 2 1 1 C A M B O D I A N T R A D I T I O N A L I N S T R U M E N T S [ 5 ] Bayon Harp 1 Ancient Khmer Harp String 1 Tro Sao, Tro Ou, Tro Khmer + Woodwind 1 Srolay, Khloy, Pey A, Pey Pok, Sampho Roneat Pluah 1 Gong Pluah 1 All 5 traditional musicians also play the ancient Khmer instruments in the period of Angkor such as cymbals and long trumpets. T E C H Projectionist Lighting Designer Live Sound Mix As the piece is still in development all tech requirements are in flux. There will be a mix of projected images and staging pieces. libretto summary | translation
I. Funeral begins, in celestial realms and in the Cambodian countryside Texts: 1) Opening invocation to the gods (tenor); 2) first part of Pali bangsokol chant (chorus); 3) kong skor lullaby (soprano). Explanation: The requiem begins in the heavens, with celestial music and an opening Pali smot invocation (tenor) to the gods to listen to the "words of the sage" (i.e. the Buddha's teachings). Coming down to Earth and witnessing a funeral in the Cambodian countryside, we begin to hear these "words of the sage" being recited by the chorus (the first past of the Pali bangsokol chant). The funeral then takes a more melancholy tone with a kong skor lullaby in Khmer (soprano), which describes a mother mourning the loss of her child. II. Funeral violently interrupted by memories of the Khmer Rouge; the apparition of the hungry ghosts Texts: 4.) Khmer Rouge national anthem (tenor); 5) smot piece in Khmer on how the dead are deposed of in the forest (soprano); 6) second part of Pali bangsokol chant on the lives of hungry ghosts (chorus). Explanation: The funeral lullaby is violently interrupted by the Khmer Rouge, who are signaled by their national anthem (tenor). The anthem quickly descends into chaos and horror, juxtaposed with a haunting smot piece on bodies being disposed of in the forest (soprano). In this desolate evocation of the Khmer Rouge period, hungry ghosts (praet) appear, described by the second part of the Pali bangsokol chant (chorus). III. Funeral concludes through a recognition of impermanence; removal of the bangsokol cloth from the dead; prayers of goodwill to all beings Texts: 7) third part of the Pali bangsokol chant on the spiral of how delusion and craving lead to suffering (chorus); 8) smot piece in Khmer on impermanence and letting go of anger (tenor/soprano duet); 9) fourth part of Pali bangsokol chant on the truth of impermanence and the path to peace; 10) final part of the Pali bangsokol chant that offers goodwill to all beings (chorus). Explanation: After meeting the hungry ghosts, the funeral resumes in their memory. The third part of the Pali bangsokol chant (chorus) evokes the spiral of "dependent origination," which describes how craving and ignorance lead to suffering and how their absence leads to peace. A smot piece (tenor/soprano duet) on the truth of suffering, impermanence, and not self, and the importance of letting go of anger, follows. The music builds to the climax of the funeral, the fourth part of the Pali bangsokol chant (chorus), in which the bangsokol cloth is symbolically removed from the dead, leading to healing and fortunate future. The fifth and final part of the Pali bangsokol chant (chorus) concludes the requiem with universal prayers of goodwill towards living beings in the ten directions. Provided by Trent Walker