Traditional Khmer music still plays an important role in the Khmer culture. It is played during funerals, weddings, holidays and other important gatherings.
Pinpeat is the largest Khmer traditional musical ensemble. It is religious and intended for deities and kings. Pinpeat has performed ceremonial music since before the Angkorian era. The ensemble consists of nine or ten mainly wind and percussion instruments. It accompanies court dances, masked plays, shadow plays, and religious ceremonies. Learn more about pinpeat on Wikipedia.
Arak music was used during seances and for healing purposes. It literally translates into English as demon music. It dated to the animistic beliefs of ancient Cambodia and was used to drive out illness. Arak music used flute, drum, tro, chapei and kse diev.
Ayai α’αΆααα ααααα
Ayai is a type of repartee singing consisting of humorous dialogue sung as a series of questions and answers between a man and a woman. It is somewhat similar to an operetta. Ayai is accompanied by an ensemble of the same name. Learn more about ayai on Wikipedia.
Vung Phleng Pradall
Vung Phleng Pradall music is used during Khmer boxing. The music has two parts. The first part is slow to help the boxers concentrate their minds and build confidence. The second part, which is the fight music, is played much faster. The music accelerates with the progression of the round and stops at the end of the round or when someone is knocked out.
Smot is a chanting tradition performed primarily at funerals. Smot serves a number of functions which can be classified as: lament, filial piety, Jataka tales, the life of Lord Buddha, and various Buddhist chants and blessings. The smot style of vocal performance is distinct from both singing and chanting, and is characterized as "sweet, melodious and musical," marked by rubato rather than strict metric time. It is traditionally interpreted by both men and women but is always solo and typically a capella. Learn more about smot on Wikipedia.
Yike is a prominent form of Cambodian musical theater that incorporates singing and dancing and accompanied by an ensemble of both traditional and modern instruments. Learn more about yike on Wikipedia.
Chrieng Chapey α αααα α αΆαααΈ
Chrieng Chapey is a type of music where a solo vocalist performs semi-improvised topical material within traditional epics self-accompanied with the chapey.
Kar Boran ααΆα αα»ααΆα
Kar Boran is a type of traditional wedding music. Two drums are used, representing male and female.
Types of Traditional Music Instruments in Cambodia
Chapey α αΆαααΈ
Chapey is a Cambodian two-stringed, long-necked guitar that is usually plucked. It has two double courses of nylon strings. Learn more about the chapey on Wikipedia.
Pin αα·α
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin_(harp)
Pin is a Cambodian arched harp. Historically it is one of the most important instruments in Cambodian music.
Tro Che is a high-pitched two-string vertical fiddle with a face covered with snakeskin.
Tro Sau ααα αα
Tro Sau is a two-string vertical fiddle with a hardwood body that is used in classical music.
Tro Ou ααα α’ααΌ
Tro Ou is a lower two-string vertical fiddle with a coconut shell body. It has a face covered with calfskin or snakeskin and is used in classical music.
Kong Ring ααα ααα
Kong Ring is a tube zither in which a tube of bamboo is used as a resonator for stings that run along the outside of the tube. Although it is a traditional instrument with a long history, it has been improved on in modern times. The kong ring is represented by similar instruments in other countries of South Asia and the Pacific. Learn more about the kong ring on Wikipedia.
Khim ααΉα
Khim a stringed musical instrument derived from the Santur. It is similar to the Hammered Dulcimer or Cimbalom. It is played with two flexible bamboo sticks with soft leather at the tips to produce a soft tone. The khim produces a bright and expressive sound when played. It is made of wood, with brass strings that are laid across the instrument. Learn more about the khim on Wikipedia.
Khloy αααα»α
Khloy is an ancient traditional bamboo flute. It is a duct flute with six or seven finger holes. There are two types of khloy: a smaller, higher-pitched (khloy ek) and larger, lower-pitched (khloy thomm). Learn more about the khloy on Wikipedia.
Pey Au is similar to a flute but using a set of double reeds to produce sound. It's body is made of narrow bore bamboo and is narrower than the khloy and pey pok. Learn more about the pey au on Wikipedia.
Ploy αααα ααααα
Ploy is a mouth organ constructed of a gourd body with 5 to 7 bamboo tubes coming out of the body. It has and a bamboo pipe set at a right angle to the gourd where musicians blow air. Each of the bamboo sound-tubes has a metal rod inside, that vibrate in the air passing through the tube. The musician can also suck air in to produce a different tone. Learn more about the ploy on Wikipedia.
Khene ααα
Khene is a mouth organ whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a small, hollowed-out hardwood reservoir into which air is blown. Learn more about the khene on Wikipedia.
Roneat Ek is a boat shaped xylophone. It has twenty-one thick bamboo or hard wood bars that are suspended from strings attached to the walls. Learn more about roneat ek on Wikipedia.
Kong Vong Toch is a number of gongs that are attached to a circle-shaped rack, closely resembling its larger relative, the kong vong thom. It has 16 gong heads, which cover a range of pitches. They are rounded and flat in shape with a raised knob in the middle, known as the nipple. The nipple is crucial to the sound, as this is the part being struck by the player. Learn more about the kong vong toch on Wikipedia.
Kong Vong Thom αα ααα αα
Kong Vong Thom is a number of gongs attached to a circular rack like the kong vong toch, but it produces a lower sound than the kong vong toch. It consists of 16 copper bongs suspended on a rattan frame. Learn more about the kong vong thom on Wikipedia.
Kong Mon αααα
Kong Mon is a graduated brass gong chime associated with the Mon people. It consists of 10-15 gongs mounted in a vertical crescent-shaped wooden frame. Learn more about the kong mon on Wikipedia.
Angkouch is made of bamboo and carved into a long, flat shape with a hole in the center and a tongue of bamboo across the hole. Learn more about angkouch on Wikipedia.
Sralai αααα‘α
Sralai is a wind instrument, similar to an Oboe, that uses a quadruple reed to produce sound. The set of quadruple reeds are made of palm leaf. It comes in a large and small size. Learn more about the sralai on Wikipedia.
Samphor is a small, 2-headed barrel drum approximately .35 meter wide by .5 meter long. It has two heads, with one drumhead being larger than the other and is played with both hands. The samphor can make as many as 8 different pitches. Learn more about the samphor on Wikipedia.
Skor Thom αααα αα
Skor Thom is a 2-headed barrel drum played with a pair of wooden drumsticks. The heads are typically made from the skin of oxen, cows or buffalos, and are played in pairs. The drums are tuned such that one will give a tighter and louder sound when struck, while the other gives a loose and flatter tone. Learn more about skor thom on Wikipedia.
Skor Yike αααα ααΈαα
Skor Yike is a family of frame drums used in Yike theater. There are as many as 13 different sizes, including the largest, the skor mei (approximately 2 feet across, 25 centimeters/9 inches deep). In the Yike drama, the skor mei starts and ends the music. Learn more about the skor yike on Wikipedia.
Thon
Thon is a goblet drum played with the hands and used in the mohori ensemble. It has a ceramic or wooden body and has a low pitch. Learn more about the thon on Wikipedia.
Skor Daey αααα αα
Skor Daey is a short goblet drum approximately 40 centimeters tall and 15 centimeters wide at the top. There are two common goblet drums there, the (Khmer: , a very long goblet drum, resembling some from Burma, and the skor daey. Other Khmer names included skor kar (ααααααΆα), and skor ayai (ααααα’αΆαααα) based off how the drum is being used. Learn more about the skor daey on Wikipedia.
Skor Toch ααααααΌα
Skor Toch is a small goblet-shaped drum, played with the hands.
Skor Arak αααα α’αΆαααα
Skor Arak is a goblet-shaped drum, played with the hands. It is traditionally used during Arak music to assist in seances and healing exorcism.
Skor Chhaiyam αααα αααααΆα
Rumana
Rumana is a rebana type frame drum or tambourine played with the hands and used in the mohori ensemble. It has a high pitch.
Chap is a percussion instrument made from bronze. It is thinner than a ching. The chap consists of two thin, round disks with a bulge in the center. The plates are held against the hands like cymbals, using handles made of string, passing through a hole in the center of each plate. The tone changes when struck at an angle. Learn more about the chap on Wikipedia.
Krap is a set of clappers used as a percussion instrument. There are at least five versions based on the kind of music and materials used. The Krap Chayam is constructed of blocks of bamboo and is used in chayam music, being clapped together in the player's hands. The Krap nyee (ααααΆαααΈ krap female) was originally made from seashells, but is now also of bamboo, still shaped like shells, used in dance music. The Krap chmol (ααααΆαααααα) is made from bamboo of different lengths, one length held still while hitting it with the other with coins attached that jingle. The krap kour is a length of bamboo with metal balls attached, and is played by tapping it in the palm of the other hand. The krap arak, used in arak music by the Cham, consisting of one-meter lengths of bamboo, stamped on the ground to the beat, like a stamping drum. Learn more about the krap on Wikipedia.
Slek is a musical leaf played in rural Cambodia. Is is made from the leaves of broad-leaf trees, including the sakrom and khnoung trees. To play a leaf, the musician curls the edge of a leaf into a semi-circle and places it between the lips, making sure that the leaf is touching both the upper and lower lip. The leaf vibrates in contact with the lips as the player blows air through the slek. The player can control the pitch of the noise with their upper lip. While it is used to imitate sounds wild animals make, it can produce a sustained sharp, high-pitched whistle. Learn more about the slek on Wikipedia.
Click here for a list of music related words in the Khmer dictionary
