Cambodia Opens Up to International Culture

By Soy Sophea

Cambodian Culture Officers have welcomed input from the World’s cultures but warn that all foreign cultures should be subjected to a process of Khmerization so that it conforms to national mores and respects human dignity.

Samraing Kamsan, Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said that there is no border for culture; wherever men go, the culture goes with them.

“We don’t prohibit foreign cultures in Cambodia,” he said. “But whatever Cambodian people want to adopt new foreign cultures they should adjust it so that it fits Khmer style as our ancestors have done in building thousand of temples,” he added.

The Under Secretary of State told the Cambodia Weekly on January 28 that in his view, it would be good to combine the traditional dance with the conventions of Break dance or Hip Hop for example.

He said that when one nation’s culture is weak, other stronger cultures will influence the weaker. “That is a normal, but we should preserve ours,” he added.

He illustrated the point with reference to the computer. “Computers do not belong to Cambodia’s culture but it is an indispensible item of modern work culture. However, our IT engineers have taken this device and given it a Khmer complexion to make it relevant to our situation. This is an unavoidable aspect of living in a globalised world.”

• Cambodia’s DV HipHop Show

Established in November 2008, the dance troupe comprises members who also happen to be orphans. Chan Ravy, troupe manager of the 6-member team said that he wanted to gather young Cambodian people and give them a chance to improve their life through western dance.

Ravy, who has practiced the Hip Hop and Break Dance style since 2001, said that he was concerned that children from less income background would easily fall into the trap of drug addiction. To help combat the threat, he decided to build a small troupe to give the youth something to do. He has big ambitions and wants to see his dancers performing on a wider, national stage.

“I can’t imagine what it would happen to us if we did not do anything for ourselves. Some of us are orphans,” he told the Cambodia Weekly during an interview. “I want them to show their ability in dancing to a different beat to Cambodians.”

He said that his team has now become the official dancing team for a local private education provider. Ravy, whose father is a professor at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, urged interested sponsors to provide financial support.

Top Longdy, a dancer with the troupe said that DVHipHop is ready to serve the Cambodian audience and is certain that they would enjoy the spectacle.

Top Longdy, who is also a student of Information of Technology at a Phnom Penh university, said that his team has appeared on CTN (Cambodian Television Network), TV5 and Bayon.

“My ambition is to promote Cambodia’s Hip Hop so that it becomes as well known as the Korean scene,” he said. “Cambodians should not be afraid of updating their culture with Khamerised injections from outside influences, as happened in the past.”

Chan Pololita, an orphan who studies grade 10 in a high school in Phnom Penh, said that he will show his best moves in front of Cambodian audiences. He hopes that the new business will help him and his four siblings overcome the troubles experienced since his father passed away. “I believe that it will help my life,” said Pololita, whose younger brother Chan Poleu is also in the team.

DV Hip Hip consists of Chan Ravy, 20, Top Longdy, 18, Chan Pololita, 17, Chan Ponleu, 15, Yu Kimdara, 14, Lim Hai, 13 and with two other reserves Keng Samnang, 15, and Chom Ribo, 14. They can be contacted at 016 67 72 72.

Song Rachana, a student at a Phnom Penh university welcomed the arrival of foreign culture but he urged people to consider the impact on native culture such adoptions would create.

“It will be better if they could mix the introduced culture with a bit of Khmer style,” he told the Cambodia Weekly.

•History of Hip Hop

Hip Hop music, also referred to as rap music, is a music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans. The term rap is often used synonymously with hip hop music.
Rapping, also referred to as MCing or emceeing, is a vocal style in which the performer speaks rhythmically and in rhyme, generally to a beat, recently, however, a difference has developed between "rapping" and "MCing".

Hip Hop arose in New York City when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk or rock songs for audiences to dance to. The role of the MC was originally to introduce the DJ and the music, and to keep the audience excited. The MC would speak between songs, giving exhortations to dance, greetings to audience members, jokes and anecdotes. Eventually, this practice became more stylized, and came to be known as rapping. By 1979, hip hop had become a commercially recorded music genre, and began to enter the American mainstream.

It also began its spread across the world. In the 1990s, a form called gangster rap became a major part of American music, causing significant controversy over lyrics which were perceived by some as promoting violence, promiscuity, drug use and misogyny. Nevertheless, hip hop continued to increase in popularity, and by the year 2000, it was a staple of popular music charts.