In the later 1970’s Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime overtook Cambodia, renaming the country to Kampuchea, and creating an authoritarian state of fear, pain, and death. Pol Pot’s regime would capture anyone they deemed as “new” (anybody who they deemed educated, or Western in any way, artists, teachers, doctors, lawyers, people with glasses and soft hands) and murder them in their infamous killing fields. The rest of the population, farmers and laborers, were rounded up and sent to work in rice fields for up to 20 hours a day, working the men, women, and children to death.
In 4 years, 2 million people were killed, including 90% of Cambodia’s artist population. Arn Chorn Pond, a master flutist, aims to revive the arts lost during this horrible period in his country's history. An ex-child soldier and survivor of the labor camps, he resonates with the pain of those affected by the genocide. Most interestingly, Arn’s talent for the flute, specifically the piccolo, saved his life. He volunteered to play for the Khmer Rouge, giving him more food, and privilege, which would be a key factor in helping him pull through. Over the years, Arn has created his nonprofit organization, Cambodian Living Arts, to revitalize the art scene that once flourished. On my GIP trip this year to Cambodia, I had the pleasure of meeting graduates from his program, a player of the Chapei dang veng, a two-string instrument, most similar to a banjo, and a player of the Khmer Harp. I was truly impressed with their ability to master instruments that almost completely disappeared less than half a century ago. As the Chapei dang veng was played, the musician began singing, and although I cannot understand the Khmer language that well, the meaning and emotion behind his voice were enough for me to understand the impact of Cambodian Living Arts. They are not just teaching music, they are changing lives.
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