Kampot Traditional Music School

School reviving traditional Cambodian music and instruments after near-destruction under the Khmer Rouge

The Kampot Traditional Music school teaches traditional Cambodian music to young students, focusing on instruments and forms that were nearly extinguished during the Khmer Rouge period. Instruments include the roneat (a xylophone-like instrument of bamboo or hardwood), various types of fiddle, and percussion. Evening performances are held for visitors and serve as both fundraising and an opportunity to hear music that is genuinely endangered.

The school is a small operation with limited funding, and visiting — particularly attending a performance — directly supports the programme. Evening shows typically last about 45 minutes. Donations beyond the ticket price are welcomed. The music is unlike anything most Western visitors will have heard; Khmer classical music has modal scales and rhythmic structures that bear no relation to Western music, and even brief exposure leaves an impression.

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The Khmer Rouge systematically killed Cambodia's musicians, dancers, and artists — regarded as irredeemably bourgeois. An estimated 90 percent of Cambodia's professional musicians and classical performers died during the regime, along with most of the masters who preserved traditional forms. The revival of Cambodian classical music has required piecing together tradition from surviving students, diaspora knowledge, and a handful of old recordings.

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