From August 19-27, 2007, Cambodian Living Arts brought together 4 partnering organizations and over 350 different artists, students, and performers to the campus of our partner organization Phare, a circus and arts school in Battambang province, for the second annual Teaching and Learning Festival--or Mahasroap as a festival is known in Khmer.
Modeled after the much-acclaimed 2006 Mahasroap 2006, also held at Phare, this year's festival was an even greater success, as the students and teachers relished the opportunity to learn and share with other artists. The annual CLA National Youth Arts Festival not only promotes traditional and inventive arts. It is an annual gathering of professional artists, young artists, and observer participants who see the festival as an opportunity to network and to generate enthusiasm for cultural renewal for Cambodians at home and around the world. This year’s festival was extensively covered by Cambodian television and newspapers, and also was visited by international funders interested in investing in arts renewal in Cambodia.
Many international visitors attended; each night in the Phare circus Big Top Tent, audiences of over 600 saw exciting performances ranging from ancient and modern wedding music (a mock wedding was staged), to mahori, folk dance, classical dance, circus arts, a performance piece with disabled artists, break dancing, and ancient forms of chanting and funeral music.
One teacher from Phnom Penh noted, "I was happy to learn and share with our students because I think that for humans there is really no other way to live than through learning and sharing with each other. Furthermore, I want younger Cambodians to continue to learn and share because then our country and culture can prosper."
The four collaborative partners who helped make this Festival possible were: Cambodian Living Arts; Phare; Epic Arts (a performance art group bringing able and disabled artists together); and Tiny Toones, an organization based in the slums of Phnom Penh which provides enrichment and life skills to street kids through breakdancing.
Participants to the Festival came from all walks of life, and from all over Cambodia. A CLA class performers from the Kreung tribe, based in jungles of Ratanakiri province, traveled to Battambang for the special event. One of their instruments, the memm, is an ancient Angkorian stringed instrument (using the live human skull as resonating box) that now survives only among the Kroeung people Also attending were over 100 as children from the slums of Phnom Penh, as well as other participants from poor villages from Siem Reap, Takeo, and Kampong Speu provinces, and from villages from farming communities outside Battambang. At least 18 different art forms were performed, demonstrated, or taught during the Festival.
Through a series of demonstrations, workshops, and performances, the students had the chance to get to know other Cambodians from very different walks of life, and to celebrate and affirm their own heritage. Every night featured a performance in Phare's big top tent that was free to the public--with over 600 audience members arriving each night.
A tremendous celebration of traditional arts--in a world where karaoke and pop music are quickly becoming more and more popular--the Festival helped to build the students' confidence in themselves and to build trust in one another to share, learn, and work to build Cambodia's culture.
As one music student from Battambang said, "Before I did not have much pride for my culture, but after the Mohaosrop I love my traditional arts more than ever before."
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Click on the first picture below for a slideshow of images from the Festival.
