Traditional form gives shape to journey through society

AS the curtains draw open and the lights come up, the sound of an argument breaks out on the stage. But the audience sits quietly attentive to the scene playing out before them.

Two grandsons, Chok and Chem, are fighting over money - until their grandfather intervenes.

It is the opening scene of Panchapor, a tale exploring issues of modernity confronting Cambodia, its rich traditional heritage and its identity.

Panchapor means five colours in Khmer, or spectrum - but the young director says it also represents bringing different colours, knowledge and backgrounds of people together.

With her soybean Cambodian complexion, Panchapor director Chey Chankethya is a young classical art teacher at the Royal University of Fine Art.

Smiling after the show, she said she was happy that the scenes had made people in the hall laugh and applaud.

Reflecting further, she said she had integrated the diverse art forms with the idea of providing a space where young people and families could collaborate in Cambodia’s rich artistic heritage.

The concert featured Cambodian classical dance and narrative, yike, folk dance and music, martial arts, circus, modern hip-hop dance and the chapei - a long-necked two-stringed guitar. It was performed the weekend before last at the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Centre at the Institute of Foreign Languages at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.