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on April 17, 2010Funded!
"Neak Ta" - supporting experimental arts and music in Phnom Penh, Cambodia by David Gunn
Working with young and experienced Cambodian artists and musicians to foster creativity and cultural development in Phnom Penh
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102% funded $2,570 pledged
- 35 backers
- Funded Apr 17, 2010
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on April 13, 2010
David Gunn
Posted project update #4Funded!
Post CommentDear Friends
Just a quick note to let you all know that we have now reached our target. And on the first day of the Khmer New Year festival, which seems like a pretty good sign for the project!
Its been an amazing process, and great to find support from so many areas. Some of you have a previous link to Incidental, and some have only just found out about us, but have a strong personal connection to Cambodia or the issues raised by project. Either way, we are just very grateful to you all for the support you've given.
These funds will genuinely transform what we can do on the ground and will make a very direct, tangible difference to the experiences of our Khmer partners during and after this first phase of Neak Ta.
From this point on, things will start moving very quickly. We're actually arriving In Phnom Penh early next week, and I'll be back in touch before then to let you all know how you can keep up to date on the project.
But in the meantime, a sincere thank you to everyone for your generosity.
And wishing you all a very happy Khmer new year!
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on April 8, 2010
David Gunn
Posted project update #3Article in The New Internationalist
Post CommentHello!
Just to let you know that this morning's New Internationalist has written a short feature on the project and its context in Cambodia.
Fingers crossed, this should help get us towards our target over the next few days.
For those of you who aren't regular readers, NI is a great source of news on global politics, inequality and emergent / endangered culture - so its well worth a look more generally.
http://blog.newint.org/editors/2010/04/08/neak-ta/
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on April 3, 2010
David Gunn
Posted project update #2And introducing Punisa and Vanna.
Post CommentNext in our musician previews ... Pov Punisa and Suor Vanna.
Punisa plays the Roneat Aek, a large wooden or bamboo xylophone, and Vanna plays the Kong Wung Thum, another large instrument with 16 gongs. Again, both Punisa and Vanna are students at CLA and will be working with us on this project, as we explore how Khmer instruments can operate in the context of improvised music and electronic resampling.
The instruments are often played together in the Pin Peat orchestra, one of the largest Khmer music ensembles. This ensemble has a prominent role in Khmer culture - being used to accompany dance and and also traditional shadow puppetry. Its also used in funerals and other religious ceremonies.
In many ways, these are classic examples of South East Asian instruments, and with their unusual tuning and all the upper- and dis-harmonics ... this should produce some extremely interesting effects once we begin resampling and modulating.
You can hear a sample of a full Pin Peat Ensemble in the sound file below, which is taken from the Khmer Cultural Centre - if you're interested, you can download the full track there and a whole range of other classical Khmer songs at their site www.khmerculturalcenter.org
Anyway - hope you all enjoy. More soon...
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on March 29, 2010
David Gunn
Posted project update #1Introducing Chomneth
Post CommentHello,
I thought it might be interesting to introduce you to some of the musicians we'll be working with, and their instruments, since they are quite rare and most people probably aren't familiar with them.
First up is Lun Chomneth. Chomneth plays the Khsae Diew, an ancient instrument seen on the walls of temples in Cambodia dating back as far as the 10th century. It is a single-stringed instrument that uses a gourd resonating chamber that is pressed against the chest, creating all sorts of acoustic wah-wah / flanging effects.
I'm also adding a short sound file of the instrument being performed by Master Sok Duch. This track was recorded by our partners Cambodian Living Arts and is a great example of the instrument in use. The Khsae Diew is one of those fantastic instruments that seems to transition imperceptibly between South Asian musical voicings and something eerily similar to early american blues.
I have to say, we're quite excited about what is going to happen when we start to resample and modulate these instruments electronically ...
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on March 12, 2010
David Gunn launched a project
"Neak Ta" - supporting experimental arts and music in Phnom Penh, Cambodia by David Gunn
Working with young and experienced Cambodian artists and musicians to foster creativity and cultural development in Phnom Penh
- $2,500 funding goal
- 04/17/2010 Funding Ended
David Gunn
London, United Kingdom
David Gunn is the founding Director of Incidental, a cross-disciplinary creative organisation. In the past 5 years, Incidental has developed a variety of projects in the UK, Europe and the US, with a diverse output including live perfomances, large... view more
