Cambodia Censorship with Music

It is difficult to determine what art is.  Art is anything that exists and not exists on earth.  Art creations are the movement, drama, designs, songs, and poems.  Music plays important roles to every human being.  It is relaxing, fun, enjoying and it is the way of expressing our feelings without using words. Music is unlike other great arts. It is existing already in nature, it required only some one who could interpret and draw out the essentials of melody, rhythm and harmony, which make up our scheme of music.  In the book of “Mode in Javanese Music” (page 35) it gives us a very clear of describing what the music is:
Music exists in the sighing of the wind, the swaying of the trees, the dashing of the waves upon the shore, and booming in the case and caverns of the coast.  Rhythm is inherent in everything we do and see; melody dwells in the lit of the birds; and harmony too, rebels itself to those who have become sensitive to its present.  It has served as a comfort in times of sorrow, and has always been the ultimate expression of joy.  Probably no medium of expression is chosen so extensively and universally by mankind as an emotional release, nor has any other art made a more significant contribution to life.
In the book of Introduction to Musical Knowledge said, “The Asian was probably the first people to devise a complete music system.  These people, however, scarcely ever used music as a means of expressing emotion and beauty, but looked upon it mainly as a science, which offered a field for experimentation.” (Page 31) Sometimes if we talk it out using words, it could lead to trouble because we have no right to speak what is on our mind because our country has gone to war after war. But if we put ourselves in the rhythm of music, it would release all of the depression just like in the statement above.  The Cambodian government did not allow us to listen or sing the Soft Music of 1975 to 1979.  The Soft Music, this is what I called it because in the ancient times, Cambodians only had the songs that are slow songs.  So when the songs are in slow rhythms, I would call it as Soft Music.  Unlike American songs that have a lot of different types of songs such as blues, jazz, pop so on and on.  Most of the music that we hear nowadays is mainly based on the history and censorship even if you’re Asian, American or any others continent.
Cambodian government did not treat us right at all over the music that describes what had happened during Khmer Rouge era (1975-1979). We all should know the details that happened in our country. The Cambodian government should allow us to study our own history by letting us talk, write and sing of our past.
Ever since I came to America, I had learned a lot through researching on the internet and reading books.  When I was in Cambodia, I did not know much of my own history.  It was ashamed of Cambodian government that they had banned the music and history of what happened in twenty three years ago.  I am so glad that I am here in the United States; here is the freedom of knowing and expressing feeling.
Through my experience when I was in Cambodia, when someone else asked us some question that is related to war era, we will never get a response.  Why? Because if we tell the unknown person about it, this unknown person might go to the government and tell them that we know things about politic.  We do not have the right to say anything that relates to the politic even on good or bad things.  They do not want the civilians like us know what is going on of our politic, we just live and die, that was all we had to do as the people of Cambodia.  We have no freedom of speaking about any politic, so that is the same thing to the music.   We could not release any album about the music of 1975-1979.  Music is the way of expressing feeling; of course we do know that.  They would walk away or they would tell you that they do not know anything.  If they were to tell you what had happened, they might end up with murdering by the crew of the government.
Even though when the war is over until today, we cannot do anything, we just try to close our eyes and live for the next days.  We just want only the peacefulness that have nothing much to do with the government.  Unlike the movie, “Where the Blues Began”, in black communities, black could sing of whatever that they wanted to because they wanted to release their pain away. They also could release their album for their fans, which were the black people.  As a Cambodian people, we could not do something like that.  We living in a small country, if you want to compare Cambodia to America, Cambodia is about the size of Ohio State.  So in this small country with these many people, we are almost calling in that we are in the cage of the government.  We will get a very bad punishment if we are not obeying their needs.
Nowadays, the government did not allow us to listen or write any songs that related to Soft Music during 1975-1979.  In the book of Archie N. Jones and Floyd P. Barnard Introduction to Musical Knowledge stated that, “Appreciation has been described as a sort of complex attitude toward music, which includes not only an understanding of music itself, and knowledge or the processes involved in its composition and performance, but an emotional attitude as well” (page 165).  The censorship during the Khmer Rouge time treated us so bad.  They were too shellfish, they think only to themselves.  They had the power over everything, music, art and freedom. But then went we got independent from Khmer Rouge, the government pretending that they tried so hard to get this independent for our country.  The true is they have two faces. When we were in a bad time, they tried to put us even more down.  When we got independent, they wanted us to think that because of them, that is why we could be free This statement was from one of the Cambodian victim that had suffered during the war and said to their own little community, “The government of Hen Samrin doesn’t give us the rice,” from the book of Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Land (page 193).  So that mean when they his people wanted some rice, he did not want to give them rice.  They wanted peace; the government could find it for them.  That would make the government after the Cambodia got independent feel that they do not want to hear any songs that related to this time of era..   Also in the same book stated that the government gave Cambodian little medical care, they did not really take much care for the civilians.
For the music and radio, Khmer Rouge allowed the people to listen or play only what they had.  The stations that they had only something that tells people that whatever they had done to us was a right way.  For example: they would have or convincing good Cambodian people to be like them, killing without thinking, even to the family and their loves one.  Personally, I do not think that Khmer Rouge have a heart like human beings like us, they killed everyone, friends, family and their loved ones.  They made younger children work in the rice farm and earn nothing.  May be they would give a small bowl of rice soup with so much of water.  Whenever they killed people, they would have the victim dug a whole in a landscape to put their dead body in.  After that Khmer Rouge would use the farm tools, hit them on the back neck. So then they fail into the digging whole. Whenever I thought of this cold blood, I thought that People have no freedom of listening.  They all were just listening to Khmer Rouge people being ruling us.
I hope that in the future Cambodian government will open up the study of Cambodian history through the music.  If I was to find this kind of information in Cambodia, I would not find anything about it because it would be none of it that is allow in a library or bookstore.  Also civilians should understand and limited themselves of the freedom of the music.  When we got independent on January 7th 1979 from the Khmer Rouge, so we should have the freedom of music.  Cambodian government should also look up on the American government on how they had been rolling their country nowadays to use to role Cambodia country.  It does not mean that Cambodian government tries to copy American’s idea, but Cambodian use these roles to be the tools to guild Cambodian lives.  Then we all would have the right just like in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights “Freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of press”.  If every country around the world uses it as their guilds, everyone one around the world would be live in a happy life full with freedom of fun, another word “music”.   Horribly we could say that Cambodia still never get independent, if we are do not have the right to do whatever we wanted to do.
 
 

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