Traditional Mahori Music from Cambodia

Following on from yesterday’s video here are 9 recordings of traditional Cambodian mahori music, embedded from this page, where you can find out a little more about the music. The performance is from the early 1970s but there is no information about the performers available. Quite possibly they died in the killing fields.

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The mahori is a form of Cambodian classical ensemble which was traditionally played by women in the courts of both Central Thailand and Cambodia. It combines the xylophones and gong circles of the piphat with the strings of the khruang sai ensemble.

Historically the ensemble included smaller instruments more appropriate, it was thought, to the build of female performers. Today the ensemble employs regular sized instruments—a combination of instruments from both the khruang sai and piphat ensembles but excluding the loud and rather shrill oboe.

The ensemble, which is performed in three sizes—small, medium and large—includes the three-string so sam sai fiddle, a delicate-sounding, middle-range bowed lute with silk strings. Within the context of the mahori ensemble, the so sam sai accompanies the vocalist, which plays a more prominent role in this ensemble than in any other classical Cambodian or Thai orchestra.

(text adapted from the Wikipedia)

Phoumea Tak Lolok:

Khmer Krang Phka:

Khaek Mon:

Sat Heu:

Saray Nimnuon:

Sorya:

Toch Yum:

Khmer Plom Slek:

Soy Son: