Cambodia

Cambodia carries the royal ballet, the sbek thom shadow theatre, silk ikat weaving and the chapei guitar epic.

Music & dance Textile & dress Language & oral Food & cooking

Knowledge in this place

Royal ballet

Royal ballet

Dancers in gilded costumes shape stories with codified curved hand gestures to an orchestra.

Sbek thom shadow theatre

Sbek thom shadow theatre

Large carved leather panels held against a lit screen cast the figures of the Reamker epic.

Hol silk ikat

Hol silk ikat

Tie-dyeing weft silk thread section by section before weaving so the pattern emerges on the loom.

Textile & dress

Chapei epic song

Chapei epic song

A singer accompanies himself on a long-necked lute, improvising witty rhymed storytelling.

Language & oral

Palm sugar making

Palm sugar making

Tapping sugar palm flowers for sap and boiling it down to a fragrant amber sugar.