 “Where Elephants Weep” at the Chenla theatre .........But where do elephants actually weep? In case you may be wondering, the answer is: right on the stage of the Chenla theatre, in Phnom Penh, in the first musical ever played out in Cambodia. The kick-off for the series of performances – six altogether – is due to take place on Friday, November 28th. The musical show, which has already sold out in the Cambodian capital, is the result of the encounter between three people: Him Sophy, a realised and open-minded Cambodian composer, John Burt, an enthusiastic American producer and Catherine Filloux, a French-American writer who has truly put down a few roots in Cambodia. Him Sophy was yet the one who gave to the rock opera its particular rhythm thanks to his multiple inspirations, and paved the way to Cambodian musicals with his own “stepping tones”, illustrated by a subtle chassé-croisé between cultur .........A curiosity team ..................On both sides of the stage, musicians, all Cambodian. To the left, young artists sporting a fashionable look, long dyed hair and a casual outfit. To the right, the heirs of traditional Khmer music, older and wearing more conventional clothes. Standing in-between the unlikely elements of the team, Him Sophy himself, making instruments communicate together in a happy mix of “Angkorian and rock” sounds - in his own words. The electric guitar starts off a duet with the lute, while the electronic keyboard has decided to have a serious laugh with the gong. Of course, a few arrangements on the more traditional instruments were necessary to make these audacious sound combinations come true. And may the elderly forgive him for having broken the sacred rules with his audacious scores... The composer swept off the dust from the instruments of secular heritage to celebrate them better and bring them back into vogue in front of youngsters more used to their favourite rap and hip-hop styles. The mixing was a long and drawn-out process which required all in all two years of preparation with the eleven musicians the composer chose to work with. Pushing away the virtual barriers separating musical genres and reaching the largest possible audience: such was the ambitious bet of the music expert, enlightened by an intense creative itch - “like any other artist”, he said, eagerly, as if obsessed by the fear of yielding to the lure of megalomania.  “Where Elephants Weep” at the Chenla theatre .........John Burt introduced his protégé to the world of music-hall by inviting him... in Broadway, where he familiarised him with musicals that brought the world-renowned Manhattan street to its fame, in the heart of New York, America. Him Sophy set out to make the genre his own for the rock opera, written and composed between 2002 and 2005. “At the beginning, we did not really know how to define the piece... We eventually went for the term of 'contemporary Cambodian rock opera'”, the composer remembered, a little amused. .........A contemporary version of the Tum Teav tale ..................“Where Elephants Weep” takes its inspiration from a major piece of the traditional Khmer repertoire, Tum Teav, very similar to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Imagination did the rest of the job, as explained by the spirited librettist Catherine Filloux. Up until now, her work had strictly revolved around drama plays. But one day, at the end of the 1980s, Cambodia made an astounding irruption into her life. It is with stupor that America discovered the story of 150 Cambodian women struck with blindness, who had just found refuge in Long Beach, California. At that time, experts agreed on the diagnosis according to which their physical plight was a psychosomatic reaction resulting from the trauma they endured during the Khmer Rouge regime. Shaken by the tragedy, Catherine Filloux decided to recount it in her first drama play about Cambodia. Other plays then followed, with the Khmer Rouge as the eternal central theme and background to them. This time, with the musical, the librettist's words accompany a music, and the Cambodian tragedy has been pushed into the background. “We look more to the future in this musical”, she admitted during one of the last rehearsal sessions. “Working with Him Sophy, who survived the Khmer Rouge regime and then studied music for thirteen years in Russia was fascinating. He is an inspiring character!” On stage, the complaint of the “beer garden girls” (young women in charge of promoting beer brands in Cambodian restaurants) is being performed, showing bad boys in dark suits going up to the young ladies and courting them without an inch of tact. The bad boys later performed some rap songs to the sound of a roneat (Khmer xylophone) and a viola while a young couple was trying to live their love story despite all the twists and turns. Songs are performed alternately in English and Khmer, thus conveying the incessant chassé-croisé that Him Sophy wanted to create between East and West. As the regional company tour approaches, the musical team are already looking forward to hitting the American and European stages. “Some people assured us that this show would have its rightful place in Broadway!”, Him Sophy revealed, ecstatic and smiling, before quietly going back to take a seat in the theatre, where all the artists were putting the final touches and readjustments to their show. |
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គីមឡុង=KKL