Tradition

Lakhon Khol

ល្ខោនខោល


Lakhon Khol (ល្ខោនខោល) is Cambodia's masked dance drama, in which male performers enact episodes of the Reamker, the Khmer Ramayana.[1][2] Recitation and a pinpeat orchestra carry the story, and the costumes and ornaments are as rich as those of the classical court dance.[1] Its best-known home is Wat Svay Andet in Kandal Province, where villagers stage it each year as a ritual for rain, peace and good fortune.[1][3]

Names

The form is also known as Khmer Masked Theatre, and it is sometimes called "men's dance," because masked performers cannot speak and their movements are simple and masculine.[2][4] The Khmer dictionary of the Supreme Patriarch Chuon Nath, published by the Buddhist Academy in 1967, defines Khol as a theater of men performing the Reamker.[5][6] George Cœdès took Khol to be a Cambodian word for a kind of great ape, and so read Lakhon Khol as a theater of monkey dancing; the Royal University of Fine Arts quoted this view in 1967.[5][6] In everyday Khmer, khol can also mean cattle with short, down-curving horns, short-tailed monkeys, or something done on the spot rather than planned, and the surviving form does use unplanned gestures that follow the narrator's words.[6]

Practice

A performance usually opens with storytellers giving the narration and dialogue, and the dancers then act out the story in movements choreographed much like the Royal Ballet.[7] The narrator knows long passages of the Reamker, often directs the performance, and shortens or edits scenes to fit the time available.[8] Some gestures resemble classical dance but are faster and more energetic, with stomping, swirling arms and prancing legs.[8][9] The hand, foot and body gestures express the feelings of the story.[7]

Performers wear masks called khmok, made of paper and lacquered.[10][1] The characters fall into four groups by mask: the devas, among them Ream (Rama), Preah Leak (Lakshmana) and Seyda (Sita); the monkeys, led by Hanuman, commander of the monkey army; the asuras, among them Krong Reap (Ravana), king of Lanka; and the animal creatures, such as Tupi, king of the buffalo.[2] Another grouping names the male Neay Rong, the female Neang, the demons and the monkeys.[8]

Pinpeat music is essential to the form, as it is to court dance and shadow theater.[7][4] Its pieces may be short and change quickly to follow the dancers. Drums mark the passages between narration and dialogue, and an angry gesture is usually followed by drumming.[7]

Episodes are chosen for good fortune. Villagers traditionally avoided scenes of death or separation for fear of bad luck, although the death of a minor character was acceptable.[4] Lakhon Khol was performed during Khmer New Year, from April 13 to 15, and at ceremonies to honor spirits, bring rain or protect villagers from epidemics and illness.[4] A complete production includes a traditional music ensemble and a full company of performers.[11]

History

Lakhon Khol is traced to the Angkor period, from 802 to 1431.[1][3] Its beginning is dated to around the ninth century from carvings on Angkor temple walls, and some accounts place its origin even before Angkor.[9][5] Inscriptions carry the word Khol from the late tenth century. Inscription K.99 at Sambor Prei Kuk, from the reign of King Jayavarman V (968 to 1001), is linked with the form's beginnings. Inscription K.566, carved on rock above the Stung Sreng in Siem Reap Province, names the chief of a troupe of Khol dancers ordered to bring people to serve at the royal palace. Inscription K.1229 at Trapeang Khna temple in Siem Reap, dated 979 CE, also contains the word.[2][6][10]

Lakhon Khol is thought to derive from bhani (phani), a narrative theater of the Angkor period in which a reciter told the story, and some hold that phani and Lakhon Khol may be the same form.[1][8][10] Some Cambodian accounts trace it instead to Lakhon Sbeak Thom, the large Khmer shadow theater (Sbek Thom), and the two share essentially the same repertory.[2][4] It is believed to have grown up alongside the royal court dances.[4][12] Another view holds that it arose as entertainment for commoners, who could not attend the court dances made for royal families and elites.[7] Pagodas that keep Reamker manuscripts preserve evidence of male troupes of novice monks performing masked theater.[4] Why the performers were traditionally all men is not known, and some cultural historians do not accept that the form must be performed only by men.[7][6]

The French explorer Henri Mouhot recorded a Lakhon Khol performance at a dinner in the Royal Palace at Oudong with King Ang Duong; Wikipedia dates the evening to 1856 and the Khmer Wikipedia to 1858.[2][6] By the nineteenth century there were several troupes, whose practice varied by region, in Kampong Thom, Battambang, Pursat, Phnom Penh and at Wat Svay Andet. The troupe of the royal palace was called Lakhon Luong or Lakhon Boran.[10] The governor of Battambang kept a troupe of more than 100 men, in which a man played Neang Seda, and it performed in an open pavilion lit by lamps at night.[4] From the reign of King Norodom through the Sangkum Reastr Niyum years, the palace invited the Svay Andet troupe to the royal Tang Tong festival.[8]

Lakhon Khol reappeared in the twentieth century under King Sisowath, when royal masked dance was shown to French diplomats and anthropologists near the Silver Pagoda.[2][6] George Groslier compiled Danseuses Cambodgiennes, Anciennes & Modernes in 1913.[2] In 1940, the Queen Mother called a monkey dancer from the Svay Andet troupe into the royal troupe, and male monkey dancers have been part of the royal troupe since.[8] After the Second World War the form continued under King Norodom Sihanouk. In 1948 he visited Wat Svay Andet during its annual ritual for rain and peace, and the visit was reported in the third edition of the journal Kampuchea Soriya on March 3, 1948.[2][7] After independence, a statue of Hanuman was raised near the statue of Samdach Chuon Nath; the Hanuman statue has since been lost.[7]

The Svay Andet troupe performed at the Buddhist Era 2500 festival in 1957, at National Independence celebrations and at a reception for French President Charles de Gaulle. Its popularity fell in the 1960s, when national radio stopped broadcasting Lakhon Khol and began broadcasting Bassac theater.[8] The form was popular in the Lon Nol years and a favorite of King Sihanouk.[2] Before the war there were eight professional troupes.[1][2] Another account counts three masked theater troupes before 1975, one in Kandal Province and two in Battambang Province.[4]

Performances stopped during the civil war, from 1970 to 1975, and under the Khmer Rouge.[11] In Democratic Kampuchea (1975 to 1979), traditional arts were banned and dancers' families were separated.[6] Many masters and artists at Wat Svay Andet were killed or died of starvation, disease and forced labor, and the pagoda itself was used as a prison and execution site.[3][9] Many older masters, scripts and manuals were lost.[11] The troupes were disbanded, and only the Wat Svay Andet troupe survived the war to resume training and performing. Two new troupes formed, in Kampong Thom and at the National Theater of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.[1][2][10]

After the Khmer Rouge fell, six or seven surviving masters and several artists made Wat Svay Andet the center of the tradition again, formed a teachers' group and trained a new generation.[3][11] The ministry lent costumes, and the ministry and province provided a pinpeat ensemble.[8][11] In 2002 UNESCO helped build a performance hall and gave a pinpeat ensemble, costumes and masks.[11]

The nomination was sent to UNESCO in March 2017.[2][8] On November 28, 2018, at its 13th session in Port Louis, Mauritius, UNESCO inscribed Lkhon Khol Wat Svay Andet on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, under reference 01374.[2][7][5][13] The Cambodia Tourism Association and Kiripost name the Representative List instead.[14][11] The inscription stands for Lakhon Khol troupes across Cambodia.[10]

Wat Svay Andet

Wat Svay Andet stands on the east bank of the Mekong, in Lvea Em district, Kandal Province, about 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 9 miles) from Phnom Penh.[2][8][3] Its community is made up of more than 1,100 families from Tak Skor and Peam Ta Ek villages.[1] Here the art is handed down orally and dedicated to a deity believed to watch over the village and its people when the performance is done well.[9] Villagers perform to pray for safety, prosperity, protection from misfortune, rain and good harvests, and the troupe has been invited to other communities to drive away misfortune and illness.[8][1]

The main performance takes place each year shortly after Khmer New Year, traditionally beginning on the first Saturday after the holiday, on a date agreed by the theater teachers and village elders.[3][8] It once lasted seven nights and now lasts four, including the opening day that honors the teachers.[8] The Sampeah Kru ceremony, honoring the teachers, is held on Saturday evening, and the performances follow from Sunday. They are offered to the guardian spirits of the pagoda and the community, with prayers for peace, happiness and rain for the fields.[11] In 2026 the ceremony ran from April 25 to 28, alongside a Buddhist ceremony to ward off misfortune and dedicate merit to past masters and elders, and the troupe performed about 17 times in Cambodia that year.[11]

The Wat Svay Andet version has postures not found in other Cambodian Lakhon Khol or in Thai khon, and its Rama and Lakshmana wear crowns instead of masks.[3][8] Students are grouped as monkey soldiers, who learn to jump, roll and fight with wooden daggers; yak or ogre warriors, who dance with long rods as weapons; and neay rong performers, who play the principal characters, among them Hanuman, Preah Ream, Preah Leak, Seda and Krong Reap.[3] Master Heng Sao examines each student's build before assigning a role: monkeys should be small and fast, ogres tall and flexible.[3] Boys often take the same characters their fathers' relatives played.[9] The group practices on Sundays in small groups on the main plaza.[9] Some students have learned to make and repair khmok masks.[11]

The performers are villagers, not professional artists. Community members give labor or money, older performers train interested young men, and former performers who live far away often come back to perform as a social duty.[1][8] Before 1975 the art was taught at the pagoda and in families in nearby villages.[3] Teacher Poch Phai, a retired school principal who chairs the Lakhon Khol Wat Svay Andet Committee, teaches full time and has brought in students with no family ties to the troupe.[3][9] The masters are not paid for teaching and usually cover students' food during training themselves. Poch Phai has said the tradition needs funds to pay the masters and to give students snacks and drinks.[3] The abbot of Svay Andet Pagoda has been the troupe's main sponsor.[3]

The troupe once rehearsed outdoors on sand, rented stages and borrowed costumes and masks from the ministry. It now has its own costumes and masks and a theater for rehearsal and performance, and UNESCO and ministry equipment helped raise its number of artists and students from about 20 to nearly 50.[3][9] The Good Fund helped repair the pinpeat instruments and made small payments to trainers.[8] After the 2018 inscription, the ministry and private donors gave more costumes and equipment.[11] Young people from Sarikakeo and Peam Oknha Ong communes learn at the pagoda, and in 2022 the fourth anniversary of the listing was celebrated in Lvea Em district.[13] Artist Reach Rathana has said the troupe's future has improved since the listing.[13]

The troupe is scheduled to perform at the World Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival at the Gyeonggi Arts Centre in South Korea from September 27 to October 1, 2026, its third appearance abroad, all of them in South Korea. Five performers are to present two 20-minute Reamker episodes, Hanuman rescuing Preah Ream from the Kingdom of Basal and Hanuman pursuing and killing the warrior Virulak at a sand dune, with recorded music and narration. The Republic of Korea supported the trip through Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.[11]

Community

Other troupes perform for entertainment, cultural promotion, ceremonies and national events.[1] Groups are found in Phnom Penh, Battambang, Pursat, Kampong Thom and in Kandal Province at Wat Svay Andet, Teok Khleang, Khoh Rak, Koh Oknha Tey, Parong and Kien Svay Pagoda.[2] Practitioners include the troupe of Master Chea Hea, the Cambodian Youth for Lkhon Khol, the Secondary School of Fine Arts and the Performing Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.[1] The troupe of Master Chea Hea and the ministry perform on request rather than on a fixed date.[1] Lakhon Khol is taught at the Royal University of Fine Arts, which has also staged performances.[2][4] Some performances now include women.[7] Across the provinces the form has lost much of its audience, and the Wat Svay Andet performances continue.[10]

Designs of Lakhon Khol characters, among them Hanuman, are engraved on bamboo mugs and bottles by the Phnom Penh company Organic Lifestyle, which gives $0.50 from each mug to local art associations and Lakhon Khol artists.[15]

Repertoire of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts

The ministry's productions include:[1]

  • Chambang Pel Yob (The Battle at Night), directed by Chheng Phon, Proeung Chhieng, Pok Sarann and Chheng Daravuth
  • Chambang Kumbhakar (The Battle of Kumbhakar), directed by Sdoeung Chamroen and Pok Sarann
  • Preah Ream Chol Kaot Banhchhaot Neang Sita, directed by Pok Sarann and Mom Soth under Mao Keng
  • Sita Luy Ploeng (The Ordeal of Sita), directed by Pok Sarann and Seng Sam An under Hang Soth and Mao Keng

Other recorded episodes include Preah Ream's exile, the building of the bridge to Lanka, and battles with Virul Chambang and Indrachit.[1]

Meaning and significance

For the villages around Wat Svay Andet, Lakhon Khol is an expression of local identity as well as a performing art. Master Heng Sao calls it the "soul and identity" of these communities.[3] Villagers, monks and laypeople regard it as a valuable cultural heritage of their community.[8] Its performance is regarded as bringing merit to the performers and pleasing the gods.[6]

The relationship between Lakhon Khol and Thai khon is disputed. A Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts spokesman, Norak Satya, has said the two share cultural traits but are distinct, and that Lakhon Khol's gestures are gentler.[12] The Khmer Wikipedia holds that Lakhon Khol spread to Lavo, Siam and Laos and may have strongly shaped Thai khon in the Ayutthaya period.[6] Young Cambodians have posted pictures and messages online affirming that Lakhon Khol is Khmer art that Khmer people help protect.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Cambodia
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 Wikipedia, Lakhon Khol
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 Khmer Times, In the land of Khol
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 Apsara Khmer (angelfire.com), Lakhon Khol
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Cambodia Tourism Association, Drama
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 Khmer Wikipedia, ល្ខោនខោល
  7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 Cambodian Community Day, Lakhon Khol (2018)
  8. ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 Yosothor, ល្ខោនខោល (2016)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Focus Cambodia, Like father, like son (October 2023)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 Khmer Civilization (AMS), ល្ខោនខោល (2020)
  11. ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 Kiripost, Lakhon Khol Wat Svay Andet to bring Cambodia's heritage to South Korean stage (September 2026)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Khmer Times, Thai dance proposal sparks online outrage
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Khmer Times, UNESCO's nudge illuminates Khmer Masked Theatre
  14. ↑ Cambodia Tourism Association, Lakhon Khol
  15. ↑ Phnom Penh Post, Organic Lifestyle purges plastic with bamboo (June 2025)
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