https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1537-3515
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Abstract
Between 1975 and 1979, approximately 2 million men, women, and children died in Cambodia during the brutal regime of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK; the Khmer Rouge). To date, much scholarship has focused on the widespread practices of torture, starvation, and execution; decidedly less attention has been directed toward the cultural or aesthetic practices of the Khmer Rouge. We maintain that this omission is exceptionally important, in that it risks minimizing the importance of the performing arts, and especially music, held by the Khmer Rouge. In this article we employ narrative analysis within an ecomusicology framework in an attempt to better understand how music was used as a political instrument by the Khmer Rouge. Specifically, we document how the Khmer Rouge used songs as a means of conveying policy into practice; as a form of public pedagogy, songs provided instruction to the men, women, and children of Cambodia as to both proper political consciousness as well as the right attitudes toward labor. More precisely, Khmer Rouge–era songs presented nature as the pivot on which a new revolutionary society was to be built.
1975年至1979年间，大约有两百万的男女及孩童死于柬埔寨共产党残暴政体的统治之下（CPK；红色高棉）。至今，大部份的研究多半聚焦广泛的虐待、飢饿与死刑之行为；但无疑却较少有关注导向红色高棉的文化或美学实践。我们主张，此一阙如实则相当重要，因其具有将红色高棉的艺术展演，特别是音乐的重要性极小化之风险。我们于本文中，在生态音乐学的架构中运用叙事分析，企图更佳地理解红色高棉如何运用音乐作为政治工具。我们特别记载红色高棉如何运用歌曲作为将政策传导为实践的工具；歌曲作为公共教育的形式，指引了柬埔寨的男女老少有关正确的政治意识和对于劳动的正确观念。更精确而言，红色高棉时期的歌曲，将自然呈现作为打造崭新革命社会的枢纽。
Entre 1975 y 1979, aproximadamente dos millones de hombres, mujeres y niños murieron en Camboya durante el brutal régimen del Partido Comunista de Kampuchea (PCK; el Khmer Rouge). Hasta la fecha, la mayor parte del estudio erudito se ha enfocado sobre sus prácticas generalizadas de tortura, inanición y ejecución; sin duda menos atención se ha puesto sobre las prácticas culturales o estéticas del Khmer Rouge. Sostenemos que esta omisión es excepcionalmente importante, en cuanto que arriesga minimizar la importancia de las artes escénicas practicadas por el Khmer Rouge, en especial la música. En este artículo empleamos el análisis narrativo dentro de un marco de ecomusicología, tratando de entender mejor el modo como la música fue utilizada por el Khmer Rouge, un instrumento político. Documentamos específicamente la manera como el Khmer Rouge usó las canciones como un medio de llevar la política a la práctica; usándolas como una forma de pedagogía pública, las canciones proveían a los hombres, mujeres y niños de Camboya con instrucción tanto de conciencia política formal como también de las actitudes correctas hacia el trabajo. Más exactamente, las canciones de la era del Khmer Rouge presentaban a la naturaleza como el pivote sobre el cual sería construida una nueva sociedad revolucionaria.
Key Words:
Notes
1. The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) was governed in practice by a Central Committee and a Standing Committee. According to the 1976 Statute of the CPK, adopted in 1976, the Central Committee was given responsibility “to implement the Party political line” and to “govern and arrange cadres and Party members throughout the entire Party, along with core organizations, by constantly, clearly, and closely grasping personal histories, political, ideological, and organizational stances, and closely and constantly arming them politically, ideologically, and organizationally.” Membership in the Central Committee fluctuated; in early 1976, however, its thirty-plus membership included Pol Pot (Party Secretary), Nuon Chea (Deputy Secretary), Ieng Sary (Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs), Khieu Samphan (President of Democratic Kampuchea), Son Seng (Deputy Prime Minister of Defense), Ieng Thirith (Minister of Social Affairs), and Yun Yat (Minister of Culture). In principle, the Central Committee was the highest decision-making body; in practice, real power was concentrated in the smaller Standing Committee, also dominated by Pol Pot and key associates, including Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, and Son Sen. See Office of the Co-Investigating Judges (2010, 18–20).
2. The two senior leaders at the meeting were Pol Pot and Nuon Chea. See “Minutes: Meeting of the Standing Committee of 9 January 1976,” Document No. D00680, archived at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
3. Prior to 1975 there were at least three recording studios in Phnom Penh; it is probable that at least one of these studios was used by the Khmer Rouge to record songs, although no in-depth research has examined this.
4. Sayana Ser, “Khmer Rouge Songs and Poems,” unpublished report, on file at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
5. These eleven songs constitute the totality of nature-related songs available at the time of research. These songs are archived both as text documents (i.e., lyrics) and as oral recordings.
6. No sustained research has questioned the reception of songs by men or women while living under Khmer Rouge rule. Published accounts indicate a range of attitudes, including anger or indifference. Som (Citation2006), for example, explained that “at the worksite [the Khmer Rouge] played revolutionary songs that described and complimented the … work … However, such songs never interested me at all. Frankly, I never paid attention to them” (56). Vannareak (Citation2009) likewise noted that although “there was always sound played over a loudspeaker … [these] song[s] did nothing to help people” (60). Indeed, according to Vannareak, “everyone was annoyed by the sound coming from that loudspeaker.”
7. Statute of the Communist Party of Kampuchea; Document Number D00674, archived at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
8. Statute of the Communist Party of Kampuchea; Document Number D00674, archived at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
9. “Minutes of the Standing Committee’s Visit to Southwest Zone,” Document No. L0001022, archived at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
10. “Understand and Implement Political Line to Recruit People to Join the Front of People Democratic,” Document No. D00676, archived at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
11. Lenin (Citation1987, 290).
12. Lenin (Citation1987, 288).
13. Pol Pot, Long Live the 17th Anniversary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, Document Number D30882, archived at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
14. Pol Pot, Long Live the 17th Anniversary, 15.
15. Pol Pot, Long Live the 17th Anniversary, 17.
16. Pol Pot, Long Live the 17th Anniversary, 17.
17. Lenin (Citation1987, 292).
18. It would be fruitful to consider in greater depth the relationship between Lenin’s understanding of the state with that of anarchists. Although there is no evidence that members of the CPK drew on anarchist thought, it is necessary to explore further the form of socialism envisioned by the Khmer Rouge. For helpful overviews of the distinctions between Marxism and anarchism, see Springer (Citation2013, Citation2014a, Citation2014b).
19. Ayers (Citation1999, 207) cautioned that it remains unclear if former school teachers were targeted because they were educated. Indeed, many occupations exhibit high death tolls—but this is not surprising given that upwards of one quarter of Cambodia’s prewar population died during the civil war (1970–1975) and subsequent Khmer Rouge governance (1975–1979). See also Vickery (Citation1984).
20. The destruction of education in general is against Marxist doctrine, as the political and economic revolution is part and parcel of cultural and educational revolutions. See Chigas and Mosyakov (Citation2010).
21. It bears repeating that we are not apologists for the Khmer Rouge, nor do we downplay the violence directed at smashing the previous educational apparatuses. Our point is to call attention to the rationale behind specific material practices, thereby providing a more robust understanding of Khmer Rouge atrocities.
22. See “Minutes of Meeting of Propaganda Work 8 March 1976,” Document No. D00685, archived at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
23. “Minutes: Meetings of the Standing Committee 9 January 1976,” Document No. D00707, archived at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
24. Oral testimonies of survivors speak often of the chessboard patterns of rice fields and the necessity of obtaining three tons per hectare. Consequently, these accounts have been widely incorporated into scholarly and popular histories of the Khmer Rouge (cf. Pijpers Citation1989). Detailed empirical work, however, casts doubt as to the ubiquity of these policies. It is our contention that survivors are narrating particular understandings based on the repeated performance of songs as opposed to authentic policies forwarded by the CPK. See Tyner and Will (Citation2015).
25. From the song “Our Cooperative Is Determined to Increase Production to Build Democratic Kampuchea.”
26. From the song “We are Working Aggressively to Build Rice Dykes.”
27. From the song “We Are Determined to Build New Rice Dykes ‘Chessboard Pattern.’”
28. From the song “We Are Working Aggressively to Build Rice Dykes.”
29. From the song “We Are Working Aggressively to Build Rice Dykes.”
30. From the song “During the Rainy Season, We Gather Our Workforce to Do Farm Work.”
31. From the song “New Image of Rural Cambodia During the Rainy Season.”
32. From the song “We Are Working Aggressively to Build Rice Dykes.”
33. From the song “We Are Determined to Build New Rice Dykes ‘Chessboard Pattern.’”
34. From the song “New Image of Rural Cambodia During the Rainy Season.”
35. From the song “Our Cooperative Is Determined to Increase Production to Build Democratic Kampuchea.”
36. From the song “Our Cooperative Is Determined to Increase Production to Build Democratic Kampuchea.”
37. From the song “Our Cooperative Is Determined to Increase Production to Build Democratic Kampuchea.”
38. From the song “Our Rural Area Has Transformed Completely.”
39. From the song “During the Rainy Season, We Gather Our Workforce to Do Farm Work.”
40. From the song “Our Rural Area Has Transformed Completely.”
41. From the song “Our Rural Area Has Transformed Completely.”
42. From the song “Our Rural Area Has Transformed Completely.”
43. From the song “Our Rural Area Has Transformed Completely.”
44. From the song “We Are Working Aggressively to Build Rice Dykes.”
45. From the song “New Image of Rural Cambodia During the Rainy Season.”
46. From the song “Our Cooperative Is Determined to Increase Production to Build Democratic Kampuchea.”
47. From the song “People Along the Riverbank Are Determined to Increase the Agricultural Product.”
48. From the song “Our Rural Area Has Transformed Completely.”
49. It should be noted that many songs predating the Khmer Rouge celebrated agricultural work and often included political agendas. However, according to Marston (Citation2002, 106), although farming activities were romanticized—similar to the Khmer Rouge—a key difference is that earlier songs emphasized familial activities, whereas Khmer Rouge songs promoted the collective.
50. Very few empirical materials (e.g., films, photographs, or audio recordings) remain of actual performances; none of these have received any sustained analysis.
51. There has been no in-depth examination of Khmer Rouge performances; in part, this relates to the difficulty of reconstructing ephemeral performances and (aside from photographs) the lack of material remnants (cf. Schmitt Citation1976; Schneider Citation2001; Clarke and Warren Citation2009). Survivor accounts indicate, however, that live performances were fairly common and broadly understood as serving an ideological role. See Lafreniere and Kravanh (Citation2000), Nhean (Citation2005), and Ly (Citation2008).
52. When not performing, the artists would engage in agricultural work or serve as soldiers in combat operations.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
James A. Tyner
JAMES A. TYNER is a Professor of Geography at Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include war, violence, and political geography.
Mark Rhodes
MARK RHODES is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography at Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include music geographies and cultural geography.
Sokvisal Kimsroy
SOKVISAL KIMSROY is a master’s student in the Department of Geography at Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include environmental geography and nature–society interactions.