Arn Chorn-Pond – Rubenstein Atrium – April 11, 2013
This concert was part of “Season of Cambodia”, designed to showcase and call attention to the arts of Cambodia. The country was severely ravaged in the 1970’s, lastly by the Khmer Rouge regime, most notoriously revealed in its horrible “killing fields” (later dramatized in a movie of that name). Artists that weren’t outright slaughtered were reined in to walk a fine line so as not to run afoul of the government’s repressive iron fist. Chorn-Pond founded the Cambodian Living Arts organization to help heal the nation by revitalizing the Cambodian arts community, seeking out the surviving masters to train the next generations. He is the subject of a movie (The Flute Player – an excerpt was screened) and is also profiled in Patricia McCormick’s book “Never Fall Down”, from which she read an excerpt. I wish he had played more flute; he was more of a master of ceremonies. My research shows that the full name of “Master Mek” is Youen Mek; his instrument, a two-stringed fiddle, is the “tror so”.
Arn Chorn-Pond
Master Mek
Thuch Savang
Patricia McCormick