In July 2023, the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology organized a field trip to collect, record, and videotape music in rituals of the Khmer people in Cà Mau and Kiên Giang provinces.
In Thới Bình district, Cà Mau province, the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology recorded all the repertoires in the ancestral worship ceremony; the ancestral worship ceremony performed with big drums, and some songs played after the ceremony by the big-drum ensemble (Pleng Skor Thom). Music played by the big-drum ensemble is a type of music that includes one person whose singing is accompanied by an ensemble, including 1 scor thom (big drum), 02 scor daey (02 clapping drums), 1 kôông (a gong), 1 chhưng (chũm chọe – a cymbal), 1 pày o (the wind instrument), 1 chà pây chằm riêng (a two-string plucked instrument), 1 trô so (đàn nhị, the two-stringed vertical fiddle.)

In the Châu Thành district of Kiên Giang province, there is now just one music group that can perform music for traditional Khmer funerals. Musical instruments played in funerals include scor mây (clapping drum), scor môl (clapping drum), scor thum (big drum) and kôông (gong), pày o (the wind instrument), trô so (đàn nhị, the two-stringed vertical fiddle), trô u (đàn gáo, the two-stringed vertical fiddle with coconut resonator) and chà pây doong veng (the plucked string instrument). During this field trip, the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology recorded 12 pieces of music, including four songs from the ancestor worship ritual and eight songs from the death rites.
The Khmer music collected during this field trip will be valuable materials to preserve the Khmer people’s musical heritages in Vietnam.

NGUYỄN THỦY TIÊN