1Essays and Annotations byJason Gibbs, David Harnish, Terry E. Miller, David Murray, Sooi Beng Tan, and Kit Young

ATLANTA:Dust-to-Digital

2013

Southeast AsiaThe 78 rpm Era in

For The

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Track List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

PART I THE RECORD INDUSTRY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA The First Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25The Rise of the Local Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

PART II SOUTHEAST ASIA AND ITS MUSIC Vietnam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Laos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Cambodia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Burma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

PART III THE RECORDSDisc A: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Disc B: Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam . . . . . . . . . . . . .115Disc C: Burma, Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169Disc D: Malysia, Singapore, Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213

Selected Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271

CONTENTS

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6 7

B C DA VIETNAM LAOS CAMBODIA THAILAND CAMBODIA LAOS VIETNAM BURMA THAILAND MALAYSIA SINGAPORE INDONESIA

1. Tn Tn Gi in V IET NA M

2. Phleng Boran CA M BODI A

3. X Ti Bng Qu Phi, Th Nh V IET NA M

4. T Cnh C u Thua Bc V IET NA M

5. Thawai Phaka Thi CA M BODI A

6. Nang Nak L AOS

7. Khaek Mon L AOS

8. Nam Nh-T V IET NA M

9. Gap Pa Pheng L AOS

10. Khng Minh, Mu Tm T V IET NA M

11. n Vng C V IET NA M

12. X Ti Bng Qu Phi V IET NA M

13. Thong Yon . . . CA M BODI A

14. Khap Salang L AOS

15. Vn B D T V IET NA M

16. Nang Khluan L AOS

17. Lom Phat Sai Khao L AOS

18. T Di Cnh/Kim Tin V IET NA M

19. Hi Tri CaoXng X V IET NA M

20. Khap Thum Lao L AOS

21. Teb Bantom CA M BODI A

22. Gi Th V IET NA M

1. Lambaresik I N DON E SI A

2. Dji Hong I N DON E SI A

3. Dondang Sayang M A L AYSI A /SI NGA POR E

4. Ile-Ile I N DON E SI A

5. Tumba Lela-Lelan I N DON E SI A

6. Angkat-Angatan I N DON E SI A

7. Pengantin Berarak M A L AYSI A /SI NGA POR E

8. Tjikadjangan I N DON E SI A

9. Gambos Ya Omar M A L AYSI A /SI NGA POR E

10. Lagu Daerah Sumatera I N DON E SI A

11. Shier Zhulei M A L AYSI A /SI NGA POR E

12. Ka Abdi I N DON E SI A

13. Babarlajar Mataram I N DON E SI A

14. Gambos Sri Mahkota Kelantan M A L AYSI A /SI NGA POR E

15. Poetih Poetih Sapoet Andoek I N DON E SI A

16. Chek Siti I M A L AYASI A /SI NGA POR E

17. Titipati I N DON E SI A

18. Kitjir Kitjir I N DON E SI A

19. Ogingo Mamangka Vuhan M A L AYSI A

20. Wak Daing M A L AYSI A /SI NGA POR E

21. Aer Mata Djato Berlinang I N DON E SI A

1. Phleng Boran CA M BODI A

2. Ht Mu V Ht Ni V IET NA M

3. Khaek Lopburi TH A IL A N D

4. Khap Ngeum Thang Khaokan L AOS

5. Danse Ancienne L AOS

6. Chant de Bateliers V IET NA M

7. Promenade en Foret CA M BODI A

8. Khmer Kroak CA M BODI A

9. Thet Mathi/ Sthu Ku Lak-kham-kaeo L AOS

10. Cha Pi CA M BODI A

11. Zhan Zhao Bi Jian TH A IL A N D

12. Pleng Sen Lao TH A IL A N D

13. Lam Toei Jep Saep TH A IL A N D

14. Homrong Chan Chao TH A IL A N D

15. Srey Sroh Mien Thrung CA M BODI A

16. n Hu, C Bn V IET NA M

17. An Nangsue Thawng Kan L AOS

18. Chc Anh i V IET NA M

19. Rabam Dawadoeng TH A IL A N D

20. Huang A-lai L AOS

21. Khaek Khao TH A IL A N D

22. Phram Dit Nam Dao TH A IL A N D

23. Lam Khaen TH A IL A N D

1. Maung Kyaw Ei Sandaya Nyunt: Ah Hson BU R M A

2. Ffawn Jao Sri Oi TH A IL A N D

3. Doi Rup TH A IL A N D

4. Mingala Ma Thein Nyunt. . . BU R M A

5. Mingala Ma Thein Nyunt. . . BU R M A

6. Mon Ap Son TH A IL A N D

7. Hnit Kan Pyaing Hpuza BU R M A

8. Pleng Khrawp Chakar. . . TH A IL A N D

9. Son Nant Tha Myaing: Sha Pon Gyi BU R M A

10. Lakhon Rueang Kraithong TH A IL A N D

11. Lao Phan TH A IL A N D

12. Thet Hta BU R M A

13. Tap Phraw Law TH A IL A N D

14. Sanda Min Yodaya BU R M A

15. Hpon Taw Bwe BU R M A

16. Shit Hkan Palin BU R M A

17. Khap Mai Ban Doh TH A IL A N D

18. Ba Ba Win BU R M A

19. Son Taw Myaing BU R M A

20. Taw Hnit Taung Swe BU R M A

21. Miss Whiskey BU R M A

22. Mi Ba Myitta BU R M A

23. Yodaya Bwe Gyi BU R M A

24. Nyut Nyut Hsaing Hsaing BU R M A

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LAOS

A U S T R A L I A

C H I N A

VIETNAM

THAILAND

BURMA

INDIA

MALAYSIA

MALAYSIA BRUNEI

EAST TIMOR

P H I L I P P I N E S

CAMBODIA

B o r n e o

Sumatra Sulawesi

-

TimorBali

Lombok

Hainan

--

Java

New Guinea

Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon)

Palembang

Semarang

Bandung Surabaya

MandalayHa Noi

Vientiane

Rangoon

Bangkok

Phnom Penh

Tonle Sap

Kuala Lumpur

SINGAPORE

Jakarta

Hue

Sabah

I n d i a n O c e a n

Gulf ofailand

SeaAndaman

Mekong

Irra

wad

dy

Salw

een

INDONESIA

I san

Hong KongTaiwan

LAOS

A U S T R A L I A

C H I N A

VIETNAM

THAILAND

BURMA

INDIA

MALAYSIAMALAYSIA BRUNEI

EAST TIMOR

P H I L I P P I N E S

CAMBODIA

B o r n e o

Sumatra Sulawesi

-

TimorBali

Lombok

Hainan

--

Java

New Guinea

Ho Chi Minh City

Palembang

Semarang

Bandung Surabaya

MandalayHa Noi

Vientiane

Rangoon

Bangkok

Phnom Penh

Tonle Sap Lake

Kuala Lumpur

SINGAPORE

Jakarta

Hue

Sabah

I n d i a n O c e a n

Gulf ofailand

Strait of Malacca

SeaAndaman

Mekong

Irra

wadd

y

Salw

een

140

INDONESIA

MARITIME SOUTHEAST ASIAMAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA

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PREFACE

IN THE EARLY 1980S, pioneering record collector and researcher Dick Spottswood purchased a small cache of eleven Indochinese record-ings from the estate of a former Victor record company executive. The records passed from one collector to the next, eventually landing in my own collection. The records, two Vietnamese and nine Lao, were obviously very rare, and like the collectors before me, I was unable to make any significant progress in researching them. I contacted Terry E. Miller, one of the worlds leading researchers of Lao and Thai music. Terry was not aware of these recordings, but his interest was piqued and he agreed to annotate the material.

While Terry was digging into the music, I continued to hunt for information about the Victor series. Surprisingly, there seemed to be no information about this series, despite the fact that Victor is one of the largest and most researched 78 record companies. Finally, with the help of collector/researcher Jonathan Ward, as well as David Seubert and his colleagues working on the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (University of California, Santa Barbara), we discovered details about the series among the thousands of Victors yet-to-be-cataloged history cards. These handwritten index cards, which Victor kept for all of their issued discs, included detailed information taken by the engineer at the time of the recording session. With this new information and Terrys knowledge of the region we were able to

reconstruct a basic itinerary for the expedition that resulted in these records. Inspired by these discoveries, our research grew to include records from Thailand, and eventually all of Southeast Asia.

"Longing for the past" is a common translation of vng c, a type of Vietnamese aria, described in this collection by writer Jason Gibbs as the single most important musical work in 20th century Vietnam. Although vng c was itself a new musical framework in the late teens, it evoked a powerful nostalgia for the people of southern Vietnam. It makes a fitting title for this collection since many of the pieces heard here represent a musical era that, to varying degrees, no longer exists. Styles become obsolete, instruments fall into disuse, Western influenc-es seep in, cultures assimilate, and artists fade into obscurity or, as in the horrific case of Cambodia, are wiped out by war or genocide. As a collector, my interest is in these older styles, and their surviving traces.

Although this collection is the first to present 78 rpm recordings from across the entirety of Southeast Asia, it is not intended to be a survey of all the musical forms found there, nor is it even meant to be representative of the wide variety of Southeast Asian music recorded during the six-decade reign of the 78 rpm format. Many genres of popular and traditional music are not included here, and many cul-tures were never recorded in the first place. The records presented here reflect one collectors view of the traditional, obscure, and sometimes obsolete styles captured on the medium of 78 rpm records.

A few words are in order regarding the organization of this book and the CDs. It is difficult to neatly categorize the recordings by coun-try of origin since Southeast Asian borders were in flux throughout

the decades in which these recordings were made. We have organized the annotations by the current name of the country from which the music originates. In the case of Malaysia and Singapore, the two were not separate at the time of these recordings, and although nearly all recordings from the Malay Peninsula were made in Singapore, it is not usually clear where the musicians were from. Therefore, we have labeled these Malaysia/Singapore. In the case of Burma, we have cho-sen to use the name Burma instead of Myanmar for reasons detailed in the Burma introduction.

The CDs are organized loosely in a westerly direction. Beginning with what was formerly called Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, and Cam-bodia), then moving to Thailand, Burma, and finally southward to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Although some of these records are in less than ideal condition, we believe that their extreme rarity warrants their inclusion. While professional transferring and restoration techniques have been judi-ciously applied, we hope that the historical importance outweighs the inconvenience of audible noise.

Because of the archaic nature of many of these recordings, I felt it was important to describe the contents in great detail, perhaps more than is necessary for the casual listener. I enlisted the help of several researchers and ethnomusicologists to describe the music. I am most indebted to Terry E. Miller, who not only authored the sections on Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, but provided much help and advice along the way. I would also like to thank the other con-tributing authors: Jason Gibbs (Vietnam), David Harnish (Indone-

sia), Sooi Beng Tan (Malaysia/Singapore), and Kit Young (Burma). Their contributions are indicated by their initials. Part I: The Record Industry in Southeast Asia, and the track introductions (in italics) were written by me (except were noted by author initials). Many other researchers have contributed as well and are listed in the acknowledge-ments (page 271).

The images in the book come primarily from old postcards. The postcards range from photographs of authentic musicians to staged portraits, sometimes promoting exotic stereotypes for Europeans. Nonetheless, there are interesting elements in even the most exoticized images, such as rare old instruments or costumes. The images are cap-tioned, unless there is some form of caption on the original image.

Id also like to offer special thanks to Jonathan Ward for his help transferring records, research, advice, and the loan of several records from his excellent collection. Additional thanks to Will Summits and Michael Robertson for contributing records from their collections.

It is my hope that this collection of old, sometimes obscure sounds will not only provide engaging surprises for listenerswhether they are new to Southeast Asian music, students of the region, or those who share a cultural history with this musicbut also remind us of the depth and beauty of the past, as we move inexorably forward.

David Murray Oakland, California

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Ramayana, a Hindu epic telling the story of the god Rama, and the Jatakas, a collection of stories about the various lives of the Buddha, provided major themes for dance, theater, storytelling, and song across Southeast Asia.

Stone carvings from Hindu and Buddhist temples provide more details. Due to the ephemeral nature of the palm leafs on which writing was done, and the vulner-ability of bamboo and wooden instruments in the tropical envi-ronment, temple carvings provide some of our only glimpses at the state of music during these cen-

turies. Bas relief carvings at Angkor Wat, the massive Khmer temple built in the early 12th century, depict many instruments reminiscent of those used today. The Khmer Empire was eventually overrun by the Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya, which itself was later defeated by the Burmese. In each case, we know that it was customary for the victors to

OVER 2,000 YEARS before the first recording in this collection was made, the ng Sn people, of what is now northern Vietnam, were making large bronze drums, some weighing nearly 200 pounds. The bronze drums are interesting not only as instruments and ritual objects but also because they are decorated with scenes of elaborate rituals, warriors, and musicians. Some of these musicians are pictured holding what appear to be bamboo mouth organs similar to the bamboo khene heard in this collection and still played in Laos and Thailand today. Unfortunately, we can only guess how those instruments sounded.

Since the time of the ng Sn drums, the long centuries have left us only musical hints as to the sound of Southeast Asian music, until the first recordings finally gave us concrete evidence. Hinduism and Buddhism spread throughout the region, and with these religions came their stories, dances, and other cultural influences. Both the

Their voices and their long bamboo instruments produced music both sympathetic and harmonious. They danced, waving wands or garlands of flowers, and posed, almost without effort, in a series of graceful attitudes.Maxwell Sommerville, Traveler 1897

Lao khene player, ca. 1870

Tracings of ng Sn drum

INTRODUCTION

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absorb the court musicians and dancers from their conquests, spread-ing musical styles and ideas.

Yet in Indonesia, where Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms thrived until the rise of Islam in the 16th century, carvings at the 9th century Javanese temple of Borobudur show Indian-influenced instruments that are no longer used in the region.

The lure of lucrative spices brought Europes attention to Southeast Asia. Intending to bypass the Silk Road, the Portuguese established a trading settlement in Goa, India, in the early 16th century. An inexo-rable stream of Europeans followed, adding more layers of musical

influence. The Dutch East Indies Company was established in Indone-sia in 1602 and took control of much of the spice trade.

As Europeans began visiting Southeast Asia, descriptions of the-atre, music, and instruments began to appear in the accounts of their travels. Although these accounts often suffer from ethnocentrism and lack of musical vocabulary, many of todays instruments are clearly described.

Temple carvings continued to document music; some from the late 1700s clearly show the khene, gong circle, xylophone, and other instru-ments that are common today.

Expanding from India, the British began occupying parts of Burma in the late 1700s, taking Rangoon in 1824, and finally succeed-ed in colonizing in 1886. The British East India Company established the Straights Settlements in 1826 in parts of the Malaysian Peninsula, becoming a British colony in 1867.

French missionaries began to establish themselves in Vietnam in the mid-1600s, leading to French colonization by 1864. Cambodia and Laos soon were consolidated with Vietnam to form French Indochina, before Siam, which had managed to avoid colonization, could gain control of those regions,

With the 20th century drawing near, and the Dutch, French, and British controlling most of the region, Southeast Asia was on the cusp of entering the age of recorded sound, when its musical legacy would finally begin to change from mere hints and guesses to something more tangible.

Detail of Angkor Wat bas relief

Burmese ensemble, ca. 1892

Laos, 1870 (following pages)

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PART I THE RECORD INDUSTRY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

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Recording came to Southeast Asia during this original wave of world-music recording. In 1902, only a few short

years after the birth of the recording industry, the Brit-ish Gramophone Company sent recording engineer

Frederick Gaisberg on a trailblazing trip to the Orient. Sailing first to India, Gaisberg, with his young assistant George Dillnutt, made hundreds of recordings in Calcutta before continuing on to record in Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

From there he sailed to Singapore, Siam, and then Rangoon. The records were pressed in Germany and

then sent back to be sold to the local public. When Gaisberg returned to London in August 1903, he had

been gone nearly a year. The company and the industry were growing rapidly, espe-

cially in India. The following year, the Gramophone Company sent two young recording engineers, William Sinkler Darby and Max Hampe, to

THE EARLY RECORD COMPANIES never intended to be ethno-musicologists. They had no interest in documenting the worlds music or preserving cultures. They were simply in the business of selling expensive phonograph ma-chines. However, they quickly realized that in order to sell machines they had to sell records that ap-pealed to people in different locales. So in the first years of the 20th century, a handful of European and American record companies began sending recording teams to far-flung regions to establish themselves in the emerging marketplaces. At first, the record companies werent sure what would sell and they seemed willing to record almost any type of mu-sic they could find. This purely commercial approach led to the recording of a startling number of musical styles in a wide ar-ray of languages, inadvertently creating a vast and invaluable archive of global music.

THE FIRST WAVE

In those days, natives of the countries where we set up our temporary laboratories wanted records of their songs, their bands, and storytellers.

Harry Marker, Recordist for Columbia Records from 19051930

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make another series of recordings in several cities across India, as well as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Burma, building on the many technical and cultural lessons learned on the first trip.

To satisfy the publics growing interest in the phonograph and its desire for new records, Gaisbergs younger brother Will led a third recording tour from 1906 to 1907, with George Dillnutt as his assistant. Together, they made a large assortment of recordings throughout India, as well as Cantonese recordings in Hong Kong. However, they ventured no further into Southeast Asia than Rangoon.

Because competition was fierce, the Gram-ophone Company made a strategic move and opened a pressing plant and gramophone cabinet factory in Calcutta in 1908. This gave them the advantage of being able to build pho-nograph cabinets faster, cheaper, and better suited to the climate and to deliver records more quickly to the market. This was the only pressing plant in India well into the 1920s and where their Southeast Asian records were manufactured.

Also in 1908, the Gramophone Companys George Dillnutt graduated from assisting to leading his own expedi-tion. While in Rangoon, he recorded Po Sein, Burmas most famous singer and actor. Po Sein and his troupe recorded a series of traditional Burmese musicals called zats, some in lengthy sets of over 40 records. The recordings were destroyed by mold, due to the tropical heat, and had

to be completely redone. Dillnut also recorded in Singapore, Java, Siam, Ceylon, and India and soon after, with nearly a decade of Asian record-ing experience, became the Gramophone Companys head recording expert in India, the home base for all their Asian recording activity. By

this time, the Gramophone Companys catalog included hundreds of Southeast Asian recordings from Burma, Singapore, Java,

and Siam. Although the Gramophone Company was first

to record in Southeast Asia, others soon followed. Germany was on the forefront of phonograph technology and there were several German la-bels involved in the early recording scene. The Beka label made its first Southeast Asian re-cordings in 1905 when the recording team of Willy Bielefeld, Heinrich Blumb, and William Hadert made recordings in Constantinople,

Cairo, and Calcutta before arriving in Rangoon on Christmas day. Like the Gramophone Com-

pany, they also recorded Burmese theatrical works in sets of 4060 records, as well as shorter pieces.

They left Burma for the Dutch East Indies where they recorded Javanese gamelan ensembles as well as the popular

stamboul songs, a type of theatre music influenced by European music. An emergency stop in Bangkok yielded no recordings, unfortunately. Instead, after a few days they left for Singapore where they continued recording. Their next stop was Hong Kong (where they made record-

ings above an opium den) and then on to Shanghai and Tokyo, finally returning to Berlin in July of 1906. A follow-up expedition took place in 19061907, which included Singapore, Siam, the Dutch East Indies, as well as India and China. A third South-east Asian tour was conducted in 1909.

Odeon was another important Ger-man label, first making recordings in India, Siam, Burma, and the Dutch East Indies in 1907 and 1908. They, too, re-corded a wide variety of styles: traditional Javanese gamelan, stamboul, and another genre of popular music known as kro-ncong. Odeon soon came to dominate the Indonesian market. While other compa-nies sent agents to set up offices, Odeon used local agents to find and record tal-ent. Eventually, the other labels followed suit and came to rely on local talent scouts or agents. Some of these agents went on to form the first locally-owned labels.

A third German company, Lyrophon, was also recording in Southeast Asia. Lyrophon had started out making cylinders before switching to the flat disc format. Very little is known about their activities in Asia, but adver-tisements from 1913 listed records in many Asian languages, including Siamese, Burmese, Annamite (Vietnamese), Malay, and Javanese.

Between 1910 and 1913, the German record industry experienced a restructuring. Lyrophon, along with Beka, Odeon, and others, were acquired by the German holding company Carl Lindstroem A.G.

The American record companies Columbia and Victor were not as involved in Southeast Asia. Victor made no record-ings in the region during these first years of recording. Columbia, as early as 1904, had sent recording engineer Charles Carson to Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. In 1907, Carson was joined by Harry Marker and continued making Chinese recordings. Marker went on to record in Singapore and Bangkok later that year. While in Bangkok he conducted a recording session at the palace of King Rama V. Marker returned again in 1910, making hundreds of Java-nese, Arabic, and Chinese recordings in the Dutch East Indies. In Singapore he recorded more Malay and Chinese records.

As with most of these ground breaking early recording pioneers, there is scant infor-

mation on the actual details of their experiences. Marker was one of the few who left us a brief account of his travels. He was nothing if not tenacious. A short New York Times article from 1912 recounts his suffer-ing burns from an oil lamp explosion in Shanghai, being quarantined

28 29

continued to be an important market for Path. Columbia was active in Burma, Siam, Singapore and Dutch East Indies. Victor would finally venture into Southeast Asia in 1924, when engineers Jack Linderman and Fred Elsasser made recordings in French Indochina. A second series of Victor recordings were made in 1927 on a trip that included Tonkin, Hue, and Saigon, and included the first ever recordings of music from Laos.

Meanwhile, the Gramophone Company had switched to their His Masters Voice trademark in 1916 and continued recording heavily in India, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and Singapore. By 1930 their Southeast Asian catalog was very large, and yet dwarfed by the stag-gering number of Indian records they had made. They opened a new, modern pressing plant at Dum Dum, outside of Calcutta, that greatly improved their production capabilities through the 1930s. But the re-bound of the 1920s came to a halt with the stock market crash in 1929. Shockwaves rippled through the worlds economy, seriously damag-ing the record industry. In order to survive, the recording industry undertook a complicated series of legal maneuvers that led to a massive merger. The Gramophone Company, Columbia, the Lindstroem labels, and Path (both had recently been acquired by Columbia), as well as other labels, merged to form the conglomerate EMI. The various im-prints continued to release Southeast Asian records during the 1930s, but struggled with the effects of the Depression as well as competition from radio and cinema.

in Port Arthur, and losing trunks on the Trans-Siberian Railway. He even claimed to have once smoked opium to lure a famous but reluctant Chinese singer.

With oppressive temperatures, monsoons, mosquitoes, fever, dys-entery, and language and cultural barriers, not to mention hauling hundreds of pounds of fragile equipment and wax masters across the continent, its astonishing that these recording engineers were able to over-come the many obstacles before them.

One strategy to make expeditions easier and more efficient was to travel along the an-cient maritime trade routes. Rangoon, Bang-kok, Singapore, Jakarta, and other port cities were easily accessible by ship. Because roads inland were sparse (if there were any at all) and railroads had not yet been built, the music of the interior was neglected.

French Indochina was under-recorded by the major labels in this initial wave of recording. Tending to do business in colonies to which they were related, English, German, and American companies never recorded in the French colo-nies of Indochina in these early years.

The French Path label began as a manufacturer of cinema equip-ment just before the turn of the century. At first they released cylinder recordings before switching to the flat disc in 1906. In 190809, Path recordists Henri Lachappelle and M. M. Saife traveled to India, Siam, Ja-

pan, China, and French Indochina where they made a significant num-ber of recordings. Unfortunately, there is very little surviving documen-tation of these expeditions other than the discs themselves, which are quite rare.

Path established offices in Tokyo, Shanghai, Bombay, and Singapore and continued to record in Siam and Indochina

for the next few years until the outbreak of World War I ended the first phase of recording in Southeast Asia,

as elsewhere. Although recording by the Gramophone

Company continued through the teens, engineer Fred Gaisberg himself noted that it was not a productive time for the industry. The German labels, Beka, Odeon, Lyrophon, and others (now controlled by Lindstroem), suffered the most as in-

ternational shipping and commerce were disrupted and the German economy left in ruins.

Conversely, the 1920s was a period of growth for the record industry; new electrical recording technology

was being developed that significantly improved the sound of the records. Economies were rebuilding after the war. In Germany, the la-bels controlled by Lindstroem had begun to recover as well. Both Beka and Odeon released a series of records from Indochina and recorded in the Dutch East Indies. An Odeon catalog from 1926 lists over 300 Vietnamese records. In 1928, both made historic trips to Bali, where each made a series of historic Balinese gamelan recordings. Indochina

30 31

32 33

they appear to have made a deal with the German re-cord label Beka to release recordings under their own

Katz Brothers label and began issuing Siamese re-cords under their own name, presumably manu-

factured by Beka with Beka matrix numbers. Although they acted as agents for Odeon in Singapore, Siam seems to be the only area in which their label operated.

Tio Tek Hongs company in the central Javanese city of Semarang sold everything from clothes to motorcycles and was an agent

for Odeon before World War II. Unlike Bekas arrangement with the Katz Brothers, Tio Tek

Hong did not have his own label, but instead the in-scription made by Tio Tek Hong and Company store,

Semarang was printed at the bottom of the Odeon label. As with the Katz Brothers, its not clear to what extent they were

involved in selecting artists or supervising recording sessions. Tio Tek Hong eventually started his own eponymous label in the mid-1920s.

LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS often lacked the resources to break into the record business. Recording, mas-tering, and pressing discs required a large in-vestment, as well as advanced engineering ca-pabilities. The only option for most aspiring record producers was to establish a partner-ship with a European record company as an agent. This was a symbiotic relationship, to varying degrees, in which the agent would assume duties such as the choosing of art-ists and repertoire, as well as the arranging and supervising of recording sessions. In ex-change they would become the sole sales repre-sentative for their region.

Merchants often came to record production through the selling of general merchandise or musical instruments. For example, the Katz Brothers were general merchants and music importers with a head office in Singapore and branches in Penang, Sumatra, British Borneo, and Siam. Around 1907,

THE RISE OF THE LOCAL LABELS

34 35

Although these early agent relationships were more akin to market-ing strategies by the larger record companies than they were independent operations, the 1920s saw the emergence of several local companies with a higher degree of autonomy. These companies would often arrange their own recording sessions locally in one of the major la-bels studios, and send off the masters to be manufac-tured abroad, often by German pressing factories.

Singapore had been an important center of recording activity since Gaisbergs first record-ing tour, and likewise became fertile ground for the emergence of new local labels. Mout-rie and Co. were sole agents for the Gramo-phone Company in China as early as 1904, and in Singapore in the 1920s and 1930s. Like other agents, their business included music related items such as sheet music, ra-dios, as well as the sale and repair of musical instruments. They graduated from mere dis-tributors to selecting and arranging artists, and releasing them under their own label, yet they were still closely linked to the Gramophone Company. In 1934, Moutrie and Co. released their first Chap Kuching re-cords, which specialized in a popular theatrical music called bangsawan. The wax master recordings were sent off to the pressing at the Gramo-phone Companys plant at Dum Dum, India, to be pressed, and returned for sale in Moutrie shops.

Chap Singa was started in 1937 by M.E. & T. Hemsley Co., another local distributor of the Gramophone Company, also based in Singapore. Tom Hemsley had previously supervised Moutries Chap Kuching label

before starting Chap Singa. The main focus of the labels was popular theatrical music, such as stamboul, kroncong, and bangas-

awan. Their artists included stars of the day, and they would promote their recordings by holding kro-

ncong contests and other public events. Neither Chap Singa nor Chap Kuching survived WWII.

Hemsley later started the Delima label, which featured Javanese singers. He was also the distributor for the Canary and Tjap Angsa labels, both of which were introduced in 1939.

While some local companies used the Gramophone Companys pressing services

at their Dum Dum plant, others were pressed in Hanover, Germany, by Deutsche Gram-

mophon. Mong Huat & Co. of Singapore was a distributor for the Hindenburg label, owned

by Deutsche Grammophon and aimed specifically at the Southeast Asian market. When the Hindenburg

label ceased production in the 1930s, it seems that Mong Huat made arrangements to continue with his own Pagoda label, still pressed by Deutsche Grammophon. Pagoda featured operas of Singa-pores thriving Chaozhou immigrants from the Guangdong province of Southern China, as well as various Malay recordings.

In Siam, Rabbit was one of the first truly independent labels. T. Ngek Chuan started his career as part of a traveling outdoor cinema troupe that exhibited films throughout southern Thailand and north-ern Malaysia. He eventually opened a cin-ema and store. The records in his store sold so well that, in 1925, he decided to start his own label. Arranging his own recordings, he would send the masters off to be pressed in Germany. The Rabbit label proved success-ful and throughout the 1930s40s released a wide variety of music: folk, classical and pop-ular, even Chuans own Malay String Band. In the years leading up to WWII, Rabbit also released cultural propaganda songs of Luang Wichitwathakan, songs with a Western ap-proach intended to modernize the country. The wars effect on Germany caused Rabbit to falter, and soon a new group of indepen-dent labels sprung up in Bangkok.

Even more so than World War I, WWII was a turbulent period for the music industry in Southeast Asia. Recording, pressing, and distribution were greatly disrupted. The Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia had a devastating impact on the types of music allowed to be re-leased, and recording came to a halt in the occupied countries. But after the war, the end of the colonial period opened up new opportunities. At

the same time, many of the major labels discontinued or drastically re-duced activity in Southeast Asia, instead pursuing larger, international mainstream pop markets. The vacuum created by the exit of the major

labels was quickly filled by a new generation of independent labels.

Two important developments after the war made the local record business more af-fordable: the establishment of record-press-ing facilities in Southeast Asia, and the use of magnetic tape for recording. Although the development of magnetic tape began in the early 1930s , it wasnt until the 1950s that it began to gradually replace the cumbersome method of recording onto wax masters. It be-came realistic for a small operation run by just a few people to set up in a basement or the back room of shop and produce record-ings that were less costly and better sounding than the major labels releases just a decade earlier. The Rangoon label Toe Na Yar was owned by Daw Than Yin and was recording to tape in her basement by the mid-1950s.

Revered Burmese singer Mar Mar Aye stated in a recent interview that some recordings were pressed in as little as 500 copies. While the biggest hits might have sold as many as 10,000 copies, the affordability of tape and local manufacturing allowed them to release these limited runs.

36 37

With the reduction of cost and the absence of major label competi-tion, independent record companies began to sprout up around South-east Asia throughout the 1950s.

Since the mid-1930s in Vietnam, the Asia label had been releasing recordings of ci lng, a form of musical theatre from southern Vietnam. They were soon joined by many other labels based in Saigon, where the popular ci lng dominated the market.

Thailands luk thung craze spawned a bewildering number of labels with dis-tinctive, colorful graphics. Luk thung was a form of popular music with ties torural culture and whose star singers would often start their own eponymous labels. Thailand also had several labels dedicated to Thai classical music.

Burmas thriving film industry helped lay the groundwork for a music scene that combined old and new sounds. As in Thai-land, some labels focused on traditional music and dramas.

Irama was one of the largest post-war labels in Indo-nesia. Started in 1954 by jazz impresario Suyoso Karsono, Irama re-leased a wide variety of music and controlled a number of subsidiaries.

Irama continued to be successful into the microgroove era. However, theIndonesian music industry came to be dominated by Lokananta, the

national recording company ofIndonesia. Lokananta tried to counter Western influence by promoting Indone-

sian cultures and popular music with a local in-fluence. A little-researched aspect of this era is

the degree of influence imposed by govern-ments. Nearly every Southeast Asian coun-

trys record industry was affected to some degree by government control, from the softer cultural manipulations of Thai-land and nationalism of Indonesia, to Burmese songs glorifying the military or Vietnams communist propaganda.

Only Cambodia and Laos were left out of this wave of locally owned record-

ing. While Cambodia had a handful of labels, Laos had none at all.

By the 1960s, many of these indigenous labels followed the global trend and transi-

tioned to the new microgroove LP and 45 rpm format. The 78 rpm record, recorded musics primary

medium for six decades, faded into history.

38 39

40 41

Add Rabbit Label

42 43

PART IISOUTHEAST ASIA AND ITS MUSIC

44 45

Vietnam is located in mainland Southeast Asia along the eastern coast of the Indochinese peninsula, bordered by China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, the South China Sea to the east, and the Gulf of Siam to the south. While the Vit (or Kinh) people make up nearly 90 percent of the population, Vietnam is also home to more than 50 ethnic groups. There are sizeable Chinese and Khmer minorities, and a variety

of highland ethnic groups live along the Annamite Cordillera and in the mountains bordering China and Laos.

The Vietnamese people trace their origins to the ng Sn culture present in the Red River basin during the centuries before the common era.This region was captured by the Chinese in 111 BCE and remained under Chinese control until 938 AD. China has remained a strong cul-tural influence to this day. From the 15th century, Vietnam began its southern advance, over several centuries seizing and settling in the

kingdom of Champa (located along the coastline of the Annamite Cordillera) and later in the Khmer territories of the Mekong delta.

In the 16th century, Vietnam came into contact with European culture through Catholic missionaries. In 1858 France began a military campaign that would eventually seize all of Indochina. During the early 20th century the French constructed a commercial and ad-ministrative infrastructure to consolidate their control of the colony. They divided present day Vietnam into three regions: Tonkin in the north, Annam in the center, and Cochinchina in the south, which along with Cam-bodia and Laos comprised French Indochina.The major cities of Vietnam that correspond to the three regions are Hanoi (the present day capitol), Hu (the royal capi-tol), and Saigon (the commercial hub of the country).

Though Vietnam continued to resist the French, they also sought to learn from the West in order to mod-

ernize their nation. The August Revolution in 1945 was the prelude to a war of resistance that led to Frances de-feat and exit from Vietnam in 1954. From that time Viet-nam was split into two nations, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north and the Republic of Vietnam in the south. After decades of conflict, the county was uni-fied as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Vietnamese music is influenced by both Chinese and South Asian elements, the latter through long-term contact with the Cham and Khmer kingdoms. Prior to colonization, popular musical entertainments included ht bi (also known as ht tung or ht b), a court-sup-ported musical theatre with origins in Chinese opera; ht cho, a folk theatre of the north, the ritual and enter-tainment music of the court and ceremonial music used in local festivals; ca tr (or ht o), a form of chamber music from the north featuring the musical recitation of poetry; and nhc ti t (music of talented amateurs), a style of chamber music originating in the central region that empha-sized instrumental creativity and virtuosity.

From around 1910, a new syncretic musical theatre form that used elements of ht bi and nhc ti t as well as folk songs and the music of that regions ethnic Chinese. First known as ca ra b (literally, "gesture coming out of song"), it developed into a popular new theatrical genre called ci lng, the dominant genre of the 78 rpm format. Originally, plots were based on Chinese stories used in ht bi, but soon there were

also stories influenced and adapted from French literature and from motion pictures. Vietnamese also composed new songs in the style of nhc ti t, most notably D C Hoi Lang (At the Night Drum Thinking of Him, 1918) by Cao Vn Lu, which developed into the ex-tremely popular aria type, vng c (longing for the past) represented on a number of recordings included here. JG

VIETNAM

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Laos is Southeast Asias only landlocked nation. It is 236,800 square kilometers, slightly larger than the state of Utah, with a population of about 5 million people concentrated along the Mekong River in sev-eral modest-sized cities. Outside of the cities, the population is sparsely settled in the rural ar-eas, including the mountains that dominate much of the coun-try. About half the population is ethnically Lao, lowland-dwelling people who practice wet-rice agriculture, with the remain-ing people scattered through the mid and upper elevations of the mountains.

During the 19th century, Siam sought to control much of what is now Laos. An invasion by Siamese King Rama III in 1827 destroyed much of the city of Vientiane and forced most of the popula-tion to the Khorat Plateau in what is now northeast Thailand (Isan) as well as to the central plains in an arc north of Bangkok. With Lao people now living in Thailand, the central Thai began to take note of Lao music and culture. While those who moved to the central plain gradually as-

similated into Siamese culture, those on the Khorat Plateau maintained their Lao cultural identity, and as a result much of northeast Thailand today is culturally (and musically) Lao. Because of its orientation to Bangkok, however, the northeast has experienced much more modern-ization than did the area across the Mekong in Laos proper.

Laos came under French protection in 1893 as part of the expansion of French Indochina, along with Vietnam and Cambo-dia. Because the French resisted Siamese claims to much of Laos, it has remained less developed and more conservative culturally than northeast Thailand. Largely administered by Vietnamese civ-il servants trained by the French, Laos suffered benign neglect through its independence in 1954 and fell further behind dur-ing the destructive Vietnam War. During the war, whole cities and

towns were obliterated, and today long-forgotten cluster bomblets con-tinue to kill and maim Lao children and farmers. As a result, Laos still lacks more than a rudimentary infrastructure in terms of roads, com-munications, and economy, although it is slowly improving in spite of its conservative, old-style communist government. Until quite recently,

the only way to reach Laos from Thailand, other than by air, was by ferry across the Mekong. Now there are three bridges, at Pakse, at Sawa-nnakhet, and at Vientiane. In each case drivers from left-side driving Thailand must convert to the right-side driving of Laos.

Musically, Laos is one of the most under-researched countries in the world. Having only one small teacher college, it has not pro-duced any of its own music schol-ars. Although there have been government agencies charged with supervising research by for-eign scholars, until around 2000 their efforts hampered more than encouraged fieldwork. The geog-raphy of the country itself has also discouraged research. Although the lowland Lao population is only around 3 million, there are 10 to 15 regional musical styles (depending on what is counted). In the southern region a given artist may perform several local styles, but in the north, each tends to be isolated from others. Given the difficulties of travel to each regionparticularly into the many moun-tain villages that are inaccessible by roadit comes as no surprise that few scholars have documented these styles beyond a superficial level.

To the inexperienced listener, all Lao music probably sounds pretty much alike. So what distinguishes around 13 named regional forms? First, the names of each genre are preceded with either khap or lam. Khap denotes genres in the Vientiane region and all areas to the north. Lam denotes genres in the south. Both terms essentially mean to sing

but carry the implication that the melody is closely related to the linguistic tones of the poetry. The names of each genre connote ei-ther a place name, a geographical feature, or the name of an eth-nic subgroup. For example, khap phuan, found in Xieng Khouang province in north-central Laos, denotes singing of the Phuan, a Lao subgroup. Khap ngeum, a genre found just north of Vien-tiane, refers to its location along the Ngeum River, which flows into the Mekong just east of Vien-tiane. Lam khon sawan, found in south-central Laos, refers to its

locale near the city of Sawannakhet on the Mekong. Making musical distinctions requires an experienced ear, es-

pecially in the south. The genres preceded by lam differ in terms of a basic melodic form that singers vary slightly to fit different texts and

LAOS

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to accommodate the linguistic tones. The ac-companiment for all lam genres may be the khene (pronounced something like can)free-reed mouth organ alone, but the addition of a local fiddle or plucked lute plus small drum and small metal percussion is also possible. Other than the khap genre of Luang Phrabang, those in the north are nor-mally accompanied by either khene or a single free-reed pipe simply called pi.

The essential feature that defines all Lao genres is repartee, a vocal version of the war of the sexes in which male and female singers alter-nate. Their texts may be related to (feigned) courtship, but others depict competition, insults, and asking each other questions about cultural practices, religion, history, or old stories. While some skilled singers can improvise passages of poetry, though based on previously memo-rized models, most singers perform memorized poetry taught to them

by their teachers. Because many Lao are nonliterate, most teaching has been by rote. A performance, then, features a pair of male and female singers, at least one khene player, with the pair alternating throughout. Such performances remain a common feature of national, local, and temple-based festivals.

Less representative of the Lao culture, but often prominent in re-corded anthologies, Lao classical or court music was cultivated in the royal capital, Luang Phrabang, in the administrative capital, Vientiane, and to lesser extents in other centers such as Champassak. Whether its origin came from Angkor in Cambodia or from Ayuthaya in Siam/Thailand, by the end of the 19th century it was only an echo of Thai practice, with one exception. The Lao sometimes added khene to the classical instruments (xylophones, gong circles, fiddles, flute, oboe, drums, and other percussion), and while there was a contradiction be-tween the equidistant classical tuning and nonequidistant khene tun-ing, it was minor enough that few noticed. Recordings from before 1975 show that playing levels in Laos were far simpler than those in Thailand. Following the abolition of the monarchy in 1975, classical music was ex-tinguished until well into the 1980s when it was slowly and reluctantly revived for purposes of representation at foreign festivals. Since then it has slowly recovered but remains simple in style to this day. TM

By nearly any measure Cambodia, a small nation of only 14.7 million people, underdeveloped, poor, governed by an entrenched single-party government, would not seem to be very significant, but consider-ing its glorious past as one of the worlds greatest empires centered around Angkor, it cannot be ig-nored. Even as the Khmer (the proper adjective) culture has suf-fered near extinction twice, first in 1432 when the Siamese in-flicted their final defeat on Ang-kor, and second when the Khmer Rouge reign of terror (19751979) attempted to extinguish ev-erything Khmer and recreate the nation as a simple agrarian soci-ety obedient to its blood-thirsty rulers, it has also demonstrated resilience. There remains to this day a lively and distinctive musical culture.

Because of its history, Khmer music was unable to develop the lev-el that Thai music did, and indeed everything had to be rebuilt nearly from scratch following Vietnams invasion of Cambodia in 1979 when the Khmer Rouge were ousted and the now entrenched regime of Hun

Sen started. But ironically, the oldest layers of Khmer music still live, though transformed, as Thai classical music. This is so because when the Siamese, centered at Ayuthaya, conquered Angkor in 1432 and its successor capital, Longvek, in 1594, they not only destroyed the empires

great temples and palaces but forcibly carried off much of the population, including its musicians, dancers, and artists, resettling them in Siam where they gradually morphed into Siamese indistinguishable from earlier layers of Siamese. Since there is no record of Siamese music from before the con-quest of Angkor, there is no way to know to what extent Siamese music changed under Khmer influence. As-serting that this influence was either extensive or defining raises touchy is-sues of cultural nationalism.

The relationship between Siam and Cambodia is therefore quite

tangled. The Khmer people brought from Angkor would have noticed remnants of the Angkor Empire within Siam, because before the rise of Sukhothai (13th century) and Ayuthaya (14th century), Siams earli-est power centers, most of present-day Thailand was part of the Khmer Empire. Evidence of this is easily seen in the many temple ruins to the west nearly to the Burmese border and north towards present-day Vien-

CAMBODIA

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tiane, Laos. These include a number of magnificent temple complexes at Phimai, Phanom Rung, Muang Tam, and Preah Vihar in the northeast and a more modest one at Muang Sing in the west, as well as many small hospitals (resting places for travelers) scattered throughout. Because the empire was so far-flung and communication with the center so dif-ficult, it is not certain that the Khmer subjects at the fringes were more than local people who had adopted aspects of the empire. But as a result, many aspects of Siamese/Thai culture today reflect the Khmer Empires in-fluence.

In terms of music there is also a reciprocal relationship. Assum-ing that Siamese music was indeed remodeled under Khmer influence in the 16th century, it seems ironic that the Siamese, led by Thailands most famous composer, Luang Phra-dit Phairaw, later helped restore and remodel Khmer court music in the early 20th when the modest court in Phnom Penh sought to reestablish its court music and dance. As a con-sequence, virtually the entire repertory of Khmer classical music is of Thai origin, even if titles are in Khmer and the performance style differs in certain respects. But classical music constitutes only part of the pic-ture, for Cambodia has a variety of distinctive local genres played by vil-lage musicians for specific occasions, especially for weddings and spirit

ceremonies. In these one hears Cambodias most distinctive timbres, rhythms, and textures. That we can continue to hear all of these today is nothing short of a miracle, considering that the Ministry of Culture estimated in 1988 that around 80 percent of Cambodias musicians and dancers had been killed, died of disease, or fled the country during the Khmer Rouge period. Clearly, then, the recordings included here are additionally valuable because they document Khmer music before these

grievous losses. Thanks to its French colonial

masters, Cambodia came to be cir-cumscribed by fixed boundaries with Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, but like borders elsewhere in the region, they mask the ethnic makeup of the land. There are significant numbers of Khmer in the Delta of the Nine Dragons, what the Mekong River is called in southern Vietnam, including temples and rem-nants of court music. Three provinces in Thailands lower northeastBuri-

ram, Surin, and Srisaketare predominantly Khmer speaking to this day, and the greatest Khmer temple beyond Angkor sits on the border of Thailand and Cambodia, where access remains in disputethe United Nations declared the temple to be within Cambodia, but entry can only be gained through Thailand because the temples Cambodian side is a sheer cliff. Many Lao live in the northwestern provinces bordering Laos,

and Cambodias northeast mountains, the Dangkrek, are inhabited by upland peoples, some speaking languages unrelated to Khmer but cul-turally close to many groups in nearby Vietnams Central Highlands.

Perhaps the most intriguing ques-tion to ask of the living traditions of Khmer music is its relationship, if any, to the silent music depicted in the stone bas reliefs of Angkor Vat and Angkor Thom. Studies of the archaeological evidence in relation to contemporary phenomena remain preliminary, and drawing con-clusions will always have risks. None-theless, at least one modern instrument is clearly depicted at Angkor Vat, a semi-circular gong circle, doubtless an early version of what became the kong thom in Cambodia, khawng wong yai in Thai-land and Laos, and kyi waeng in Burma. Many military-like scenes depict hang-ing gongs and numerous figures appear to be playing wind instruments. The small cymbals used to mark time (ching in Thai and Khmer, sing in Lao) are also seen. Most intriguing is what appears to be a bowed monochord, now thought to be the highlands kni, which has, in addition to the bowed string, another running from the bridge to the

players mouth, giving the instrument a most unusual timbre. Today in Cambodia many of the institutions that support music and

dance have been restored. Others persist as best they can. Cambodia still has a king and thus a court-music estab-lishment. The Royal University of Fine Arts teaches music, dance, and theater. The many tourists around Angkor sup-port performers in restaurants and other venues. Many of the land-mine victims living around Angkor play local wed-ding-style music for tourists. Wedding musicians play gigs for ceremonies, and presumably the spirit ceremonies have resumed. In Thailands lower northeast there are remnants of classical music and much ceremonial music associated with spirits.

The selection of recordings offered here reflects but a small part of this heri-tage, but does so in memory of musicians who lived in the past and of those who died during the Khmer Rouge period. TMFrom a distance Thailand may seem like a small country, but like most na-

tions, the closer you get, the more complicated it becomes. That is true of Thailand both generally and musically. Putting the music heard in

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this collection into perspective requires keeping multiple perspectives within view: some cultural, some historical, and some as particular as the prime minister in power.

Geographically, Thailand is defined by officially recognized bor-ders, but as is true of most of its neighbors, these boundaries seem arbi-trary in relation to factors such as language, culture, and even geogra-phy. Before the age of European colonialism, Southeast Asias kingdoms expanded and contracted continuously based on how much power each ruler could project and hold. Power extended outwards as far as pos-sible, but the further from the court, the more amorphous that power became, and much of the territory between king-doms was ambiguous in terms of loyalty. National boundaries came about as a result of the colonial expansion of the Brit-ish and French, the former extending their power from India east into what became Burma (now Myanmar) and down the Malay Peninsula including what is now Malaysia. The French controlled the southeastern parts of the subcontinent, com-prising what is now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Thailand (called Siam until 1939), through the adroit leadership of its kings during the 19th century, escaped colonialization, but had they failed, it is clear that either (or both) the French and the British would have happily absorbed Siam. Conversely, the Siamese rulers had been laying claim to vast territories extending to the south as well as east and north of the Me-

kong River all the way to northern Vietnam based, at least in the latter case, on language relationships. This is because the Tai language family includes the Lao and some of the main minority groups in northern Vietnam. Siamese expansion was stopped by the French in a series of treaties and French expansionism was resisted successfully by the Sia-mese kings. As a result, the modern borders were compromises, and the Thai nation includes three Malay provinces in the south, a host of Lao-speaking provinces in the northeast, three Khmer-speaking provinces in the lower northeast, and a great variety of non-Tai minority groups along its northern and western borders. Consequently, music in Thai-land demonstrates much greater variety than Thai music, especially

if the latter is defined as that of the central Thai culture alone.

Modern Thailand, while unified through the imposition of central Thai as the national lan-guage and power concentrated in Bangkok, still consists of four distinct cultural regions, though those distinctions are less and less pronounced as a result of modernization. The central plain, to the east, north, and west of Bangkok, is the nations main culture, but musically distinguishes the aristocratic (or court) tradition from localand mainly ruralmusic. The north, northeast, and south each have distinctive music types and styles, in fact the northeast is subdivided into three mu-sical areas: one Khmer based, one Lao, and one centered around the city of Nakhon Ratchasima (aka Khorat).

Besides the factors of differentiating clas-sical/court from local, and one region from another, there are the factors of modernization and globalization. These too are reflected in music, including some of the selections heard here. Kings Mongkut and Chulalongkorn (Rama IV and V, respectively), ruling from 1851 to 1910 and the prime architects in maintaining Siams independence, used modernization to counter any European ideas of imposing manifest destiny in order to civilize their expanding empires. It was especially King Chulalongkorn who brought Western patterns of administration,

education, communication, and living patterns to his subjects, and this included Western music brought about both by plan and through the influence of the growing community of Western diplomats, traders, military advisers, and missionaries. The lesser of the two was the de-velopment of Western classical music through the formation of Siams first symphony orchestra in 1911. Even with support from the court (and later the Fine Arts Department) and the training of Thai to play West-ern classical instruments, symphony orchestras have always struggled

THAILAND

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in the kingdom, even today. Popular music, on the other hand, flour-ished. The Western community brought social dance music, and later Thai learned both to play this music and to dance. The first major genre of popular music, called luk krung (songs of the city), was primarily ballroom dance music sung with sophisticated poetry. These songs were

made famous by the band Suntharaphon founded in 1943 and led by Bun-Uea Sun-thonsanan, who both arranged and played. From this other kinds of songs developed with more down-to-earth lyrics expressing the lives of ordinary people, including farm-ers, the beginnings of what is now Thailands most prominent popular genre, the luk thung (songs of the fields). Although luk thung songs were originally from central Thailand, those that developed to express the experi-ence of northeastern Thai, who are culturally Lao, have come to dominate (luk thung isan).

The present compilation, while not com-prehensive, nonetheless includes Thai clas-sical, both played by traditional ensembles and instruments as well as by instruments representing newer influences, as well as an example from the northeast and one popu-lar song. Some of these tracks offer surprises too and fill lacunae in our history of music in Thailand. TM

At this point in time (2012), there is no internationally accepted conven-tion for referring to the country, which, during the era of these record-ings, was known as Burma. As several observers have pointed out, both Myanma and Bama have been used interchangeably through-out Burmese history, with Bama or under British rule Burma used colloquially and Myanmar used in more formal contexts in Burmese writing. In the 1990s, the Burmese military government decided uni-laterally to change the official name of Burma to Myanmar. Various op-position groups, exile publications, and academic organizations and journals still use Burma. Because we focus here on recordings from the early to mid-20th century, we will use Burma.

Burma, with its borders delineated by British Imperial Rule in 1885, fronts the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, framing the western coast of mainland Southeast Asia. With China to the north, India (As-sam) and Bangladesh to the west and Thailand and Laos to the east and south, Burma todaywith its inheritance as a busy crossroads by land and seais host to an extraordinarily diverse group of cultures, com-

munities, and languages. The Burmans, predominantly Theravadan Buddhists, comprise 68 percent of the total population.

Both lowland (Mon, Burman, Rakhine, Karen, and others) and mountain peoples (Shan, Kachin, Karen, Chin, Naga, Wa, and oth-ers) in Burma over the centuries have adapted instruments arriving via trade routes from other countries and kingdoms to flavor indigenous

musical culture. The duty of every victorious monarch in kingdoms throughout Burmese history was to appropriate foreign artisans, musi-cians, and performance genres upon conquest.Of particular relevance for these recordings, was the Burmese conquest of Ayudhya in Siam in 1767. Siamese performers were forced into slavery and brought to the Burmese court where they taught their arts to Burman musicians and dancers. Siamese songs from the Ramayana (Thai Ramakien) were reinterpreted

in Burmese language and musical style. These Yodaya songs became a core genre popular into the 20th century and used extensively in the first years ofrecordings.

Over the centuries Burmese musicians have joyfully embraced instruments from Persia, China, India, Thailand, Europe and Bur-manized them with new tunings and sometimes imaginative recon-

BURMA

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figurations.Several instruments on these recordings are of particular interest.A set of tuned drumsoriginally a collection of seven and said to be from Indiawas extended in the 1860s to 19 tuned drums hung on a wooden frame circle with enough space for a player at the center.This larger drum circle, known as the hsaing waing, enabled the evolution of virtuosic techniques still in use to-day. The cornet, slide guitar, mandolin, concertina, violin, banjo, lap harp, piano, and iron-barred xy-lophone all folded into use in Burmese ensembles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but were adjusted to accommodate Burmese tunings and modes and techniques of playing. The national iconic arched Burmese harp (saung gauk) shares its shape with other cultures, has a cousin used among the Karen, and was long the favored chamber in-strument of the Burmese court accompanying the earliest songs extant: theKyo.

The structure of the Burmese language is more closely related to Tibetan than Thai in the Sino-Tibetan classification of languages.In representing its tones through song, singers must obey certain caesuras and glottal stops to be understood, in addition to making other words longer and fluid through melisma (a group of notes sung to a single syllable) for both expression and clarity of meaning. To an outside ear, the abrupt, stopped toneswith their

corresponding motion in instrumental accompanimentdictate a rhythmic propulsion and deceleration distinct from surrounding mu-

sics in Burma.The mark of an extraordinary singer is his or her ability to timemelismas and stops cor-rectly to the regular meter of the bell and clapper (si, wa)a relationship to timing common to other musics of Southeast Asia.

The early introduction of both silent film and recording technology by the British yielded a re-markable creative response among the Burmese, which was initially among the Burman majority and later expanded to other groups incorporating their own languages and music.In the 1920s, some Western, and later Burmese silent films, were ac-companied by Burmese musicians. Singers and instrumentalists emerged who later received great acclaimand fostered a renaissance of Burmese per-forming styles, both popular and classical.

With silent films requiring constant live back-ground music, ensembles began to compete with one another to attract audiences to particular movie theatres. Demonstrating ones improvisatory skills through virtuosic display in instrumental

interludes became a prerequisite for sandaya (piano) and hsaing play-ers leading their groups. The great sandaya, hsaing waing leaders, the slide guitar and sang gauk players, all performers and composers of the

1930s, and onwards were able to create music that carried both the fla-vor of the old Mahagita classical canon, but also introduced complex-ity and greater ingenuity in instrumental patterns, incorporating more range on their instruments.

As with instruments, vocal techniques from other cultures were imported and adapted to Bur-mese singing styles. Popular movie stars would record hit songs from movies, the sales of which would ensure a large audi-ence. Often, both Burmese and Western styles would be mixed in one song: verses in Burmese style with refrains accompa-nied by a Western harmonized vamp. As more western popular styles were absorbed into the Burmese music of the 1940s and onward,less melisma was incor-porated into singing styles.

In Burma, hand-cranked re-cord players were used into the 1970s, replaced by cassette machines which were more portable and cheaper than long-playing record players.Studios at the Burma Broad-casting Service in Rangoon (which became known as the Myanma Ra-dio and Television Service in the 1960s) broadcast Burmese classical and

music based on classical styles known as khi' haung with an accompany-ing lecture series by well-known writers on music.

As the Burmese generations born in the 1920s and 1930s pass onthose who remember listening to some of these recordings as children, the musicians among them even remembering meeting or working

with some of the performing artistsa proverbial golden age of Burmese musical intricacy that connected audi-ences across generations will gradually recede. However, the good news is that some younger musicians are learning the music of the hsaing waing, learn-ing to sing songs from the Mahagita and khi haung song styles. Ensembles around Burma are active at Pagoda fes-tivals, issuing DVDs, uploading their work to the Internet, playing for theatre performances, and even collaborat-ing with popular musicians. Work on archiving the thousands of recordings represented by this current selection has begun in Yangon (formerly Ran-

goon), which will be accessible to younger Burmese and international audiences online: for all who wish to soothe their ears and awaken to history in a legacy of remarkable music and poetry. KY

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Indonesia is part of island Southeast Asia, and Malaysia is both part of island and mainland Southeast Asia, usually respectively called East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak, located on the island of Borneo) and West Malaysia (the Malay Peninsula). There are approximately 245 mil-lion people in Indonesia and 28 million in Malaysia. The majority in both countries is Muslim, particularly in Indonesia where over 85per-cent or about 208 million people follow Islam, making Indonesia the country with the most Muslims in the world. Singapore, the city-state in between Malaysia and Indonesia, is a secular state (with Buddhists, Confucians, Muslims, Christians, and Hindus) and has about 5 million people. In sharp contrast with Malaysia and especially with Indonesia, Singapore is an economic powerhouse with one of the worlds highest per capita GDP.

The majority of Indonesians and Malaysians are Malay peoples speaking very similar Austronesian languages. Malay was the lingua franca among the diverse types of Malays living in the archipelago (Ma-laya, Borneo, Indonesian islands, Southern Philippines, and southern Thailand). Songs recorded in Malay were popular among the Malays in the archipelago. The Indonesian language was largely adopted in 1928 from the Malay language spoken in the ports in Java and Sumatra. To-day, virtually all Indonesians speak Indonesian, though it is still nor-mally a citizens second language. Indonesia is much more diverse than Malaysia with some 300 ethnic groups spread over thousands of islands. Malaysia is officially multiethnic and multicultural with a much higher

percentage population of Chinese and Indians than Indonesia. Singa-pores majority people are Chinese descent with sizable Malay and In-dian minorities; English heads the list of official languages, which also includes Malay, Chinese, and Tamil. Both Indonesia and Malaysia have indigenous peoples (orang asli) speaking distinct languages.

Indonesia and Malaysia had different colonial masters: Indonesia was colonized over stages by the Dutch, while Malaysia (and the area of Singapore) was colonized by the British. Both nations were also oc-cupied by other foreign powers: the British for Indonesia and the Portu-guese for Malaysia (Portugal also occupied areas of East Indonesia for centuries). The distinct Dutch and British backgrounds further sepa-rated Indonesia and Malaysia in terms of politics, legal systems, devel-opment, and music. Malaysians also speak English much better than Indonesians. While Indonesia achieved independence from the Dutch soon after the end of World War II, the Federation of Malaya was de-clared as an independent federation of the Malay states in 1957 and the name Malaysia was adopted in 1963 when the existing states of the Federation were joined by Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak. Sin-gapore left Malaysia to form its own nation in 1965.

Both Malaysia and Indonesia are considered gong cultures, with a plethora of gongs used in music ensembles. The musics of Java and Bali in Indonesia are characterized by gamelan ensembles, consisting of gongs, metallophones, gong-chimes, drums, and flutes in a variety of combina-tions. Smaller ensembles, often with fewer numbers of bronze or metal instruments, are found throughout both countries. Gamelan traditions were seemingly first introduced to Malaysia in the early 19th century

as a wedding gift of the royal family of Riau (Indonesia). The bamboo flutes, suling, are found in both nations as is the rebab, a bowed lute pur-portedly of Arab or Persian origins, which has a particular importance in the Malaysian mak yong and the Javanese and Sundanese gamelans.

Other shared traditions in-clude the shadow puppet play, wayang kulit, an a cappella pop-Islam style, nasyid (which began in Malaysia), Malay opera, Islam-ic music using the gambus (Malay oud), martial arts (pencak silat), and certain Sufi traditions, zikir. Both countries also have other theatrical traditions and masked dancing. In some states in Malay-sia, religious groups have man-aged to ban pre-Islamic tradi-tional arts, such as wayang kulit, and such efforts are sometimes attempted in Indonesia. The posi-tion of women in public performance has come under scrutiny in both countries, though at the same time a number of traditions that used only to be available to men are now also available to women. While both countries have a sizable Chinese minority, that in Malaysia has had a larger impact in the recording industry. In Singapore, Chinese influ-ence is much more pronounced and Chinese artists are more promi-

nent. During the 78 rpm era, Singapore was a major center of recording activity, with performers traveling from different parts of Malaya and the Malay archipelago to record, while in Indonesia, recordings were made in various Javanese cities. Most of the recordings available in this

collection are either relics of history or are antecedents of the traditions we can still hear today.

The Malaysian and particu-larly the Indonesian governments have frequently tried to preserve traditional performing arts, such as gamelan and wayang kulit, and teacher-training programs have sometimes been established to transmit the arts. It is not only religious leaders that challenge traditional arts, but also a new generation of media-savvy and globally oriented youth who tend to be drawn to globally circulat-

ing styles (e.g., reggae, metal) and new hybrid popular styles such as campursari (Javanese gamelan with Western instruments) and the In-donesian megaphenomenon, dangdut (combining Indian film music, Western instruments and rock, Malay orchestra elements, and Arab ele-ments). Films and media, including MTV outlets, have been supporting most of the popular styles. DH

Singapore harbor, ca. 1920s (following pages)

MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE & INDONESIA

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PART IIITHE RECORDS

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DISC AVIETNAM LAOS CAMBODIA

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A1 V I E T N A MTn Tn Gi in ca. 1946Sun Bin Feigns MadnessPerformed by t Tr n, voiceHu, guitarThy (or Thy), violinAsia 1658-1

Asia was the first label run by a Vietnamese ownerNg Vn Mnh, a.k.a.

Thy Nm Mnh (ca. 19081957). He originally worked in his fathers bicycle

and rickshaw repair business. In 1936 he bought some used and slightly

out of date recording and pressing equipment from Path, then set to work

on learning to record. Asia was originally located at ng Danel, Bnh Ty

(Ch Ln), then later moved to 324 Bn Hm T (the current location of the

X Nghip Bng T Si Gn Video Audio). Specializing in ci lng, the label

primarily released records from 1936 or 1937 through the early 1950s. In the

early days, their recordings were apparently not as state-of-the-art in sound

quality as the foreign labels. Ng Vn Mnh is reputed to have gotten along

very well with the artists. Asia had a near monopoly on Vietnamese record-

ings during the war and its immediate aftermath. JG

The first decade of the 20th century saw the birth of a new style of popular musical theatre in southern Vietnam that came to be known as ci lng (meaning reformed theatre). Its popularity grew to such an extent that by the 1940s ci lng was the main genre of Viet-namese music being recorded in the 78 rpm format. These ci lng

recordings most often consist of a type of aria called vng c (meaning longing for the past), a type of musical form that allows for much im-provisation. Vng c is the single most important musical work in 20th century Vietnam.It evolved from a piece entitled D C Hoi Lang (Hearing the Night Drum I Think of My Husband) written by Cao Vn Lu (Su Lu) in the late 1910s (see track A3).D C Hoi Lang is relatively simple and brief, employing 20 musical phrases that are each two measures in length (articulated by the song lang, a castanet played with the foot). Over the years, the phrases gradually doubled, the expansion providing greater distance between structural points in the melody and allowed for more melodic elaboration.

t Tr n (19192001) is one of the greats of recorded ci lng and is often called the King of vng c (vua vng c).His actual name is Nguyn Thnh t t meaning "the last born child." He was the youngest of 10 children in his family. He added the appellation Tr n, the name of the district in Cn Th province where he was born.He sang this version of Tn Tn Gi in (Sun Bin Feigns Madness) early in his career and it was this work that cemented his reputation as a performer and established Asia as a prestigious label. Asia came into existence as an indigenous label when the multinationals began to leave the Vietnamese market at the outset of World War II.This record set is supposed to have sold like hotcakes in 1947.

t Tr ns singing was especially admired for his technique and breath control, as well as the sweet sound of his voice.This work is a tour de force for t Tr n where in this state of madness he sings the melody, brings in folk songs, and recites verse.Tn Tn Gi in is

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here presented in a 16 beat form (16 nhp), where the structural beats are spread allowing more melodic elaboration and variation.The first and sixteenth beats are marked by a tapping of a song lang.

Tn Tn was a general of the Qi state that was allied with the Zhou state and is believed to have died in the year 316 BCE. He feigned madness to avoid betraying his knowledge of military strategy and to escape from the Wei. He was the author of Sun Bins Art of War, which is sometimes conflated with Sun Tzus Art of War.

The ensemble is made up of guitar and violin.Both of these Western instruments are played in an distinctly Vietnamese man-ner. According to H Trng An, the violin was introduced to the ci lng ensemble by Mi Cn in the late 1930s. In this music, the guitar is known as a ghi-ta phm lm and is an acoustic Spanish guitar with the space between frets dug out (or concave: lm) that allows the player to add microchromatic embellishments to fit a compositions mode.This manner of modifying the guitar to play the ornaments of Vietnamese traditional music is said to have been invented in the 1920s by a music master named Su Tin from Rch Gia, a city located on the Gulf of Siam near the Cambodian border. JG

A2 C A M B O D I APhleng Boran 1930Old SongPerformed by Sak Som Peo EnsembleColumbia GF684, WLI-310

Little information has surfaced about this obscure series. Columbia recorded

the GF series in what was then Indochina, and pressed the records in France for

sale in both regions. The series included Vietnamese and Cambodian record-

ings. Unfortunately, the series does not seem to include any Lao recordings.

The traditional music of the Cambodian villages is strikingly differ-ent from the classical court tradition. Whether for weddings, spirit ceremonies, repartee entertainment, or narrative singing, it empha-sizes the use of stringed instruments, including one with a distinct timbre, the khse diev, a chest-resonated monochord, unfortunately not heard in this collection and likely not recorded during the 78 rpm era. Both classical and village traditions suffered grievous losses during the Khmer Rouge period but both have rebuilt. Interestingly, much village music is now played by those known as land-mine musicians. The long period of warfare involving different factions within Cambodia, the Vietnamese, Thai, and Americans resulted in Cambodia being thoroughly sewn with land mines, which continue to kill and maim people to this day. Some of these victims now play village music at the various temples at Angkor to attract donations from tourists.

This recording features a village string ensemble. The instruments include vertical bamboo flute (khloy), three-stringed fiddle (tro khmer), a two-stringed fiddle (tro ek or tro u), small cymbals (ching), and singer. The piece is simply titled Phleng Boran, meaning Old Song, and is likely from the phleng kar category, songs sung at weddings. TM

A3 V I E T N A MX Ti Bng Qu Phi, Th Nh 1924Sentencing Precious Consort Pang, Part 2Performed by Vn H Ban with the Vn H Ban TroupeVictor 43419-A

The American record company Victor was based in Camden, New Jersey, and

was not a big player in the Southeast Asian record market. Although they had

an affiliated headquarters in Shanghai that made many recordings of Chinese

opera and popular music, and could have easily mounted recording trips to

Southeast Asia, Victors first foray into the region was lead by two American

recordists, William Linderman and Fred Elsasser. The team left the Port of San

Francisco on June 24, 1924, bound for Shanghai, Teintsen, Peking, Hong Kong,

Canton, and French Indochina. Although there is little information about their

recording trip, some recently discovered archival evidence shows that they

made this record, and others, in Saigon in December of 1924. The following

month they made recordings of Cambodian music (likely in Vietnam) before

eventually arriving in Tonkin, in Northern Vietnam, in February. They returned

to San Francisco on June 10th, 1925, almost a year after their departure from

the same port. Oddly, the recordings they made were released in Victors well-

known series of Chinese opera recordings, yet turn up very rarely.

This disc excerpts the same play about Precious Consort Pang as track A12. However this recording is of ci lng instead of ht b theatre. It also is an early recording of the aria known as vng c.The melody is D C Hoi Lang (Hearing the Night Drum I Think of My Hus-

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band) written by Cao Vn Lu (Su Lu) in the late 1910s. Cao Vn Lu was born in 1892 in Long An province but grew up and lived in Bc Liu province.He loved ti t (talented amateur) music from his youth and later became a musician in a local ci lng troupe.

The original lyrics of D C Hoi Lang are based on a poem by Nguyt Chiu with a theme similar to the famed Vietnamese novel in verse Chinh Ph Ngm Khc (Lament of a Soldiers Wife). It is thought that Cao Vn Lus words also reflect the separation from his wife that his parents mandated when she proved unable to bear children.

This melody, separated from the lyrics, became the basis for the aria Vng C Hoi Lang (Remembering Things Past Thinking of My Husband) that is sung on this record side.This is probably one of the earliest recordings of any form of vng c.The lyrics from Precious Consort Pang follow the form and melody of D C Hoi Lang.

According to the discs label, the performers are a quartet Anna-mite.Annam (meaning pacified South) was a generic name that the French gave to the three regions of Vietnam that they controlled.How-ever, a 1926 Victor Catalog lists the performers as belonging to the Vn H Ban Troupe.The Vn H Ban Troupe, based in Ch Ln, was managed by Hunh Kim Vui.They presented some of the best staged performances of the early 1920s.

The recording opens with recited dialog, with the melody starting at the 0:55 second mark.The vng c melody concludes at 2:35 and is followed by more recited dialog.The work consists of 20 measures that accelerate slightly.Although it is sometimes difficult to hear, the song lang foot castanet punctuates the end of many of the measures. JG

Dan tranh player

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A4 V I E T N A M T Cnh C u Thua Bc 1927Describing the Scene of a Songstress Losing at GamblingPerformed by o Nh (actress Nh)Victor 40027-A-1

It seems that Victor made only two recording tours of Indochina, the first in

1924/25 (see track A3), and the second made 2 years later. While we know that

the first expedition was led by two recordists from America, the second record-

ing team remains anonymous. Victor kept what they called history cards

for all of their issued discs. These handwritten index cards included detailed

information taken by the engineer at the time of the recording session. While the

cards for the second expedition do not include the names of the recordists, the

dates of each recording allow us to reconstruct the itinerary. They reveal that

114 sides were recorded, using recently developed electrical recording equip-

ment, in the fall of 1927 and released in 1928 and 1929 in a series numbered

40000-40113. Based on the performers names, song titles, and recording dates,

it appears that the team began recording in Hanoi, in northern Vietnam, on

September 8, 1927. From there they traveled south to Hue, in Vietnams central

region, and began recording on October 3. The final recording sessions took

place in Saigon from October 29 to November 11.

The troupe in this recording was based at the Rp Ci lng H vin H Ni. This theatre still stands at the intersection of Hng Bc (Silver Street) and Ph T Hin and is today called the Rp Chung Vng (The Golden Bell Theatre). Its an example of a form called cho ci lng

that was created by Nguyn nh Nghi in the 1910s or 1920s. o Nh was the star actress of his troupe.

Ci lng in Vietnamese means "renovate" or "reform," so cho ci lng refers to renovated cho.Confusion arises because the predomi-nant musical theatre genre of the south became known as ci lng (or renovated theater), and it is this meaning of the word that is most common today. Cho is a