A performance of five-tone (Ngu am) musical ensemble or Pinn Peat orchestra of the Khmer people, the largest of its kind Vietnam, was held in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang on November 11.
The performance, part of activities within the framework of the 6th Ooc Om Boc - Ngo boat racing festival and the first Soc Trang Culture, Sports and Tourism Week, featured 20 five-tone musical essembles with the participation of 200 artists and musicians.
This large-scale performance aimed to secure a Vietnamese record and to promote the Khmer community's rich cultural heritage by bringing this traditional folk art to a wider audience.
The five-tone musical ensemble or Pinn Peat orchestra, a form of orchestral music for religious rituals, is closely associated with Theravada Buddhism in pagodas and hamlets of Khmer people in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang.
The five-tone music is a popular and long-standing traditional musical genre of the Khmer in the Southern region in general and in Soc Trang in particular.
This genre of music is influenced by the royal court and religion of India as well as some countries in Southeast Asia such as Cambodia and Thailand but still reflects the unique characteristics of the Khmer group in general and those in Soc Trang in particular.
The 5-tone musical ensemble is an orchestra composed of five tones of musical instruments made from five different materials, which creates five distinct timbres.
Each Pinn Peat orchestra consists of nine or ten instruments, mainly wind, string, and percussions including several varieties of xylophones, drums, cymbals, gongs, and fiddles namely Srolai Pinn Peat, Roneat Ek, Roneat Thung, Roneat Dek, Kuong Vong Toch, Kuong Vong Thum, and Chhung, Sampho, and Sko Thum./.
