Adventure brought me to south-east Asia, not academic research. I was based on and off in Banlung, capital of Ratanakiri province between 2003 and 2006, the time when jungle had not been replaced by rubber plantations. Finding gongs orchestras became my obsession, I’ve witnessed different contexts in which gongs were being performed, but the most brainwashing ceremonies were the funerals, cause they’d never end, I remember leaving the 3 days funeral ceremony of a prominent JARAÏ dead man in Tang ji village at the boarder with Vietnam and still hearing the gongs the entire next day going back home through the jungle.

<Many of the ethnic minority groups, the Jarai, Kacŏ, Tampuan, Kavet, Kreung, Brao, Bunong, Mnong, Edé, and others, are hill-rice farmers who live in the uplands of the Annamite mountain chain. Collectively these groups have been known by many names, including a number of disparaging terms in local dialects, such as moï, kha, phnong, and others. The term Montagnard was applied to them by the French during the colonial period, and was used by the US military and in popular discourse in English during the United States–Vietnam War. In scholarly and popular literature dur- ing the mid-twentieth century these upland farmers were also called hill tribes. I have opted for the word highlanders as a relatively neutral term that avoids the semantic burdens associated with these other namings. > J.PADWE from the book Disturbed forests fragmented memories


A SIDE
A1 A2 KRUNG FUNERAL CEREMONY

Brao people live on both sides of the boarder between northern Cambodia and southern Laos. Numbering about 30,000 people in each country, and divided into various sub groups, they speak more or less the same language. Between 2003 and 2006 I lived in the northern Cambodian
province of Ratanakiri, and moved in 2006 to southern Laos to continue recording and documenting BRAO musical culture. I kind of classify the music in 2 categories, the 1st is what I would call entertainment music, songs using different instruments made out of bamboo along with vocals. The second type is related to animist ceremonies (often including buffalo sacrifice) using ensembles of gongs. Gong orchestras can be found on the central plateau of Vietnam, in the southern Laotian provinces of Champassak and Attapeu, and in the northeastern Cambodian provinces of Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri.
In O'chum district lives a KRUNG community. The name "Krung" refers to a certain kind of forest and is a very new ethnic sub-group, dating from the early 70s. Previously they were simply known as Braos, but at the time of Khmer Rouge madness, many Braos migrated to Laos or Vietnam in
order to escape the control of the Khmer Rouge, who had been based in the area since the 60s.
Those who remained called themselves "Krung."
The dry months from December to March are less occupied with agriculture and thus are the best time to hold all kind of celebrations, which includes drinking tavei, the local fermented rice beer. But to be able to witness a funeral ceremony with a complete set of 13 gongs (commonly called CENG GONG), requires the death of someone, and according to the status of the dead person, the ceremony will vary in size and attendance, but usually start on an afternoon, all night, animal sacrifice the next morning and lasts up to 3 days.

A 2 days funeral ceremony is taking place on the village s place, on the coffin, containing a dead old man, are sitting 2 women, relatives of the dead man, they re singing and crying surended by an ensemble of 13 gongs (CING GONG : 5 nipple gongs and 8 flat gongs), the 13 men each playing 1 gong are turning around the coffin all night.

RECORDED DURING THE FIRST NIGHT OF THE CEREMONY in KROLA village, O’CHUM, RATANAKIRI, CAMBODIA DECEMBER 2003

A3 JARAÏ FUNERAL CEREMONY

<In the hill country of northeast Cambodia, just a few kilometers from the Vietnam border, sits the village of Tang Kadon. This community of hill rice farmers of the Jarai ethnic minority group survived aerial bombardment and the American invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, only to find themselves relocated to the “killing fields” of the Khmer Rouge regime. Now back in their homeland, they have reestablished agriculture, seed by seed....> Jonathan Padwe 2006 Yale university ethnologist

The JARAI are a predominant group in the central plateau of Vietnam, 250 000 people and a much smaller community in northeast Cambodia, may be 20 000 people. They belong to the austronesian family, with other ethnic groups of the area, they share a lot musically, especially the specific use of gongs played in animist ceremonies, but also similar bamboo instruments.
The funeral ceremony was particularly impressive, showing the social status of the dead old man, the ceremony lasting 3 days gathering over 300 people, having build up a large wooden totemic structure for the corpse and killing 5 buffaloes while 13 gong players and a drummer were walking, around the coffin, walking a large circle , players and even gongs change in this orchestral performance involving 3 or 5 men hitting with the fist, each a different sized nipple gong and 7 men each playing a different sized flat gong (called ceng or jing) hit with a stick of green wood and a man hitting a drum ( wooden barrel with cow skin) and wearing a mask.

RECORDED DURING THE SECOND DAY OF THE CEREMONY AFTER BUFFALO SACRIFICE in TANG CHI village, ANDONG MIS, RATANAKIRI, CAMBODIA MARCH 2004

B SIDE
B1 KRUNG FUNERAL CEREMONY

The BRAO, the KRUNG (a sub group of the Braos ) and the KAVET ( another sub group of the Braos ) of Ratanakiri province in north-east Cambodia, all share similar rituals involving different techniques of gong playing. Those techniques can also be found in southern Laos and the central plateau of Vietnam. Gong ceremonies take place for special occasions, like a reunion village party, buffalo sacrifice, funerals, weddings, and more. The animist ceremonies lasting 2 or 3 days require a gongs ensemble. In Ratanakiri I ve witnessed only men involved in gong playing, while in Mondolkiri, women also take part.

The Sesan river goes down from Vietnam through the Cambodian province of Ratanakiri to end up in the Mekong above Stung Treng. It is an essential current that provides water to local populations of (from east to west) Tampoons, Braos and Jarais, who live on both sides and
navigate it by canoe. I went on a one week solo trip along the Sesan river, often crossing from one side to the other, where I experienced the hopitality and music of local Brao people.
On my way back from Veunsaï (on the Season river) to BANLUNG, riding a bicycle through the red dust of the earth on a jungle road, I heard the gongs being played , found the village and asked the permission to record.
5 nipple GONGS hit with fists and mallets + 8 JINGS ( flat gongs ) the 13 male gong players walk around the coffin describing a large circle, the various sized gongs are passing by the microphones.

RECORDED DURING THE SECOND DAY OF THE CEREMONY in KALAÏ village, RATANAKIRI, CAMBODIA NOVEMBER 2003

B2 JARAÏ FUNERAL CEREMONY
SAME AS A3
RECORDED DURING THE SECOND DAY OF THE CEREMONY AFTER BUFFALO SACRIFICE in TANG CHI village, ANDONG MIS, RATANAKIRI, CAMBODIA MARCH 2004