Traditional Cambodian musical instruments are the musical instruments used in the traditional and classical music of Cambodia. They comprise a wide range of wind, string, and percussion instruments, used by both the Khmer majority as well as the nation's ethnic minorities.
Soldiers carry drums and a shoulder-mounted nipple gong in relief at Angkor Wat.
Kse diev at Angkor Wat, North Section, 16th Century.
Khmer gong chimes from Angkor Wat.
Cambodian musical instruments in the mid 19th century
A Cambodian musical instrument called a Sneng ស្នែង, made from a cow's horn, sits in front of a water buffalo horn. The reed where the instrument is played is visible on the side of the horn.
Ploy (Khmer: ព្លយខ្មែរ) (also called m'baut) - mouth organ with gourd body and five to seven bamboo pipes; used by Mon-Khmer-speaking upland ethnic minorities
Ken/Khaen (Khmer: គែន) - free-reed mouth organ used in northwestern Cambodia
Tro Khmer (ទ្រ ខ្មែរ) - three-string vertical spike fiddle with coconut shell body; used in classical music
Tro che (ទ្រឆេ) - high-pitched two-string vertical fiddle, with face covered with snakeskin
Tro sau toch (ទ្រសោធំ តូច) - two-string vertical fiddle with hardwood body; used in classical music
Tro sau thom (ទ្រសោធំ) - two-string vertical fiddle with hardwood body; used in classical music
Tro u (also spelled tro ou) (ទ្រអ៊ូ) - lower two-string vertical fiddle with a coconut shell body, with face covered with calfskin or snakeskin; used in classical musicphoto
King's dancers accompanied by musicians before 1900
Traditional Cambodian musical instruments play a significant role in the Cambodian culture.[3] These instruments are typically used during royal events, weddings, and festivals. For weddings and royal events, the musicians playing the instruments would wear traditional Cambodian attire. Just like the Chinese, with regard to playing context, there is no conductor in traditional Cambodian music because musicians generally learned and memorized how to play the instruments aurally. These instruments provide a sense of identity for the Cambodian people.
^Ung, Chinary (1979). Cambodia Traditional Music(PDF) (Media notes). Tribe Music, Folk Music, and Popular Dances, Ethnic Folkways Records FE 4082. New York: Ethnic Folkways Records. p. 2. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
^May M. Ebihara, Carol Anne Mortland, Judy Ledgerwood. "Cambodian Culture Since 1975: Homeland and Exile". Cornell University Press, 1994
Soldiers carry drums and a shoulder-mounted nipple gong in relief at Angkor Wat.
Kse diev at Angkor Wat, North Section, 16th Century.
Khmer gong chimes from Angkor Wat.
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