Funereal "Victory Drum Music"

One of the most evocative forms of Khmer funeral music is known as "victory drum music," or ភ្លេងស្គរជ័យ. It is equally know in Cambodian by its Thai name, กลองแขก, meaning "Indian (or Malay) drum."

Here is an old public domain recording of "victory drum music" as would be played in a funeral. The oboe (ស្រឡៃ) player must use circular breathing in order to produce the unbroken long phrases characteristic of Khmer music.

The poor quality of the audio actually takes on a mysterious, even spooky, effect here, as one could easily imagine this song being broadcast on inexpensive loudspeakers at a funeral in Cambodia. Indeed, given the rarity of live performances of this genre of music, it is more common to here such recordings as this being played at a funeral than hearing a version by live musicians.

This recording comes from an old cassette of Dharma songs, likely a copy of an earlier vinyl recording from the 1960's. This funeral music is literally sandwiched in between two Dharma songs on the cassette, showing how closely woven together "victory drum music" and Dharma songs are at some Cambodian funerals.