Community
Kola people
ជនជាតិកូឡា
The Kola people (ជនជាតិកូឡា) are a people of Burmese origin who lived for generations in Pailin (ប៉ៃលិន) in western Cambodia. They made their living mainly by mining gems.[1] The Phnom Penh Post described them as a Burmese group that once dominated Cambodia's gem trade.[2] The ethnomusicologist Patrick Kersalé calls them the first keepers of the Pailin peacock dance.[3]
History
The Pailin provincial administration's account says that in 1846 a group of Kola and Surin Khmer (ខ្មែរសុរិន្ទ) hunters from Chanthaburi (ច័ន្ទបូរី) in Siam found gemstones in a forest stream where otters played. When word spread, about 25 families of Kola, Lao and Surin Khmer settled there to hunt and gather gems.[4] The Phnom Penh Post tells it differently: Khmer hunters found the stones, and Kola traders from Chanthaburi bought them before Kola settlers moved in. The Kola changed the name of the place to "Pe Lin", the Post wrote, and the French later wrote it "Phai Lin". The Kingdom of Siam began taxing the gem miners in 1881.[5]
Pyonne Maung Maung, chairman of the Burmese company SeaNet Technologies, paid to restore the Aung Sula Mani stupa on Phnom Yat (ភ្នំយ៉ាត) in Pailin.[6] He told the Phnom Penh Post that it was put up in 1890 for the hundreds of Burmese prospectors who had come to Pailin, then under Siamese rule, after gems were found there. He said that the Kola grew wealthy in the gem trade and, after the French took over, sent their sons to study in France. He also said that the name Kola means nothing in Burmese or in Khmer, and that no one knows which Burmese people they came from.[2] The Post called the stupa the only surviving trace of Pailin's Burmese community.[2]
Music
Hang Samhoeun (ហង់ សំហឿន) worked in Pailin district for the Battambang (បាត់ដំបង) provincial administration from 1960 to 1963. By his account, the Kola there played their own music, called o-si (អូស៊ី), the Burmese name of its drum. The band had a drum about 1 meter (3 feet) long, a small wind instrument called nae (នែ) like the Khmer sralai (ស្រឡៃ), two bronze cymbals, a bronze gong and a singer who sang in Burmese. It played for the peacock dance, at the end of the Buddhist rains retreat and at ordinations.[1]
A second Kola band, kong mong seung (កងម៉ងសឹង), had one long drum and six or seven gongs, though older bands used twenty. It played at festivals while men and women danced in pairs and the others clapped in time. The Kola also played string music on Khmer instruments, but only old Khmer tunes, never modern songs. They followed Burmese styles and bought their instruments in Burma.[1]
Peacock dance
Kersalé writes that the Kola were the first keepers of the Pailin peacock dance (របាំក្ងោកប៉ៃលិន). He cites a 1960s document of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts: the first version had a single peacock and was danced only at the Cambodian New Year. Chheng Phon and Pol Som Oeurn choreographed the dance in 1965, and later choreographers set it for two peacocks. It was performed until 1975 and taken up again in 1979, and it is taught in the Department of Choreography of the Royal University of Fine Arts.[3] Before the war and the Khmer Rouge years, villagers in Pailin danced it at the New Year and at other festivals, and it was said to bring them joy and good fortune.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 AMS Khmer Civilization, The music of the Kola people in Rottanak Mondol, Pailin province (edited March 23, 2022; in Khmer)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Phnom Penh Post, Ancient Burmese stupa restored to original glory (November 7, 2011)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Patrick Kersalé, Sounds of Angkor, Folk dances (undated)
- ↑ Sabay News, The origin of the name of Pailin, the gem province (August 20, 2021; in Khmer), from the provincial administration's records
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Resurgent Pailin has another story to tell (undated)
- ↑ Thmey Thmey, A statue of Yeay Yat, an ancient stupa and gems form the emblem of Pailin province (March 7, 2020; in Khmer)