Kong Nay
| Kong Nay | |
|---|---|
| Khmer name | គង់ ណៃ |
| Also known as | Kong Nai; Master Kong Nay |
| Roles | Master practitioner; Tradition bearer; Musician; Educator |
| Based in | Cambodia |
| Recognition | Gold Grand Cross of the Order of Cambodian Cultural Reputation; winner of national chapei competitions, with sources giving different years for the first prize |
| Subjects | Music & Sound; Literature & Storytelling; History & Remembrance |
Cambodian chapei dang veng master singer and teacher recognised as a national living human treasure.
Kong Nay was a Cambodian master of the chapei dang veng, the long-necked lute tradition in which the player sings improvised verse, and he was blind from early childhood. He worked in the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and taught a generation of chapei players through Cambodian Living Arts between 2003 and 2012. He received the Gold Grand Cross of Cambodia Cultural Reputation in 2007 and the Fukuoka Arts and Culture Prize in 2017, and the Cambodian government named him one of 17 National Living Human Treasures in 2013. He recorded with the rapper VannDa on the 2021 release Time To Rise and died on 28 June 2024. (Kong Nay - Wikipedia; Fukuoka Prize laureate profile, Kong Nay; Radio Free Asia, death of chapei master Kong Nay; The New York Times)
Works
- Chapei Dang Veng(Tradition)
- Time To Rise(Music release)