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TRADITIONAL WEDDING MUSIC
OF THE KHMER

    It is impossible to be without this kind of traditional music at Khmer wedding receptions in the South of Vietnam.

    Though there has been much change in the wedding customs of the Khmer, traditional wedding music has been well preserved by its people. Researchers have collected some ten ceremonious songs and folk songs which used to be sung at wedding receptions.The traditional songs sang at the wedding are expressions of the feelings and characteristics of peoples' lives in Khmer community.
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    Each song is equivalent to the specific rite in the wedding such as when the bridegroom is lead to the bride's house, asks for the breaking of the fence to get into the house, and the beginning of the ceremony. The ceremony incorporates the rituals of the hair cut, the pounding solution for dying teeth, the cutting of betel flowers into pieces in order to scatter them on heads of the young couple, the drawing of a sword out of its cover, the binding of thread around the wrist, the kowtowing of the sun god, the act of entering into the wedding room, the sweeping of the wedding mat, and the greeting of parents and relatives.The reception lasts until the young couple see their wedding guests off.

Traditional Musical Instrument