柬埔寨藝術節將空襲紐約, 柬埔寨人民心中難忘的美國傷疤

ON HIS lightning tour of South-East Asia last year, Barack Obama made a point of criticising Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, for his dismal human-rights record. Cambodians have indeed done horrifying things to each other (see the obituary). But what of America’s own legacy in the country? Cambodians have not forgotten the sustained American bombing campaign between 1970 and 1973, which drove so many people into the arms of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge army.

在去年的東南亞一行中，巴拉克•奧巴馬因指責了柬埔寨首相洪森在人權上的可怕記錄。的確，柬埔寨人對同胞做了一些令人髮指的事（見訃告）。但美國又留下了些什麼呢？柬埔寨人不能忘記美國在1970至1973年間持續的狂轟亂炸，致使很多人加入波爾波特的大軍及其紅色高棉軍。

“Parachute Skirt with Flowers”, an art installation made of military detritus collected over three decades, offers a disturbing reminder of that era. At its heart is a United States Air Force parachute that landed in Prey Veng village, the home of Leang Seckon, a Cambodian artist. It was known locally as chhat, Cambodian for umbrella, and Mr Leang remembers how it was used to cover leaky houses during the rains.

“帶花的降落傘裙”是一種由收集了三十多年的軍用碎石製成的藝術裝置，總讓人不安地想起那個年代。在其中心是降落在波蘿勉村的美國空軍降落傘，這個村子是一位柬埔寨藝術家Leang Seckon 的家鄉。當地稱之爲chhat ，柬埔寨語是傘的意思，樑先生記得在雨天的時候漏雨的人家用傘來遮擋房屋。

Mr Leang’s artwork arrives at the Bronx Museum this month as part of “Season of Cambodia”, a $2.6m arts festival involving more than 125 artists of different disciplines, performing or exhibiting in 30 New York institutions, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Asia Society. The catalyst behind the festival is Arn Chorn-Pond, a human-rights activist and outspoken critic of America’s foreign policy during that period. Orphaned as a boy, Mr Pond became a child soldier with the Khmer Rouge. After the war he was rescued from a Thai refugee camp by an American pastor, who adopted him. At Brown University Mr Pond met Amy Carter. It was partly through her father, former President Jimmy Carter, that he began working with Amnesty International.

樑先生的藝術品在這個月到達布朗克斯博物館，作爲“柬埔寨季節”的展覽作品。這個耗資2600萬美元的藝術節容納超過125位來自不同流派的藝術家，這些作品將在紐約30個機構中被展出，從大都會藝術博物館到亞洲協會等。這次藝術節的背後始作俑者是阿恩•喬恩-龐德，一位人權活動家，也是那段時期對美國外交政策的公開批評家。孩童時代就成了孤兒的他成爲了紅色高棉軍的娃娃兵。戰後，他在泰國難民營被一位美國牧師解救，隨後被牧師領養。在布朗大學，龐德先生遇見了艾米•卡特。他的父親，前總統吉米•卡特，對他產生的影響讓他開始在國際特赦組織工作。

During the Pol Pot years Mr Chorn-Pond was stationed in the north-western city of Battambang where he witnessed horrific violence every day. He was saved by his skill in entertaining Khmer soldiers on the khim, a dulcimer-like instrument used to play propaganda songs. Mr Chorn-Pond’s search for his khim teacher, Yoeun Mek, and their eventual reunion led to the creation of what is now known as Cambodia Living Arts (CLA). This Phnom Penh-based organisation tracked down 20 other master musicians, many of them destitute. It gave them housing, food and a small allowance to encourage them to pass on their musical techniques and traditions to future generations. CLA initiated the New York festival.

在波爾布特的那些年裏，喬恩•龐德駐紮在馬德望西北部的一個城市，他在那目睹了每天爆發的恐怖暴力事件。他依靠“金”，一種用來彈奏宣傳歌聲的洋琴，爲高棉軍表演而逃過一劫。喬恩•龐德找到了他的“金”老師，Yoeun Mek ，他們兩的重聚創造了現今爲人所知的柬埔寨生活藝術（CLA）。以金邊爲基地的這個組織拉攏了20位音樂大師，他們當中很多都窮困潦倒。該組織給予他們住所，食物以及一點點津貼，鼓勵他們將自己的音樂技術和習俗傳遞給下一代。CLA開創了紐約藝術節。

Cambodia has a long tradition of classical music, dance and film. King Norodom Sihanouk, who ruled the country until 1970, used to appoint artists to Cambodia’s diplomatic missions. Sihamoni, his youngest son and the current king, trained as a ballet dancer in Paris and Prague. Norodom’s eldest daughter, Buppha Devi, specialised in a classical dance style known as robam boran, and performed for General de Gaulle and Marshall Tito.

柬埔寨在古典音樂、舞蹈和電影上有着悠久的傳統。統治柬埔寨直到1970年的諾羅頓•西哈努克曾任命藝術家們爲柬埔寨的外交使團，他最年幼的兒子即現任國王西哈莫尼，曾在巴黎和布拉格接受過芭蕾舞的訓練。諾羅頓最年長的女兒，布法•提毗則專門從事一種現被稱爲robam boran的古典舞蹈，她還爲法國戴高樂將軍和馬歇爾•提託表演過。

All that changed with the arrival of Pol Pot in 1975. He regarded artists as superfluous. One of his favourite sayings was, tuk min chamnen, dak chenh ka, min kat—“to keep you is no gain, to kill you no loss”. Thousands died before Pol Pot fled in 1979 and the terror ended. It took another decade for cultural life to recover.

這些都在1975年波爾布特到來的時候發生了改變。波爾布特認爲藝術家們是多餘的。他的一句至理名言是“tuk min chamnen,dak chenh ka,min kat—“多你一個不多，差你一個也不少”。1979年波爾布特逃亡恐慌終結前，有數千名藝術家身亡。又過了十年，文化生活才得以復甦。

Identifying survivors was just the first challenge. Robam boran dancers start training when they are six years old, and have to learn thousands of different positions to achieve the required balance of technical perfection and spiritual poise. One of the festival’s highlights—to be shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music—is “The Legend of Apsara Mera”, which includes a dance that Princess Buppha Devi made famous. Among the performers are two young stars of the genre, Chap Chamroeun Mina and Chey Sophea.

第一項挑戰就是確認倖存者。Robam boran 舞蹈家在6歲的時候就開始接受訓練，並且得學習數千種不同的姿勢以達到技術上的完美和心靈上的鎮靜所需的平衡。這次藝術節的一個亮點—將在布魯克林音樂學院上演—是“仙女梅拉的傳奇”，當中包括因布法•提毗而成名的一種舞蹈。在表演者中有兩位風俗畫的新星，章•姜•米娜和謝伊•索菲亞。

The Joyce Theatre in Chelsea will host the Khmer Arts Ensemble, a privately funded company created by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, who trained with the Royal Ballet. The ensemble gives modern twists to classical dances, folk legends and even Western plays and operas. “A Bend in the River” (pictured), from a popular Cambodian story of village love and revenge, receives its world premiere in New York. This event has brought together for the first time three of Cambodia’s most important artists—Ms Shapiro, a Moscow-trained composer, Him Sophy, and Pich Sopheap, a sculptor who is working for the first time as a stage designer.

切爾西的喬伊斯劇院將接待高棉藝術團，這是一家由與英國皇家芭蕾舞團有來往的索菲麗娜•奇姆•夏皮羅私下創建的團隊。該團隊把現代扭動加入到古典舞蹈、民間傳說甚至是西方戲劇和歌劇中。來自柬埔寨有名的鄉村愛情與復仇故事“大河灣“（如圖）在紐約全球首映。該事件首次集齊了三位柬埔寨最重要的藝術家—在莫斯科受過訓練的作曲家夏皮羅先生、伊姆•索菲以及雕刻家皮奇•梭熙，後者首次擔任舞臺設計師。

Mr Pich already has an international reputation. A child during the final days of the Khmer Rouge, he emigrated to America and enRolled at the Art Institute of Chicago. Mr Pich’s works, with their broken Buddhas and undetonated bombs, have a strong autobiographical feel. He was the first Cambodian artist to be offered a solo show at the quinquennial dOCUMENTA exhibition in Kassel, in Germany. During the festival Mr Pich’s work will be shown at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, the Metropolitan Museum and the World Financial Centre.

皮奇先生早已享有世界聲譽。在紅色高棉軍最後的日子裏，還是孩童的他移民到了美國並進入了芝加哥藝術學院。皮奇先生的作品，破碎的佛像和沒有爆炸的炸彈，帶有一種強烈的自傳色彩。他是首位能在德國每五年一次的卡塞爾文獻展上個人表演的柬埔寨藝術家。在藝術節期間，皮奇先生的作品將在泰勒羅林斯美術館、大都會博物館和環球金融中心展出。

Amrita Performing Arts promotes contemporary dance in Phnom Penh with the help of several Westerners, including Peter Chin of Canada and a German choreographer, Arco Renz. Chey Chankethya’s 15-minute solo, “My Mother and I”, which opens at the Abrons Art Centre on April 18th shows both her classical Cambodian roots and the influence of these choreographers.

仙露表演藝術團與幾位西方藝術家將在金邊共同表演現代舞，這幾位西方藝術家包括加拿大的彼得•陳及德國編舞者阿科•倫茲。謝伊15分鐘的個人表演“我和我的母親”4月18號將在Abrons藝術中心上演，同時展現了她的古典柬埔寨根源和這些編舞者們的影響。

Only two shadow-puppet companies survived the war. Wat Bo, a Siem Reap-based troupe, will perform scenes from the “Ramayana” at the World Financial Centre’s Winter Garden. An unlikely setting perhaps, but the organisers are confident that the atrium with its giant palms is as close to the puppeteers’ natural environment as can be found in New York.

只有兩個皮影戲公司從戰爭中存活下來。在暹粒市創建的劇團笏博公司將在環球金融中心的冬季花園表演“羅摩傳”的場景。也許是一個不太可能的環境，但組織方相信長有巨大棕櫚樹的中庭是在紐約能夠找到的最貼近皮影戲表演自然環境的地方。

Cambodia had a vibrant film industry during the 1960s and Asia’s first international film festival was held in Phnom Penh in 1968. Its best-known director, Panh Rithy, has put together a programme of ten full-length feature films (including three of his own) to be shown in New York, along with four shorts.

在20世紀60年代，柬埔寨擁有着充滿朝氣的電影工業，1968年亞洲第一屆國際電影節就在金邊舉行。柬埔寨最有名的一位導演是潘•瑞希，他的一個將在美國上映的節目是由十部未刪減的劇情片（包括他自己的三個）和四個短片。

The link between creativity and memory is raised repeatedly by Mr Panh, who lost almost his entire family during the Khmer Rouge era. How to revive a culture after a holocaust is a question that he would like to see more widely discussed. The festival will introduce new audiences to Cambodian culture, and remind Americans of their government’s checkered role in Cambodia’s history.

潘先生反覆突出創造性和記憶的連接，他在紅色高棉軍時代幾乎失去了所有家人。怎樣復原一次大屠殺之後的文化是他想要看到被廣泛研究的一個問題。這次藝術節會給柬埔寨文化帶來很多新的觀衆，也能提醒美國政府曾在柬埔寨歷史中扮演的多變角色。