Arts & Entertainment
Rediscovering Lost Arts, Music Of Cambodia
The Clearwater Community Volunteers Center partnered with local nonprofit to host a night of Cambodian history.
CLEARWATER, FL — On Saturday, April 27, the Clearwater Community Volunteers (CCV) Center along with local nonprofit, the Cambodian Vintage Music Archive (CVMA) hosted a film showing and presentation on the lost music and arts of Cambodia during the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge. A documentary on the events that occurred during this regime and how the arts were abolished from Cambodia was shown.
“In order to understand what my team and I do at CVMA, you have to understand the horror of the reality of the Khmer Rouge,” said Rotanak “ORO” Oudom Oum, Cambodian native and president of CVMA. “ An estimated 1.7 to 2.2 million Cambodians died, with artists and educated, middle-class Cambodians being targeted, tortured and killed by the regime. CVMA works to salvage and restore the lost music of those artists in order to bring it back to Cambodia and the rest of the world.”
The film, "Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten," details the events that followed in the world of Cambodian arts during the onset of the Khmer Rouge. It educates people on the tragic genocide that occurred just less than 50 years ago.
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“It is worth noting that the reason artists were executed by the radical regime was because artists are influential in a society,” said Tracy Hawkins, manager of the Center. “As Humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard once said, ‘A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists.’ With this in mind, I am honored to work with the team at CVMA and host this event for our community.”
About the Clearwater Community Volunteers Center:
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The Clearwater Community Volunteers Center, established by the Church of Scientology in 2018, is a home for the benefit of all Tampa Bay nonprofit organizations. Built on the success of the Clearwater Community Volunteers, who host the signature Winter Wonderland and Easter Egg Hunt in Clearwater, the Center was created to serve the needs of local nonprofits. The Center is fully equipped to host meetings, seminars, events and gatherings, all at no cost to the nonprofit community. Please email CCVcenter@ccvfl.org for more information about the Center and its facilities.
