ចាប៉ី

Chapei (also chapei dang veng, meaning long-necked chapei) is a Khmer stringed instrument — a long-necked lute with two or four strings, a carved wooden body, and a neck that can extend over a meter. The instrument is typically played by a solo musician who simultaneously sings, improvising lyrics on themes requested by the audience. The chapei tradition is oral, improvisational, and encyclopedic — a skilled chapei player can sing for hours on subjects ranging from Buddhist parables to local gossip.

The chapei has roots in pre-Angkorian Khmer culture, though the instrument may also show Indian influence. Stone carvings at Angkor-era temples depict stringed instruments that resemble the chapei. The tradition was maintained in rural Cambodia for centuries by traveling musicians, many of them blind — the instrument was associated with blindness because it offered a livelihood to people who could not work in rice fields.

The Khmer Rouge (1975–1979) systematically killed musicians, artists, and intellectuals. Of the approximately 300 chapei masters alive in 1975, fewer than ten survived the genocide. Kong Nay, born blind in 1944, was one of them. He survived because the Khmer Rouge assigned him to manual labor rather than executing him immediately. After liberation, he became the primary bearer of the chapei tradition, teaching students and performing internationally.

In 2016, UNESCO inscribed the chapei dang veng tradition on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. The word 'urgent' was precise. Kong Nay was over seventy. The students he trained were few. The tradition that survived genocide was now threatened by pop music, smartphones, and the simple fact that improvising songs on a two-stringed lute for hours requires a lifetime of training.