The Flute Player Response

I was very interested when I first heard the title of the documentary because my great uncle was a famous flute player, as well, though he was Vietnamese and his flute was one which was played sideways, known as “The Magic Flute.” I do not know much about his history, and only recently have some websites about his life and work began to emerge on the internet. When my mom and her family immigrated from Vietnam to the US, they were not able to bring many personal mementos—to my knowledge I have never seen a picture of her in Vietnam before, and it is very similar in The Flute Player. Arn says that he hopes their arts, their music, would become the “international signature of Cambodia,” because it is part of an oral tradition that cannot be destroyed as with documents and photographs.

But while it may be difficult to destroy the intangible folklore, such oral traditions are easily forgotten, as seen through the interviews with the young people who say most of their friends don’t see it as being “cool” so they don’t learn. I find it almost ironic that it was the Khmer Rouge who protected musicians, not for benevolent reasons, of course, but in trying to promote propaganda, they preserved the traditional instruments that would have otherwise been destroyed along with other artists and works.