The Royal ballet of Cambodia is reminding us, more than any other art form, the past glory of Angkor. The mask theater (lkhaon khaol) is getting stronger.

Music is played at every religious ceremony. An exemple of traditional music ensemble is the "areak ka", which plays during weddings and which is made of a three strings violin, (tro khmae), a curved instrument with a unique string (khsae muoy) and drums (skor areak).

Contemporary sculpture and architecture are strongly influenced by Angkor beauties.

Cinema has nearly disapeared, despite the renewal that Rithy Panh movies - Rice People (1994) - let us hope, in this desertified art sector.

Khmer ancient martial art Bokator is beeing brought back to life by grand master San Kim Sean who came back from the US and opened a school in Phnom Penh a few years ago. After he came back from the US, he went all around the provinces looking for Bokator Masters who had survived the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese Regime. He found a handfull of masters between their 60s and 90s. Most of them where scared and unwilling to teach their art again. He somehow managed to convince some of them and now there are schools in several provinces across the country.

San Kim Sean suggest that the superiority of the Angkor people over their neighbours was largely due to Bokator : “At that time, there were no rockets, no guns, only fighting swords and hands and feet. And the Khmers could win because our soldiers were trained in Bokator.”

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