Sbek thom
Sbek thom , also lkhon sbek thom ( Khmer ល្ខោនស្បែក ធំ , “theater of the great skin characters”), nang sbek ( ណាំងស្បែក , naŋ sbaek ), nang sebek, sebek thom, nang sbek thom, lkhaon sbaik thom, is one of the shadow plays Counted acting genre (Khmer lkhon ) with large figure panels made of parchment , which is cultivated as one of the ancient court arts of the Khmer in Cambodia . Several actors hold one of the rigid image plates with both hands over their heads and move in a dance alternately in front of and behind a white screen, which is illuminated by a fire from the side facing away from the audience, so that either the figures and dancers directly or their shadows are seen. The sbek thom has probably existed since the Khmer Empire of Angkor (9th to early 15th century) and served as a model for the similar drama nang yai in central Thailand . In both countries, a completely different shadow play tradition with small figures is cultivated, which is called sbek touch (also nang trolung ) in Cambodia and nang talung in southern Thailand . Only episodes from the Reamker , the Cambodian version of the Indian epic Ramayana, are staged . In 2008 the sbek thom was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity .
Origin and Distribution
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The usual classification as shadow play falls short of the meaning of the word. Nang means “skin”, “parchment”, “leather” in Thai like sbek in Khmer; the defining addition thom ("large") serves to distinguish it from playing with small figures sbek touch (or nang tauch , "small skin"), which also includes nang trolung (trolung, a Cambodian place where this shadow play is said to have originated) or ayong ("puppet show") is called. Robam (Thai rabam ) stands for "dance". The expression robam nang sbek thom ("dance of the large skin figures") refers to the fact that the dancing actors and their figure plates form a related theatrical form. The nightly performances of the sbek touch are popular with the rural population, but when playing with small characters, it is not stories from the Reamker , but folk legends and current topics that are staged. A third Cambodian shadow play type is the sbek por ( lkhaon sbaik poar ) with colored, medium-sized figures and the reamker as the basis.
The Southeast Asian shadow plays are generally traced back to an Indian origin. The large Cambodian and Thai shadow play figures have some similarities with the medium-sized, immobile figures made of thick, opaque animal skin of the Tholpavakuthu of Kerala and the Ravanacharya of Odisha, as well as with the life-size, translucent and movable figures of the Tholu bommalata of Andhra Pradesh .
In the first centuries AD, Indian settlers presumably brought their culture from southern India to Sumatra , Java , the Malay Peninsula and Funan , which was roughly in the area of present-day Cambodia. It is unclear whether the Indian shadow play traditions via Java, where the wayang kulit purwa is the oldest tradition, spread north along the Malay Peninsula, as EHS Simmonds (1961) suspected, or whether it first came to the Kingdom of Funan. The large figure plates worn by dancers are only known in the courtly culture of the Thai and Khmer empires, they do not occur in Indonesia. The shadow play with small figures, nang talung , popular with Thai Buddhists in southern Thailand , is related to the wayang kulit gedek played by the Thai minority in the Malaysian states of Kelantan and Kedah . The Muslims on the Malay Peninsula up to the south of Thailand cultivate the wayang kulit Siam , the name of which stands for its origin in Siam , while the rare wayang kulit Jawa in Malaysia goes back to the Javanese wayang kulit purwa . Sheppard (1968) recognizes an early cultural contact between the medieval Malay kingdoms Ligor and Pattani with the Khmer empire, because a Malay prince conquered the Khmer empire from the east in 1002 and under the royal name Suryavarman I in the first half of the 11th century. Century from Angkor. According to Sheppard, the shadow play of the Khmer should have spread to Malaysia during his reign. There are some common features between the characters of the sbek touch ( nang trolung ) and Malaysian characters belonging to the Ramayana tales; however, there are no written sources for this spread.
Funan was the first Indianized rulership in Southeast Asia, which emerged in the 1st century AD and from which the Chenla Empire emerged in the 6th century, followed by the Khmer Empire. According to a legendary story, the first King of Funan is said to have been an Indian Brahmin named Kaundynia, who came by ship and married a local queen. The Khmer have been Hindu since their entry into history , later Buddhism became the state religion. Presumably they introduced the shadow play at the same time as the forms of religious worship from India. To this end, they developed their own style of sacred architecture based on Indian temple architecture. Although dance scenes and musical instruments are depicted several times at medieval Khmer temples, there are no images of the shadow play. This does not speak against the old age of the sbek thom , because it is quite possible that images were not shown for fear of the magical effect of the shadow . The Ramayana must have been known in Cambodia as early as the pre-Angkor period, for which a sculpture of the mythical hero Preah Ream ( Rama ) from the 6th / 7th centuries found in Angkor Borei . Century speaks. Several reliefs on temples in the Angkor area depict scenes from the Ramayana ; A 50 meter long relief on the third gallery of Angkor Wat (beginning of the 12th century), which shows the mythical battle between Rama and his adversary Ravana for Lanka, should be emphasized. The fighting monkeys and demons are held in full motion. The new versions of the Reamker , created in the 16th and 17th centuries, demonstrate the importance of the Ramayana material throughout Cambodian cultural history . An essential difference between the Reamker and the Thai version of Ramakian compared to the Indian epic is the figure of Rama, who does not appear as the incarnation of the god Vishnu, but as a hero with human characteristics and goals.
The Thai shadow play with large figures, nang yai , first appeared in a written source in the mid-15th century. When the Ayutthaya kingdom conquered the powerless Khmer empire at the beginning of the 15th century , there was a close cultural exchange between the two peoples, which is still recognizable today in the fields of music, dance and theater. The courtly Thai orchestra pi phat developed from the Cambodian pin peat , which dates back to the pre-Angkor period , and the Thai mahori largely corresponds to the Cambodian ensemble type mohori , which spread during the Ayutthaya period.
Regardless of the alleged centers of distribution in Java and Cambodia for the Southeast Asian shadow plays with small figures whose shadows can only be seen through a screen, the question of the origin of the large figure plates carried across the stage by actors remains. Ancient Indian forms of theater belong to the field of religious rituals. The ancient Indian Sanskrit literature shows that one of the roots of acting must have been pantomime dance. The grammarian Patanjali evidently mentions people who recited epic narratives and at the same time showed corresponding pictures. Tales of picture presentations are handed down to this day in some places in the Indian folk tradition, on Java there is a corresponding tradition with the wayang beber, which has become very rare . In addition, Patanjali names another group of storytellers who probably showed a puppet show or a shadow play to accompany their mythical stories. Such a narrator is characteristic of the Asian shadow play to this day. Some terms in the Mahabharata , which existed between the 4th century BC. Chr. And the 4th century AD its familiar form suggest the existence of a shadow play. ML Varadpande also interprets from the Mahabharata a development in ancient India from masked human actors in magical rituals to people who, instead of wearing a mask, held a doll with one hand in front of their face. The large skin figures of the nang yai and the sbek thom show a functional relationship with the ancient Indian masks or dolls held in their hands.
The sbek thom and the royal ballet ( robam kbach boran ) represent the courtly Cambodian theater tradition; they were part of the ceremonies and entertainment in the royal palace with the classical pin peat orchestra and on some occasions the mohori orchestra . Performances of sbek thom and nang yai therefore previously took place in the royal cities of Angkor , Bangkok , Phnom Penh , Battambang and Udong . Before the reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1978, there were performances of sbek thom in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and a few other places . After the total destruction of all cultural life during this period, the tradition has slowly been revived since 1979. Sbek thom is part of the teaching program at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh. Around 2000 it was performed by a troupe at the university and another troupe gave performances in Battambang. According to 2014 figures, several troops are active in Phnom Penh and the Siem Reap area.
Performance practice
Traditional performances always take place outdoors, in the courtyard of a Buddhist monastery or on a rice field. The Cambodian viewers, for whom nang sbek used to be part of everyday culture, know the details of the same storyline and instead focus their attention on the beauty of the characters and the elegance of the dance movements. Performances for tourists and rehearsals at the university are also shown on theatrical stages. Previous performances of the entire Reamker material lasted several weeks, in the 1940s the content was presented on 16 consecutive nights, in the 1960s a selection of the main episodes took seven nights between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. Today certain scenes are selected for a few nights depending on the duration of the festive event. By the middle of the 20th century, the performances, led by well-known storytellers, drew hundreds or thousands of spectators.
The white cotton screen is six to ten meters long and three to five meters high. At the lower edge it is separated from the ground by a black strip of fabric about a meter wide. Between the two wooden posts to which the canvas is attached, a cross bar runs one meter high, on which the figures are leaned when they are not in use. In the middle, some distance away, a 1.5 meter high platform is being erected on four wooden posts, which is covered with a layer of earth. Wood or other material is burned down on it, so that a bright blazing fire is created that illuminates the canvas from the back. As with the nang yai, the entire area behind the screen is closed by a mesh in a semicircle. This partition wall protects the fire from the wind and the troops are given a closed lounge in which the figures are placed on the crossbars of the wall according to a precise system of order.
Like the Cambodian mask dance lkhon khol (" khol theater", khon in Thailand), Sbek thom has a religious meaning and is subject to certain rules, including that only male actors are allowed to perform on stage. Men also embody the female roles. Women have a lower position in Buddhism and are excluded from performing some rituals. Only content from the Reamker is staged, which is considered the most important Indian story in Cambodia and was taken from the Hindu canon in the later Buddhist canon. Before the main game begins, divine assistance is requested in an invocation ceremony. Sbek thom is a traditional part of official rituals such as the funeral of the king, members of the royal family and important monks, it is part of the royal coronation and other courtly events, ceremonies in Buddhist wats , state and village annual festivals.
Figure plates
The figure plates of the sbek thom are up to 1.8 meters high and 1.5 meters wide and weigh a maximum of 8 kilograms. They are mostly made of cowhide , have no moving parts and represent a scene consisting of one to three characters. A set of figures comprises around 150 panels. These panels are used for the nightly shadow play. There is also a performance comparable to the Thai nang rabam , which takes place during the day without a fire. The figure plates used for this, sbek thom mothium , are smaller and are not painted in color, but colored.
To make the plates, fresh cowhide is soaked in salt water or lime water for several days. If the skin has to be stored for a long time before processing, it can be placed in an ash bed to protect it from rotting. Ash residues must be removed before further processing. In order to color the skin reddish, yellow or dark brown, juice pressed from a tree bark is added to the water. The bark of another tree is supposed to protect the skin from insect attack. The skin is then stretched out, dried in the sun, freed from the hair and scraped to an even thickness.
The outlines of the composition, which consists of one or more figures and an ornamental background, are drawn with white paint on the skin prepared in this way. The background is adapted to the plot and the character types. In combat scenes, a background with flames increases the dramatic effect; in the case of walking or flying figures, tendril leaves fill the scene. When all the details of the characters' clothing and their surroundings have been recorded, the outlines and openings are cut out. Each character has certain contours and is painted with the colors intended for him. Two bamboo tubes, which protrude about 20 centimeters above the lower edge, serve for stabilization and as handrails. The bamboo tubes are halved lengthways for this purpose, placed congruently on the figure plate from both sides and nailed through for fastening.
The figure plates are divided into five types: The princes can be seen in noble activities and always with their faces in profile. They can be distinguished by their costumes, weapons, and other features. The face of the princesses is always shown frontally; except for the elegantly curved facial features and several cross folds on the neck, it is cut free and appears bright in the color of the screen. Further types are demons, yakshas (low heavenly figures), mythical monkeys and, as secondary characters, farmers and ascetics. Noble people wear a high headdress, which is surrounded by a halo. Demons and monkeys are shown either in profile or frontally. All figures are richly decorated. The small farmers, who appear in funny and lifelike positions, differ from the nobles shown with raised faces.
Three figures are an exception because they have a special religious veneration and they have a magical effect: Preah Eyso ( Shiva ), Preah Noreay ( Vishnu ) and the hermit and teacher Preah Muni Eysi (also Eysey, in Thailand Rüsi, in India Rishi ). To make the figures of Shiva and Vishnu, the skin of a cattle that died in an accident or natural death must be used; for the hermit, the skin of a leopard or bear must be used. As in Thailand, the manufacturer of these figures must be dressed in white and have finished their work within 24 hours. Figure plates not used during the performance are stored in a separate crate, the opening of which points towards the sunrise. A ghost house is set up in front of the entrance, on which candles and incense sticks burn in honor of Preah Muni Eysi in particular.
Music ensemble
Sbek thom performances and dance dramas are accompanied by an ensemble with up to ten musical instruments. The musicians sit on the floor at a distance in front of the screen. The krom phleng pin peat orchestra includes the two troughs xylophones roneat ek with 21 bamboo sticks and the deeper sounding roneat thom with 16 sound sticks, the large gong circle kong thom (corresponds to the Thai khong wong yai ) with 16 hump gongs lying horizontally in a circle on a resonance box and the smaller gong circle kong touch (also kong vong toch , corresponds to the Thai khong wong lek ) with 16 high pitched humpback gongs. Both are played with two soft-headed mallets. The wooden double-reed instruments sralai thom (40–42 centimeters long) and sralai touch (31–33 centimeters) also come in pairs and in two sizes . The sralai have slightly conical bores and do not have a bell, they are blown with circular breathing and are the only melody instruments in the orchestra that produce a sustained tone. Their Thai relatives make up the pi group . The double-headed barrel sampho is the equivalent of the Thai taphon . The sampho lies horizontally in a wooden stand in front of the musician and is beaten with both hands. The skor thom is a larger barrel drum set up in pairs at an angle, which is struck with sticks and, as a dance accompaniment, provides the deep basic rhythm and, if necessary, imitates thunder. There are also a pair of hand cymbals , chhing (in Thailand ching ). A smaller ensemble dispenses with the second part of the instrument pairs and consists of roneat ek, kong thom, sralai thom, sampho and the two skor thom .
For the sbek thom , around 20 songs are selected to match the scenes that ensembles of classical ballet and mask theater also use. They belong to a repertoire of around 300 pieces. Each song describes the scene, the actions of the characters involved and their mood. The appropriate songs are selected by the narrator. The music plays throughout the performance. Gong circles and the two drums also play in the background while the narrators recite. One or two narrators introduce a scene with a slow chant in verse. Each transmission is indicated by taps on the skor thom . When the following dialogue in verse or prose between the motionless figures has ended, their dance begins, again initiated by a drum roll of the skor thom .
Invocation ceremony
The leader of the troop is responsible for carrying out the invocation ceremony ( sampeah khru , in Thailand wai khru ) and fulfills a priestly function. First the gods Preah Eyso (Shiva, who shoots an arrow) and Preah Noreay (Vishnu) are invited together with the Preah Muni Eysi (Rishi), on the one hand to ensure that the game is under favorable omens and on the other hand, with it the characters are brought to life for the duration of the performance. The three holy figures are placed in front of the screen, which is still dark. The two narrators direct three cries of invocation ("Yak O"), which are repeated by the actors, to the deities in order to get them to participate. You speak with a special, coarse ghost voice in order to scare the audience. The rishi is the spiritual guide for the entire performance. The invocation is also addressed to all the good supernatural beings who are asked to destroy the evil forces in order to bring about a life of peace and happiness.
The following dance is intended as a sacrificial ritual to bring happiness to the village that is hosting the performance. The figures of Vishnu and Shiva dance on behalf of the struggle of good against evil. The orchestra begins to greet them while the captain lights candles and incense sticks and attaches them to the three figures. The actual awakening to life takes place through holy water with which the captain wipes the eyelids of the three characters. In this way the figure panels become masks behind which the gods hide and the dancers only function as their worldly carriers. The performers sprinkle themselves with holy water in a kind of cleaning ceremony, after which the performance can begin.
The invocation ceremony of a troop in Siem Reap in the 1990s included a number of food offerings, which were placed on and next to a three-tiered rack ( baysey ) made of bamboo and parts of a banana trunk , including: betel nuts and leaves, two pork heads , two chickens, eggs , other food and some money.
Main game
Between 10 and 20 actors act on the stage. Usually there are two game guides ( khru , from Sanskrit guru ) who, according to Sheppard (1968), act as narrators and who lend the individual characters their voices. One of the captains stands at one edge of the screen and speaks the dialogues of Rama and his surroundings, who are on the side of the gods, while the other takes on the role of Krong Reap ( Ravana ) and his host of demons. As long as the story and the dialogues are being played, the actors and their characters remain motionless behind the screen. It can happen that the speakers hurry after their actors when they move across the stage. When the dialogues are over, the actors dance with their raised figure plates in elegant movements either close behind the screen, so that their shadows are as sharp as possible, or directly visible in front of the screen. The dancers are dressed in an orange wrap skirt ( sampot ), a white shirt and a white hip scarf . According to the description by Kong / Preap (2014), the roles of the two captains are divided into a narrator and a narrator for the characters. Often neither can be seen on stage, but rather are outside with the musicians. A man and a woman usually speak in Siem Reap. Some narrators know the text by heart, others read it from the sheet. The form of the narrative, called kamrong keo , contains different parts of verse and prose. Which episodes of the extensive Reamker are selected depends on the occasion of the performance and is determined by the leader of the troupe.
In the dance, eight movement patterns are distinguished according to the content of the scenes, which the individual figures carry out: walking, walking, flying or military marching, fighting, being sad or feeling pain, meditating, gathering for war or calling a council of war and magically transforming oneself. As with the Thai nang yai , the actors act both behind and in front of the screen in some scenes. To indicate a long journey, they move one behind the other on the front to one edge of the screen and turn in the other direction on the back, so that at this moment the colored figure plates illuminated from the back and the black silhouettes of the figures behind can be seen at the same time .
The central characters of the production are the hermit and first teacher of the actors, Preah Muni Eysi, who has magical abilities and is often asked for advice by people, as well as the gods Preah Noreay (Vishnu) and Preah Eyso (Shiva), who are in charge of the good Preah Ream (Rama) and the bad Preah Reap (Ravana). Preah Reap has stolen Rama's wife Seda ( Sita ), whom he has to free in numerous battles. Preah Reap receives support from his brother Preah Lak ( Lakshmana ) and an army of monkeys under the leadership of the white monkey Hanuman in the fights that are waged with a bow and arrow and with wonder weapons . The evil Preah Reap opposes this with his magical powers, the help of his son Entochit (Enthachit, in India Indrajit) and an army of black monkeys. In the end, in the battle between white and black monkeys that runs from Thailand to Indonesia, good wins over evil. There is a structural similarity to the opening scene of the Burmese puppet play yoke thé , which is not connected to the main narrative , in which different animals fight with each other in pairs and symbolically struggle to restore the world order.
An older sbek thom troupe from Siem Reap, who owned a set of over 150 figures, only performed the fight between Entochit and Preah Lak in the 1990s, which took them four to five nights. Over the course of four nights, this episode was divided into the following main events:
- Sor Neakabas ("the magical arrowhead dragon"): Entochit's magical arrow is transformed into a dragon that spirals in a circle and ties Preah Lak with his soldiers.
- Promeas: Entochit shoots this arrow at Preah Lak. On behalf of Pipek (Vibhishana), the astrologer and younger brother of the demon king Ravana, Hanuman finds medicine for the injured Preah Lak. Pipek stirs the medicine together and uses it to pull out the arrow.
- Poan: Preah Lak shoots the magic arrow poan at Entochit. Upon impact, it splits into 1,000 arrows. Entochit manages to remove all but one of the arrows from his body. Because of the remaining arrow, he went to his mother, Neang Mondokiri ( Mandodari in India , wife of Krong Reap alias Ravana). With their breast milk, the arrow can be dissolved and removed.
- In the last scene of this fight, Entochit dies, beheaded by an arrow of Preah Ream (a descent of Vishnu). The head falls on a plate that the monkey Angkut (Angada) is holding. Preah Ream shoots his head and plate at the planet Tak Sen with a second arrow in order to save the earth from destruction.
literature
- Jacques Brunet: Nang Sbek, danced shadow theater of Cambodia / Nang Sbek, théâtre d'ombres dansé du Cambodge / Nang Sbek, danced shadow theater from Cambodia. In: The World of Music , Vol. 11, No. 4, 1969, pp. 18-37
- Aditya Eggert: Sbek Thom after his UNESCO certification: An investigation into the dynamics of the Cambodian shadow theater after its designation as an intangible cultural heritage. In: Regina Bendix, Kilian Bizer, Stefan Groth (Eds.): The Constitution of Cultural Property: Research Perspectives. Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2010, pp. 45–64
- Vireak Kong, Chanmara Preap: Sbek Thom. UNESCO, March 2014
- Bad luck Tum Kravel: Sbek Thom: Khmer Shadow Theater . UNESCO, Southeastasia Program, Cornell University, 1995
- Dato Haji Mubin Sheppard: The Khmer Shadow Play and its Links with Ancient India. A possible source of the Malay Shadow Play of Kelantan and Trengganu. In: Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society , Vol. 41, No. 1 (213), July 1968, pp. 199-204
Web links
- Sbek Thom, Khmer Shadow Theater. Youtube video
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sbek Thom, Khmer shadow theater. UNESCO
- ↑ Jacques Brunett, 1969, p. 20
- ↑ Sam-Ang Sam: Cambodia . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . Vol. 4, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, p. 863
- ^ Fan Pen Chen: Shadow Theaters of the World. In: Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 62, No. 1, 2003, pp. 25–64, here p. 36
- ^ EHS Simmonds: New Evidence on Thai Shadow-Play Invocations . In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. University of London, Vol. 24, No. 3, 1961, pp. 542-559, here p. 557
- ↑ Ghulam Sarwar Yousof-: Issues in Traditional Malaysian Culture. Partridge, Singapore 2013, p. 62
- ↑ Dato Haji Mubin Sheppard, 1968, p. 204
- ↑ Dato Haji Mubin Sheppard, 1968, p. 203
- ↑ Jacques Brunet, 1969, pp. 20f
- ↑ Vireak Kong, Chanmara Preap, 2014, p 7, 10
- ^ Julie B. Mehta: The Ramayana in the Arts of Thailand and Cambodia. In: Mandakranta Bose (ed.): The Ramayana Revisited. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, p. 327
- ^ Paul Thieme : The Indian Theater . In: Heinz Kindermann (Ed.): Far Eastern Theater. Alfred Kröner, Stuttgart 1966, p. 31f
- ↑ ML Varadpande: History of Indian Theater . Abhinav Publications, New Delhi 1987, pp. 62, 66
- ↑ Jacques Brunet, 1969, pp. 21f
- ↑ Nang Sbek . In: Beth Osnes: Acting: An International Encyclopedia of Traditional Culture. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2001, p. 232
- ↑ Vireak Kong, Chanmara Preap, UNESCO 2014, p. 43
- ^ Jacques Brunet: Tha Cambodian nang sbek and its Audience. In: James R. Brandon (Ed.): The performing arts in Asia. UNESCO, Paris 1971, pp. 40–48, here p. 43
- ↑ Jacques Brunet, 1969, p. 30
- ^ Pech Tum Kravel, UNESCO 1995, p. 15
- ^ Pech Tum Kravel, UNESCO 1995, p. 5
- ↑ Vireak Kong, Chanmara Preap, UNESCO 2014, p. 13
- ↑ Jacques Brunet, 1969, p. 23
- ^ Diana H. Dicus: Stabilization of a Large Rawhide Shadow Puppet. Ethics, Materials, Micro Environment. In: Working Group no 10. Conservation of Leathercraft and Related Objects. Interim Meeting on the Treatment of and Research into Leather, in Particular of Ethnographic Objects at the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, Amsterdam 1995, p. 59
- ↑ Jacques Brunet, 1969, p. 23
- ↑ Pech Tum Kravel, UNESCO 1995, p. 10
- ↑ at least 24, according to: Vireak Kong, Chanmara Preap, 2014, p. 19
- ^ Pech Tum Kravel, 1995, p. 7
- ↑ Vireak Kong, Chanmara Preap, 2014, p. 19
- ^ Jacques Brunet, 1969, 29
- ^ Pech Tum Kravel, UNESCO 1995, p. 14
- ↑ Jacques Brunet, 1969, p. 36f
- ↑ Friedrich Seltmann: Comparative components of the shadow play forms of South India, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Bali and Java . In: Tribus. Publications of the Linden Museum, No. 23, Stuttgart 1974, pp. 23-70, here pp. 54f
- ^ Pech Tum Kravel, UNESCO 1995, p. 18
- ↑ Dato Haji Mubin Sheppard, 1968, pp. 200, 202
- ↑ Vireak Kong, Chanmara Preap, 2014, pp. 22, 26
- ^ Jacques Brunet, 1969, 26f
- ↑ Jacques Brunet, 1969, 35f
- ↑ Kathy Foley: Burmese Marionettes: Yokthe Thay in Transition. In: Asian Theater Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Special Issue on Puppetry) Spring 2001, pp. 69–80, here p. 72
- ^ Pech Tum Kravel, UNESCO 1995, p. 17