Jaraï in Cambodia (KG 2004-2006)

The Jaraï are a predominant group in the Central Plateau of Vietnam with 250 000 people, and a mush smaller community in North East Cambodia with less than 20 000 people.
They belong to the austronesian family, meaning they probably come from Borneo.
With other ethnic groups of the area, they share a lot musically, especially the fascination for gong playing in animist ceremonies ; but also the use of instruments made of bamboo.
On this cd, you can listen to various ceremony and songs, recorded in Tang Ji village, close to the Vietnamese border. The funeral ceremony was particularly impressive, lasting three days and gathering four hundreds people. They built a totemic structure for the corpse and killed five buffaloes while thirrteen gong players and a drummer were walking, performing around the coffin.