Sam-Ang Sam (Khmer: សំ សំអាង, Sâm Sâm’ang) is a Cambodian-American ethnomusicologist and 1994 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (as part of the Apsara Ensemble) in 1998.[1][2]
Sam-Ang Sam and his wife Chan Moly Sam spent "more than two decades" (as of 1993) "performing, teaching, researching, and documenting" their native country's music and dances.[3] Having studied in Cambodia, they were in the Philippines when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, and escaped the genocide that killed an estimated 90 percent of the country's musicians.[2][4] He and his wife moved to the United States, and Sam-Ang got his doctorate in ethnomusicology in 1998 from Wesleyan University.[2][5] He and his wife performed in various locations in the United States the between 1979 and 2005 with a dance troupe of Cambodian dancers.[6][7][5] Their own performing troupe was called the Apsara Ensemble.[7]
As founder of Sam-Ang Sam Ensemble, he has released several albums for sale in mainstream American markets in an attempt to revive Classical Khmer music and stimulate interest in the various Cambodian performing arts.[2][8]
Sam, Sam-Ang (1987). Traditional music of Cambodia. Conservatoire National des Spectacles. Wedding Ensemble. Middletown, CT: Center for the Study of Khmer Culture. OCLC18887768.
Echoes from the palace. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Music of the World. 1996. OCLC35685707. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |people= ignored (help)[9]
Mohori: Khmer Music from Cambodia. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Music of the World. 1999. OCLC896688142. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |people= ignored (help)[10]
Sam, Sam-Ang; Bishop, John Melville (2001). Cambodian court dances : the next generation. Cambodian Network Council; Media Generation. West Hills, CA: Media Generation. OCLC54075479.
Sam, Sam-Ang (1988). The pin peat ensemble : its history, music and context. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI. OCLC422852505. Dissertation: Ph.D., Wesleyan University, Conn. 1988
^Leitsinger, Miranda (11 November 2004). "Ethnic Music Revival Aims for High Note". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. Retrieved 18 November 2018. It has been estimated that up to 90% of Cambodia's musicians died...