Category Archives: Articles

A Cham woman proposes

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Vietnam Heritage, No 9, December 2011

 

The Cham people of today are matriarchal, so women propose to men and men live in their wives’ houses. It is the other way round for Kinh Vietnamese. Even as recently at 1928 it was the man who proposed in Cham marriage. In the book Le Royaume du Champa (The Cham Kingdom, Paris, 1928), French author G. Maspéro wrote: ‘Cham people’ marriages are arranged with the help of a broker who brings some gold, silver and two jars of wine to the woman’s house to propose marriage.’ Continue reading →

Inrasara: Memories of a Cham bard

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Inrasara: Memories of a Cham bard

Vietnam Heritage, 7-2011

* Myson, 2001.

I had to persuade him to recite onne more for me to record. He seemed lacking in enthusiasm. He was reluctant and forgot at many points. I understood. The chanted legends must be performed in a festival space, with its atmosphere

As a member of a Champa performing arts group, Mudwon Gru Han Phai – ‘Muwdon Gru’ is a priestly title – sang on prestigious platform in Saigon and performed at thousands of Cham festivals. He trained many Cham artists and was a live specimen for many researchers on the culture of Champa Continue reading →

Moving Separately as Boats on the Water: Relating Ariya Cam-Bini and Ariya Bini-Cam to 17th Century Campa

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In the 17th century the urang (people) of Bhumi Campa were in the midst of a dynamic period of transition. Having suffered the catastrophic defeat of the capital Vijaya in 1471, the Cam had moved their negara (capital) southward to Panduranga, situated in the heart of the modern Vietnamese province of Binh Thuan. With the conversion of the first Cam Ppo to Islam in 1607, and the tragic defeat of the epic devaraja (god-king) Ppo Rome during the Vietnamese annexation of Campa in 1651/3, it became clear that the Cam reliance on the moral authority of the Hindu-Buddhist divine universe was under threat Continue reading →

Trao đổi văn học

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Đây là trao đổi qua lại giữa Inrasara và phóng viên báo tiếng Anh ở trong nước (tạm viết tắt là TL). Bản tóm lược đã được dịch và in trên Thanhniennews Daily. Nay xin đăng lại bản “nháp” đầy đủ để làm tư liệu.
Inrasara
*
Dear Inrasara
You have spent your whole life and career learning, writing about, and promoting Cham culture and literature. So can you give me a sense of the Cham writers now? What are they particularly good at? What are their weaknesses? And their concerns? Are they similiar to you in any way? I want to ask you some more things: Continue reading →

Văn học Chăm – The Literature of Champa

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(song ngữ Anh – Việt)
The people and culture of Champa

At the end of second century in the Common Era (CE), the Kingdom of Champa – then under the name of Linyi or Lâm Ấp was formed along the coastal areas of present Vietnam, from Harok Kah Dhei to Pangduranga (from Quang Binh to Binh Thuan of present Vietnam) – with the ups and downs of history, the boundaries of the Kingdom of Champa was gradually restricted toward the South then disappeared completely in the first half of the 19th century. Continue reading →

Múa Chăm – Dances of Cham ethnic minority

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Múa là một bộ phận quan trọng trong đời sống văn hóa tinh thần của dân tộc Chăm. Múa gắn liền với các lễ hội như Rija Nưgar, Kate, Rija Praung… ở làng hay trên tháp. Đó là các dịp mà người Chăm thể hiện sự tưởng nhớ của mình đối với những người có công xây dựng đất nước, hay sự sùng bái một/một vài vị vua được thần hóa. Continue reading →