The Hawker's Song Description

2010

Street hawkers, singing plaintive songs designed to sell their wares, are an important part of life in Phnom Penh that seems to be disappearing. The streets no longer bustle with the sounds of the bicycle carts and the sellersÕ songs are not heard as often. Inspired by the rich cultural tradition of orality, exchange and commerce that appears to be dying in a race towards ÔmodernisationÕ, the work highlights global concerns around the death of the local, in the face of capital and technological progression.

Renowned Australian and Cambodian artists have collaborated on The Hawker's Song project, creating a video and sound installation that celebrates the precarious survival of this unique aspect of Cambodian life. The components of this work are installed in four locations: Signal on the banks of the Yarra River, the speaker system along the banks of the Yarra, the Springvale Railway Station and the window of The Advance Laundrette, Springvale. Poetic video portraits of hawkers plying their trade, are accompanied by exquisite sound compositions. Hawker calls and ambience from the streets of Phnom Penh have been interwoven with recordings made in Melbourne of expatriate Cambodians remembering the calls of days gone by.

During the Festival visiting Cambodian artists Srey Bandol and Meas Sokhorn will hold visual art workshops at Signal with young people of Cambodian backgrounds from the Springvale area.