The Bangsokol Requiem, affective intensification, and memory activation

Abstract

This article examines how a recent multi-media requiem sought rest for Khmer Rouge victims and connected audiences in the Cambodian post-conflict diaspora. Composed by Him Sophy, the requiem takes its name from a funeral ritual that assists re-birth: Bangsokol. Performed in various international cities throughout the years 2017–2019, Bangsokol, with a libretto by researcher Trent Walker, combined chanting and singing in Khmer and Pali with the music of a traditional Cambodian orchestra blended with that of a Western chamber orchestra. The performance was backlit by projected film images by Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh, and accompanied by stage performance elements such as procession, drumming, and dance. I draw on interviews with the key creatives involved in the Bangsokol Requiem, visual documentation of the Requiem in development, and experiences of its premiere performances at the Melbourne Festival in October 2017. I follow Elizabeth Grosz on art to consider the Requiem in terms of its capacity for ‘activation’ and trace three of its micropolitical alter-accomplishments. I argue that the performances deterritorialised existing memorial refrains and reconnected diasporic and wider audiences through an experience of affective intensification.