Thanks! I just found out the part where is sounds like "hai" is actually "ai" according to document a friend sent me. It is written as ឆ្ពោះឰប្រជុំទេពនិករ, ឰ=អៃ The stanza in the full version for Phleng Yani has 4 lines, but this version only 2 lines are sung. I wonder how much choreography is left out in the dance by omitting them. Not only that, the rhyming is also affected. What is used in performance nowadays doesn't have a complicated rhyming scheme (usually only words at the end or middle of a line rhyme), but if you look in the original stanzas, you may notice the rhyme is more complex.
@dekchaiplawan Kom Vien (គោមវៀន) โคมเวียน (Khom Wian). The Cambodian version of Kom Vien is very slow and sounds very different from the Thai version but if you listen carefully, you can hear the similarities in the melody. About chha-banchoss (ឆា-បញ្ចុះ), I think this is a variation of Phleng Cha in Cambodian dance, you can hear long version in this video: watch?v=Nz9s7g8HPFs (part 1-3)
@angkorpisey If you want the whole dance, it's about an hour long O-O , the dance is called "Boun Mat." Khmer Arts Academy will be performing 9min of "Preah Thong" at Cal State Fullerton in Mar. 2012.
@lilcraziaznkid Robam Preah Thong That time, The Devas each so Graceful, The Beautiful Angel Princesses, Happy and Content, Lovable and Adorable, Every single Body. Robam Vorachun That time, The Glorious Arjuna, Departs his palace, Sees the beloved celestials praying, The angels assembled in groups. (Then do Robam Makar) These versions left out a lot of lyrical content. Robam Preah Thong is comparable to TepMonorom. Robam Vorachun concerns his vanity and preparing to dance with the angels.
@angkorpisey No sorry. Robam Preah Thong issuch an elusive dance. I never seen it perform before. And this recording (which is a shortened I suppose) is the only time I've ever heard it. Supposedly, it has been revived, but again, I've never seen it performed. Other users have Robam Vorachun uploaded, see: watch?v=lRjcjRQn6os and watch?v=wEGCNGYl6uQ
@TSerey Thanks for the info. Have you seen Preah Thong before? Is it anything like the Thai version? I'm just curious as to what the Khmer dance is like. I also suspect that the video titled as "Robam Circa" might actually be Robam Preah Thong (or one of the other 3 dances related to Moni Mekhala). Would you know what it is? Here's Thai version: watch?v=A3p7RGk1flY And "Robam Circa": watch?v=N7W820rD93s
@MusaboruOo Hello, do you have the Thai version of the dance, I would like to see it. I'll describe to you more about the Khmer version, when I gather all the info.
@TSerey See watch?v=TXbdo4DMdjs and also watch?v=M58txK-oq9k for two other performances. They start off with the Thai version of Kom Wian, this sounds very different from the Khmer version though. The lyrics and music are pretty similar, except it doesn't have Chha-Banchoss. There are three other dances, but Phra Thong is most common. According to some Thai sites, they use these dances for the Khon episode of Nonthuk where the angels are dancing and also Mani Mekhala full version.
