Sam-Ang Sam

Sam Sam-Ang (b. 8 Jan 1950, Pursat Province, Cambodia) is an ethnomusicologist, teacher, researcher, and performance artist. 

Sam-Ang earned a BA and an MA in composition and later a doctorate in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. In addition to the Apsara Ensemble, he founded the Sam-Ang Sam Ensemble with wife Sam Chan-Moly, which he has used as a platform to help revive Classical Khmer music and increase public interest in Cambodian performing arts.

The Ensemble was named NEA National Heritage Fellow in 1998, in Fort Washington, Maryland, USA.

From left to right, Chan Moly Sam, Sam Ouen Tes, and Sam-Ang Sam (1998).

Works

• [with Sam Chan-Moly] Khmer Folk Dance. Newington, CT: Khmer Studies Institute, 1987.
• The Pin Peat Ensemble: Its History, Music and Context. Ph.D. Dissertation, Wesleyan University, 1988.
• [with Patricia Shehan Campbell] Silent Temples, Songful Hearts: Traditional Music of Cambodia. Danbury, CT: World Music Press, 1991.
• [Art Director with Sam Chan Moly] Music of Cambodia, New York: World Music Institute, 1989 [audio cassette by the Sam-Ang Sam Ensemble].
• [Art Director with Sam Chan Moly] Cambodian Mohori, New York: World Music Institute, 1991 [audio cassette by the Sam-Ang Sam Ensemble].
• [as Producer] Khmer Court Dance (videotape). Sam-Ang Sam & Naom Bishop, producers; John Bishop, video director; Chan Moly Sam, dance director; Dr. Paul Cravath, narrator. Khmer Studies Institute, Newington, CT. 1992. (Featuring Somaly Hay, Chan Moly Sam, Malene Sam, Sophiline Shapiro, Nareine Sokhon and Sam-Ouen Tes, dancers).