National Olympic Committee of Cambodia president Thong Khon awards the first place medal to Chhun Bunthorn at the fourth River Festival in Takhmao town in March 2018. Photo supplied
On the running track Chhun Bunthorn – wearing running shorts and a tank-top – is an athlete with strong determination.
But when he holds the chapey dang veng – a traditional Khmer instrument that looks like a long necked guitar – while wearing Khmer-style clothes, he captivates listeners with the sound of his music and singing.
The rare combination of athletic ability and skill in traditional music possessed by Bunthorn has struck a chord with the Cambodian public.
Although singing and playing chapey dang veng is just a hobby for Bunthorn, it is one he considers dear to his heart. As a national team athlete, Bunthorn thought it would be great to know how to play a traditional Khmer instrument in order to better represent Cambodia.
“I just learned how to play the chapey dang veng in 2020. I felt that I should learn to play something that represents Cambodia in order to conserve our culture and promote it nationally and internationally. And also because music helps freshen up my brain when I’m feeling down,” Bunthorn tells The Post.
Apart from his daily running routine, Bunthorn learned to play chapey from Master Pich Sarath. He leads the group the Community of Living Chapey who are occasionally seen performing on television.
Earlier this year, in January, Bunthorn was chosen to perform with Community of Living Chapey. The livestream was greeted with quite a bit of curiosity because it’s so unusual to see an athlete passionately sing and play a traditional instrument.
Similar to his time spent training in athletics and the relief from stress that has provided to him, Bunthorn has found that the rhythms of playing the two-stringed instrument the chapey dang veng were relaxing and a way to keep him feeling in touch with Khmer cultural traditions.
Chhun Bunthorn training at the National Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. Photo supplied
Currently, Bunthorn, 28, is on Cambodia’s national team for track and field and though he has yet to win any medals he is proud of his achievements, such as coming in fourth in the 1,500m race and fifth in the 800m race at the SEA Games in the Philippines in 2019.
“It’s such a privilege to be able to represent our country because the races I competed in were the first time Cambodia reached those rankings and I was more than excited to have broken the national records,” Bunthorn says.
Standing on the running track and competing in national and international events can feel strange for Bunthorn, who has always adored traditional art and was focused on more intellectual pursuits.
“It seems a bit far from my dream, but being a national team member is the thing I’m most proud of that I’ve ever done,” says the young man from Prey Veng.
He says that his dream was actually to become an architect and he got a university scholarship for two years in 2012 but it was for engineering. He was then forced to give up his studies and his dreams because he couldn’t afford the school’s tuition after the scholarship was over.
Dropping out of school was a big decision – but he never gave up on himself, even after the deaths of both of his parents. He continued to seek out a career path for himself and he accidentally discovered his great potential in sports when he was exercising and training.
“I didn’t want to allow myself to just wander, directionless. So, I tried to work hard on exercising and practicing sports. At that time I had no intention of becoming a national athlete or whatever. I just wanted to exercise for my health.
“Then I registered for the Triathlon race which is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling and running over various distances. But at that time I chose to compete in the Aquathlon – which is only swimming and running – and I came in first and was then selected for the national team in 2014,” Bunthorn says.
While training with the Cambodia Triathlon Federation, Bunthorn had been selected to train in Thailand in 2015 and he furthered his career in athletics by passing an exam to be a sports trainer at the National Sports Training Centre.
Apprentice traditional musician and national team running athlete Chhun Bunthorn. Photo supplied
This job required that he take photographs and write some sports news articles, so in his spare time he took classes with the department of media and communications at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
Bunthorn – who has always loved to study and has a deep appreciation for knowledge – got interested in drawing when he learned about the history of photography and how it was actually related to it. Every weekend he went to learn drawing at the Champey Academy of Arts, hoping that this would help him to have a better understanding of frame when taking photographs.
Though none of these things are core skills necessary for any particular career he was pursuing, Bunthorn says he just tries to absorb knowledge and learn for self-improvement purposes with anything he spends time doing.
After Bunthorn competed in the 800m national championship in 2018, he was selected as a national athlete for track and field.
“In the future I want become a knowledgeable professional coach. I hope to change the mindset of people that think that athletes are useless in Cambodia. I want Cambodians to be open-minded and see things with a more positive attitude,” Bunthorn says.
Recently, Bunthorn created the page Cambodia Running Coach to offer tips on training and strategy, including running to lose and gain weight, running for cardiovascular health and running in races and competitions.
“When exercising it helps to have a professional coach or someone with experience that really knows the best ways to exercise to avoid any negative impacts. Sports and exercise are also very good ways to keep youths away from drugs and out of trouble. They will keep fit and have a bright future if they train for the right purposes,” Bunthorn says.
