Cambodian Martial Art, Khmer Bokator on Web TV
By Dante Scott
Before there was Muay Thai, there was Bokator, the complete fighting art, developed by the Khmers during the Angkorian Empire. Bokator is the predecessor of modern Bradal Serey, Khmer kickboxing, also called Pradal Serey. Where kickboxing is limited to kicking, punching, elbows, knees, and head grapples, Bokator includes ground fighting, joint locks, manipulations, throws, weapons, and animal styles.
“Bokator, the Great Angkorian Martial Art†A new film, starring Grand Master San Kim Saen and Antonio Graceffo, will be debuting later this year, to show Bokator to the world. The film was directed by Tim Pek, an Australian Khmer film maker, most famous for his film of Khmer Rouge retribution and forgiveness, “The Red Sense.†Tim, a Khmer Rouge genocide survivor met Antonio while working on the film “Krabei Liak Goan,†(Buffalo Protecting Child). This Khmer Kung Fu movie pitted the hero, national Bradal Serey champion, Eh Phou thoung against Antonio Graceffo, who played the bodyguard of the villain.
“In addition to helping to make Bokator accessible to people all over the world, I enjoyed making this film because I didn’t have to die.†Said Graceffo, who originally came to Cambodia to find and write about Khmer martial arts.
A lifelong martial arts practitioner, Graceffo recently became the first foreigner to earn the Black Krama (black belt) in Khmer Bokator fighting. (Another American, Derek Morris, was the first foreigner to earn a Black Krama be certified as an instructor of Bokator.)
In addition to the independent film, San Kim Saen and his two American students have worked together on two shows for the History Channel, “Human Weapon,†and “Digging for the Truth.†Bokator will also be featured on the brand new web TV show, Martial Arts Odyssey, hosted by Antonio Graceffo. The show follows Graceffo around the world, as he explores new and often obscure martial arts. The pilot is currently running on yuotube.com.
Click here to see the trailer for the movie, about Bokator Khmer martial art: http://youtube.com/watch?v=617qPJPBSPM
To see the pilot episode of “Martial Arts Odyssey,†click here. http://youtube.com/watch?v=3haZwrsY_oM
If you are interested in getting Antonio’s Books, you can buy them direct from Amazon.com:
September 28th, 2007 at 2:02 am
Wow. My parents are Khmer but this article is news to me. Thanks!
October 9th, 2007 at 1:48 am
[...] a three-year-long odyssey of trips in and out of Cambodia to train with Master San Kim Saen and to document the art so that it would not be lost from the [...]
October 28th, 2007 at 12:34 am
I can’t find any proof that bokator is older than pradal serey but an older style called Neak Pradal Serey might solve this. There are a only one school in cambodian and one in Canada run by Sam Lok who was trained by the owner and othe teachers in Cambodia. His style contains grappling and wrestling that looks very close to Bokator. I feel that both styles are the same but just differnt names due to different locations of province. Would make more sense since pradal serey means freestyle fighting. Modern Pradal Serey has been converted to a ring fight mainly due to the fighting style was to dangerous to use and wrestling and grappling vanished but was passed on to fight families who kept it like Sam Lok’s family and elders who taught him. He is the only known student who teaches in the western world.
The Neak culture dates back to thousands of years befoer buddhism came to the culture. Neak’s are multi headed serpents also known in hindu as naga’s. They follow a culture of peace and war, and protection of culture and country. This is why statues are still around the Angkor Wat and temples to protect the khmer culture.
I personally believe that the Neak Pradal Serey is the much greater form of fighting from seeing both sides of fighting. But bokator is just as dangerous.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
This is not new to me. Bokator has been taught to older generations before the Khmer Rouge. All these “rediscoveries” are good, but if they only listen what Cambodians are telling them to begin with, they wouldn’t need to “rediscover” anything. They’ll be just discover more evidence, instead. How long did it take the French to ‘rediscover’ that the Khmers are the true engineers of the Angkor Wat.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:28 am
[...] a three-year-long odyssey of trips in and out of Cambodia to train with Master San Kim Saen and to document the art so that it would not be lost from the [...]