Kong Nay

Kong Nay (Khmer: គង់ ណៃ), also known as Kong Nai (15 March 1944 – 28 June 2024), was a Cambodian musician from Kampot Province in southwestern Cambodia who played a traditional long-necked fretted plucked lute called chapei dang veng.

The fact that most of the remaining chapei masters, such as Prach Chhoun and Neth Pe, are blind was a rather remarkable coincidence.

[4][5] Kong grew up in a poor family in Daung village, in Kampong Trach district's Svay Tong Khang Choeung commune, Kampot province.

[8] After winning a national chapei competition in 1991, the Ministry of Culture gave him a monthly salary of $19 and some land in Phnom Penh's Dey Krahom area,[9] near the White Building in Tonle Bassac.

In May 2022, Kong was hospitalised for treatment for high blood pressure, diabetes and lung problems at Kampot provincial hospital.