The smot style of vocal performance is distinct from both singing and chanting, and is characterized as "sweet, melodious and musical," marked by rubato rather than strict metric time.
Its length has a hypnotizing aspect as the soft, low, and slow song of the achar continues over the course of several hours until the ritual assembly joins in, gradually raising the tone and accelerating the speed of the chant which was can ultimately transform into a raucous cry.
[9] Smot serves a number of functions in Cambodia which can be classified as: lament, filial piety, Jataka tales, the life of Lord Buddha, and various Buddhist chants and blessings.
Smot is used to express the value of filial piety, a foundational element of Theravada Buddhism, though these texts contain scant references to Buddhist teachings other than injunctions to respect one's parents.
Smot is used for a variety of texts ranging from uniquely Southeast Asia jātaka stories from the Paññāsajātaka collection to the penultimate life of the Buddha before his awakening, the famous Vessantarajātaka as found in the Pāḷi Sutta Piṭaka.. "Sovannasam's Lament," recounting a dramatic moment in the Syama Jataka where the future Buddha laments how his death will prevent him for caring for his parents, is similar to examples in the genre of filial piety.
Smot can be performed by either men or women, monks or laymen but it is most often chanted solo and a capella by the achar, an elderly man well-trained in the rich religious traditions of Cambodia.
[15] In 2019, composer Him Sophy combined various traditional Khmer instruments and smot chanting with a Western chamber orchestra and chorus to create the musical track of Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia.