Thorng Honging, aka Ing is an alumnus of the .WAV programme. Before joining, she was a student making music as a hobby. She used to upload her songs on Youtube but has yet to have the opportunity to develop her hobby further into a sustainable career.
Ing joined the .WAV programme to learn about music production.
During the programme, Ing collaborated on two songs with powerful messages on rights-based issues. Her first song, Mnus Srey, was a collaboration with Prema about reducing acts of violence against women. The pair received a grant through the .WAV programme.
They went on to release their song with a partner organisation, Women Peace Makers to promote a ‘16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence’ campaign in November 2022.
Listen to Mnus Srey here: https://www.facebook.com/chanprema/videos/3346089002301585/
Ing, together with her partner, Virak Monika, co-wrote and co-produced RE-FIVE, a song about encouraging other youth to implement the 5Rs (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycling and Remind). “Tos Yerng”, is a platform they created to raise awareness on this issue. Under “Tos Yerng” they teamed up with All Dreams Cambodia, a tourism company, and founded #ONESTEPNOPLASTIC campaign.
Through #ONESTEPNOPLASTIC, both partners successfully held clean-up events in Kep, Siem Reap, Kratie, and Phnom Penh attracting over 1,390 people. They soon to completed their fifth clean-up this December. During each clean-up, Tos Yerng is able to perform Re-Five song, spreading their message about the 5Rs to all participants. The campaign is also accompanied by Phare, The Cambodian Circus, Siem Reap’s most unique, authentic, top-rated entertainment. that sponsored their country-wide campaign, #onestepnoplastic. Ing and Monika successfully held clean-up events in Kep, Battambang, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham, attracting over 1,390 people.
Ing shared with us that joining the program has led her to this point in her career and boosted her work to be in front of an audience that she couldn’t imagine before.
“The biggest challenges are not knowing who to talk to and where to start - no network. It was just me and my laptop, and I just made music and uploaded it to Youtube. My audience was my friends who watched my work. It wasn’t reaching the external audience.
After joining, my work got viral, and I got access to a bigger audience than I couldn’t have imagined before with what I could done. Wav helped connect me and brought my skills and my ideas to reach the audience that I want.” - Thorng Honging
Ing also indicated that after an incredible amount of work, planning and organising events and performances had sharpened her communication and collaboration skills. As someone who used to work alone on many things, she had to adapt and find a middle ground to work well with her collaborators.
“At this point, there’s a lot of people involved in the program, such as sponsors, funders, crews and everyone else. I learned it’s better to be honest, and say what you can and cannot deliver. You can’t overpromise, and once you know that and can be fully honest, your work and relationships with others will improve.We use our courage to deal with the sponsor and tell them the realistic goal. We offer an alternative solution, and everything ends well in the end. Speaking with honesty and transparency allows us to maintain a good relationship with people we work with.” - Thorng Honging
She reflects on her experience as one of the .WAV programme students as impactful and mentioned how .WAV is a bigger project than what she expected before joining.
“.WAV is so much bigger than that. I'm thankful for the concert, which is why we got the sponsor. Without it, I would have just continued making the video alone at home. The programme has actually amplified our voices. Thank you once again to the whole TSI Team, Virak Monika, Mr HUOT Dara and Phare, The Cambodian Circus, All Dreams Cambodia, Re-Five community, and everyone putting their very best to make all of this happen. These are our accomplishments. I couldn’t do it alone.”
Ing has recognised her growth in both personal and professional aspects. Joining the programme has opened up opportunities for her to work with people in the industry, network and level up in her artistic career.