What is "yike"

Yike (, pronounced ) is a genre of dance drama from Cambodia with strong Cham and Malay influences. Yike is performed in nearly every province of Cambodia and by the Khmer Krom communities in southern Vietnam. The Khmer Krom have two terms for it, the yike as the rest of Khmer communities, and the yuke which is used to refer to the dance theatre also known as Lakhon Bassac. In Thailand, there is an analogous theatre called likay although it is vastly different in performance and with the music using a piphat mon ensemble instead of the rebana (or skor yike) and tro ensemble as in the Cambodian version.