Cambodian refugee Prach Ly performs for students at Nellie Coffman Middle School in Palm Springs on April 2. (Photo: Jay Calderon, Palm Springs Sun)April 11, 2008
By Rasha Aly
Palm Springs Sun (California, USA)
The music came on. The beat and the tune were catchy.
Dressed in a long man's shirt, a tie and dress pants, Prach Ly took the microphone and began rapping in English and Khmer.
"Watch out for booby traps and land mines," Ly sang. "Ain't no time to take breaks. Death is close behind."
A well-known rap artist, especially in his native Cambodia, Ly, 28, has been featured in Newsweek and Time magazines and newspapers such as the Cambodia Daily and Phnom Penh Post.
His goal is to teach others about Cambodia's history and culture. His lyrics tell the story of the experience many Cambodians had.
Last week he stopped by several schools in the west Coachella Valley.
On April 17, 1975, Phnom Penh, the country's capital, fell under the control of a communist guerilla group called the Khmer Rouge. The group forced all city residents into the countryside and to labor camps. It remained in control for about four years, during which millions of Cambodians died by starvation, death or torture.
The students at St. Theresa School listened not only to the songs, but to the stories behind the lyrics.
Ly's presentation "wasn't a whole bunch of boo boo blah," said Rodney Cooper, 12, a seventh-grader at St. Theresa School. "It's something new - not usual, but better than the usual."
Ly was born in a concentration camp in Cambodia, he said. His birth was kept a secret from the Khmer Rouge out of fear he or his mom would be killed.
His family traveled through the country and crossed into Thailand and Vietnam where people were not very fond of Cambodians, he said. Even there, they faced abuse from Thai and Vietnamese people. He dreamed of a better place.
"It was just as bad" as the concentration camp, Ly said. "We couldn't go back. We couldn't move forward."
They lived there for 2 years until a family sponsored Ly's family to come to the United States. They settled in Long Beach, where he grew up.
"You guys are really, really, really lucky to be here," he said.
Dressed in a long man's shirt, a tie and dress pants, Prach Ly took the microphone and began rapping in English and Khmer.
"Watch out for booby traps and land mines," Ly sang. "Ain't no time to take breaks. Death is close behind."
A well-known rap artist, especially in his native Cambodia, Ly, 28, has been featured in Newsweek and Time magazines and newspapers such as the Cambodia Daily and Phnom Penh Post.
His goal is to teach others about Cambodia's history and culture. His lyrics tell the story of the experience many Cambodians had.
Last week he stopped by several schools in the west Coachella Valley.
On April 17, 1975, Phnom Penh, the country's capital, fell under the control of a communist guerilla group called the Khmer Rouge. The group forced all city residents into the countryside and to labor camps. It remained in control for about four years, during which millions of Cambodians died by starvation, death or torture.
The students at St. Theresa School listened not only to the songs, but to the stories behind the lyrics.
Ly's presentation "wasn't a whole bunch of boo boo blah," said Rodney Cooper, 12, a seventh-grader at St. Theresa School. "It's something new - not usual, but better than the usual."
Ly was born in a concentration camp in Cambodia, he said. His birth was kept a secret from the Khmer Rouge out of fear he or his mom would be killed.
His family traveled through the country and crossed into Thailand and Vietnam where people were not very fond of Cambodians, he said. Even there, they faced abuse from Thai and Vietnamese people. He dreamed of a better place.
"It was just as bad" as the concentration camp, Ly said. "We couldn't go back. We couldn't move forward."
They lived there for 2 years until a family sponsored Ly's family to come to the United States. They settled in Long Beach, where he grew up.
"You guys are really, really, really lucky to be here," he said.
2 comments:
His family traveled through the country and crossed into Thailand and Vietnam where people were not very fond of Cambodians, he said. Even there, they faced abuse from Thai and Vietnamese people.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
His raps about the experience in the camps and the extreme prejeduce he faced are not meant to flame anyone. The majority of Vietnamese and Thai are very nice people, its their government officials and those higher who are the extreme racists who decides if not to send in troops to massacre the helpless. Honestly I dont hate niether Thai or Vietnamese, but I do wish death on their government and those who racists who are involved in the instability in the region.
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