American Popular Music: Introduction

praCh: A son of Cambodia

perfected in the USA

But never forgot his Khmer roots

Musicians gather around Louis Armstrong, seated at piano. Armstrong gave the world a lasting legacy — jazz.

A couple whirls across the floor of Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom, 1953.

 A land of immigrants is the perfect musical laboratory

26 July 2008
America.gov

(The following is excerpted from the U.S. Department of State publication, American Popular Music.)

Introduction
By Michael Jay Friedman

Popular music, like so much of American culture, reflects a kaleidoscope of contributions, a cross-fertilization of styles, and a blending of dreams. It could hardly be otherwise in this nation of immigrants. Arguably the United States is a perfect musical laboratory: take people from every corner of the globe, give them freedom to create. Distribute their effort: by sheet music, phonograph, radio – or, for the younger reader: by Blu-ray Disc, mp3, Internet stream.

And what results! European ballads recast with African poly-rhythmic textures or blended with a Cuban-flavored habanera or a more “refined” rumba. “Cold” bop. “Hot” jazz. “Acid” rock. “Gangsta” rap. We might speak less of a singular American popular music than of a constellation of mutually- enriching American popular “musics.” Elvis Presley borrows from African-American blues, and black Motown stars recast “white” pop. Ask Khmer-American rapper Prach Ly, also known as “praCh,” about American popular music and he’ll speak of growing up with Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Run DMC, and Public Enemy on the radio and of cutting his first album in his parents’ garage. Lacking a mixing board, Prach used a karaoke machine and sampled old Khmer Rouge propaganda speeches for his powerful musical condemnation of the Cambodian genocide.

For Cambodian rapper, 'words are weapons'

praCh Ly, a Cambodian-American rapper from Long Beach, will perform at Saturday's New Year Celebration at El Dorado Park. (Stephen Carr / Press-Telegram)

04/09/2010
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)

"I'm target for death, they want to delete my existence, I'm a high-risk threat, the leader of the resistance. The battle for tomorrow, its start today. Afraid of no one, that's just how I was raised," - Lyrics by rapper praCh Ly who has been the target of threats from the ruling CPP regime in Cambodia

LONG BEACH - Leaning on a very American tradition, Long Beach-raised Cambodian-American rap artist praCh Ly wants to inspire nothing less than revolution.

It may be actual, it may be spiritual, it may be intellectual, but it's revolution.

The peripatetic song writer will be performing at the Cambodian New Year Celebration Saturday at El Dorado Park, where he will continue to preach his messages of awareness and resistance.

Throughout American history, music has given voice to revolt and social comment.

So, it's no accident that when Ly, who goes by the stage name praCh - with a capital C to honor his Cambodian heritage - starts dropping tracks and lyrics, he's thinking about the message.

Heck, even his Web site, mujestic.com, proclaims "it's not just music, it's a movement."

Calling what he does "edutainment," praCh's lyrics are bold and critical of leaders and societal issues in the U.S. and, particularly, in his home country.

In a track of his new album, praCh preaches "I'm trying to raise awareness, being careless is what got us into this mess."

Ever since "Yankee Doodle" was used first by the British and later by the Colonialists to mock the other side, music has been a powerful instrument in the social dialogue either to promote change or support the status quo.

That trend has continued through the generations from "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" to "Over There" to "This Land Is Your Land" to "We Shall Overcome" to "American Soldier." From John Philip Sousa to Joe Hill to Bob Dylan, songwriters have used their art to spur causes and promote points of view. Whether it's Pete Seeger asking "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" or Lee Greenwood proclaiming "God Bless the USA," radically different voices and perspectives have found homes in music.

For praCh, it is important that Cambodians and Cambodian-Americans remember where they come from and to embrace their history for all its good and ill, from the glories of the Angkor empire to the tragedies of the Pol Pot era, to the American urban blight of poverty and gangs.

As a U.S.-based musician, he says it's imperative to say things his countrymates abroad cannot.

This is particularly true in a time when journalists and activists in Cambodia have been either censored or jailed and convicted in absentia for remarks critical of the government and its policies.

Human Rights Watch has blasted the Cambodian government for what it calls a "campaign of harassment, threats, and unwarranted legal action aimed at consolidating its rule by silencing the political opposition and peaceful critics."

PraCh himself says he has been the target of threats from the ruling regime in Cambodia.

Against this backdrop, the messages are all the more timely.

"I've met a lot of artists (in Cambodia) who want to speak out but are under a gag order," praCh says. "There's no balance. You're either rich or you're poor. I feel I have the opportunity to speak out."

And that's what he does in his third album, a double-disc - one in Khmer, one in English - entitled "Dalama: Memoirs of the Invisible War."

The album has been essentially done for a year now, but is still only available digitally on his Web site, while praCh negotiates with distributors to release the actual CDs.

In the interim between when the rough draft of "Dalama" first leaked and it's current iteration, there have been tweaks and changes, praCh's version of "Leaves of Grass," but the essential message has remained the same.

"Dalama" is praCh's most overtly political work, as he takes Cambodian leadership to task for the state of affairs in a country where he sees youth who are aching for change.

"The last two Dalamas were more about the killing fields and my past," praCh says. "This Dalama is more about the present and future."

And by having an album in both languages, praCh is able to deal with the dichotomy he feels as both a Cambodian and an American.

On the Khmer disc, praCh takes on a number of issues of modern Cambodia both directly, in songs such as the incendiary "I deClare war" and metaphorically in "Keeping it Reil."

On the English side, songs such as "Fragile" and "Therapeutic" rail against corruption of both sides of the Pacific from the ghettos of California to Cambodia.

Musically, the album is notable for its blending of Khmer classical and folk music with raw Western rap stylings.

Like many rappers, praCh is often a character in his own narrative, injecting himself into the songs. And sometimes it can be difficult to separate where the character and the person diverge.

So, when praCh writes, "I'm target for death, they want to delete my existence, I'm a high-risk threat, the leader of the resistance. The battle for tomorrow, its start today. Afraid of no one, that's just how I was raised," it can be hard to know where the lines merge and split.

As much as praCh says he's trying to make his stories less about himself, he just can't help it, because it his experiences that inform the work.

Recently praCh has been touring with his music, he has also been involved in several film projects and has been getting into script writing.

PraCh has several gigs in Long Beach later this month then travels to Jacksonville, Fla., where he will perform at Celebrate Asia 2010.

In a perfect world, praCh would like his music to inspire people to action. And if his words can't cause revolution, maybe at least, as he says in "Therapeutic" "my words are weapons turning music into medicine. it's ... Therapeutic."

greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291

Prach Ly: "I am a musician. I'm from Cambodia. My name is Prach. And I was born in a concentration camp during the killing field"

By Robin Chen Delos, VOA
Washington
08 October 2007

Prach Ly came to the United States as a child with his family to escape Cambodia's killing fields. He grew up in Long Beach, California where he started rapping in English and Khmer about Cambodia's genocide, his community and life as an immigrant. Then he became a star in Cambodia nearly overnight after he released a homemade CD. The press dubbed him the first Khmer rap star and credited him with bringing hip-hop to Cambodia.

Prach Ly recently took a break from working on his latest album to perform at Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where he spoke to VOA's Robin Chen Delos. Here he tells his own story.

"I am a musician. I'm from Cambodia. My name is Prach. And I was born in a concentration camp during the killing field.

Toward the end of the killing field our family escaped the war and went to the border of Thailand. And we stayed there at the border and we got sponsored to America,” Ly explains.

“And when I got to California in Long Beach everything wasn't all great or anything like that. It was poverty-stricken. There was gang activities. The back of our head was, you know, if you grow up past 18 years old you probably did pretty good because of all the activities there. We were ducking drive-by shootings and stuff like that.

But then that's when the whole poetry, that's when the whole hip-hop, that's when the whole rap music came. I was surrounded by that.

I used the karaoke equipment to record my music, my lyrics. I would go buy instrumental songs, and put my word over it. And I got a CD made.

The CD was like an autobiography, coming from the whole killing field process, all the way to America and the struggle in America. And for New Year I just passed it out. And a DJ from Cambodia, DJ Sop, he was there at the New Year. He took the CD back to Cambodia, he played it over the radio and everyone was calling in to ask who's the artist.

And then the government, they censored and they banned my music. And then some of the people who heard the music they argued, they said, 'Wait a minute, why are you banning his music? It's nothing in reference to the government -- it's just talking about history.' So now the people are going to the markets and starting asking [to ask] for it and buying the CDs.

And then Newsweek and Time magazine and Asia Week, they located me and they contacted me and they like, 'We just want to ask you a question: how do you feel about having the number one album in Cambodia?' I go, "What?!' You know, I never sent it there.

The important thing was the kids was asking the parents, it was more like an educational tool. They were asking the parents and asking the elders what had really happened during the killing fields,” he says proudly.

Concert held in Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington.

Hip-Hop Artist PraCh Ly Hits 'Hello VOA'

PraCh Ly, who has two previous albums in English, has said the capital "C" in the middle of his name if for "Cambodia."

Poch Reasey, VOA Khmer
Washington
07/05/2007

Click here to listen to Poch Reasey hosts PraCh Ly on 'Hello VOA' in Khmer
(Real Media Player required)

Cambodian-American rapper PraCh Ly told "Hello VOA" listeners Monday that he loves his work and does not care much whether he makes money.

Some of his songs highlight the social ills of Cambodia, the number of people living in poverty, for example, in the midst of corruption.

PraCh Ly is at work on his third album, he said, which he expects to come out in October, with both Khmer and American songs. He admits some people in Cambodia may not like his third album because he continues to describe social issues in Cambodia.

One listener asked PraCh to import his CDs for sale in Cambodia. The CDs can be purchased online for now, PraCh Ly said, at www.mujestic.com.

The CDs are also sold in stores in Long Beach, California. He was looking for help with distribution in Cambodia, he said.

Another listener asked PraCh Ly to translate his previous songs into Khmer because they focus on a wide range of social issues.

Many people influenced him, PraCh Ly said, including hip-hop artists in the United States and former Cambodian singers, such as the late Sin Sisamouth and Ros Sereisothea.

For additional information about PraCh Ly: www.mujestic.com