Bay Area mother / daughter help lead music resurgence in Cambodia
SAN JOSE (KPIX) -- A Bay Area mother and daughter are leading the way, as an explosion of new music is coming out of Cambodia after being silenced for years.
Laura Mam did not set out to become a Cambodian pop singer-songwriter. But then, the UC Berkeley anthropology graduate grabbed her guitar one day at her San Jose home 12 years ago.
"I remember thinking, 'I'd really love to see an original music song but I don't know how to write on Khmer,' so I asked, 'Hey, Mom, do you want to write a song together? Do you want to try it?'" Mam remembered.
Mam wrote a love song.
Her Mom, Thida Buth, translated it into in her native Khmer language.
Their music video became an overnight sensation with 75,000 YouTube hits in Cambodia.
"We had this incredible run where it just blew up and people called me later and were like, 'Hey, can you come to Cambodia and do music?'" Mam said.
Buth fled her native Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge took over. The brutal regime crushed the music industry, leaving only pirated American karoake tunes.
"We lost the sound when the Khmer Rouge killed most of the artists, so now we are helping to bring the Cambodian sound to modernize it," Buth told KPIX 5.
Mam moved to Cambodia in 2014. Buth travels back and forth from the Bay Area.
The pair started their own company: Baramey Production to support young artists creating original Cambodian music.
"Baramay means achieving goodness with good actions. So we're trying our best," said Buth.
Baramey's music revolution reverberates on social media with 15 artists and 20 albums.
From hip-hop and rock, to psychedelic, to traditional Khmer with a modern twist.
"This gave these children the opportunity to write new music," explained Buth.
Many are noticing. Mam said Baramey became the first Cambodian label to sign with ADA, a Warner Music subsidiary.\
Another high point: one of Baramay's singles, "Time to Rise", got a record-breaking 89 million views across southeast Asia.
The rap song is about artists pursuing their dreams.
Mam said, "It was like a coming out party for Cambodia, I think."
She shared her music as guest speaker in Professor Dr. Jonathan Lee's Asian American Studies class at San Francisco State University.
Lee had his father listen to her tunes.
"It brought him some joy," said Lee. And it gave Lee a glimpse into his family's past.
Lee said his father never spoke of Cambodia, and his parents never even told him he was part Cambodian until he was an adult.
The new songs about the Cambodian American experience are opening doors for the younger generation to learn about their family histories and uncover the trauma many of their parents have buried.
"It does provide a path toward healing and a path toward reconciliation," said Lee.
Mam affirmed, "Music is not just entertainment. Music is dialogue space. It's healing space. It's reconciliation space."
It's a space mother and daughter are filling fast, re-claiming their art, creativity, and culture with each new song.