Backstage

See a multimedia version of this story at this link.
 


Once again, the Cambodian American artists from the Washington DC area are on the road. On May 8, they traveled to Richmond, Virginia, to perform at a fundraising event. For the artists who were born in Cambodia, it's another routine, performing a classical dance they have surely performed hundreds of times before. For the younger ones, born in the US, it's a sort of maiden voyage, as this time they are performing a folk dance on their own. They have made the trip to Richmond by themselves, without the elder ones, carrying a legacy that was passed from generation to generation. Little fish growing bigger...

Cambodian Masters, Stories Told...

See the multimedia introduction piece of this project at this link.

This project features 7 Cambodian masters in their specific art.
Meet each of them through a multimedia portrait (photos + interview) at the following links:

Socheatah Ung

Ny Jewell

Masady Mani

Viphas Eng

Phutyrith Sek

Chum Ngek

Kantya Nou

Archival pictures in this stories are from photographers Dominique de Rivaz, Jean-Jacques Kurz and Robert Trippett whose contribution to this project and multimedia pieces are greatly appreciated, thanks a lot!


From the Cambodian refugee camps of the Thai border in 1979 to America today, there’s still thousands of stories that must be told.
All the confirmed artists that I have met at the Cambodian temple of Silver Spring, Maryland these last two years have compelling stories… Most of them have fled Cambodia while the Vietnamese took over the country and the Khmer Rouge loosing it. Several ended up meeting together in Kao-I-Dang refugee camp where they were eager to bring back the Cambodian living arts alive. After a few months, a group of 30 families of artists was admitted in the United States, among the first Cambodian refugees accepted in the US. They settled in Maryland and started a new life in the early 80s. For the last 30 years now they have challenged the odds, going back to school, looking for jobs to support their family and raising their children. Still they continued practicing their art, sharing the tradition to a younger generation of Cambodian Americans.

Boomer, a returnee rapping destiny

See a multimedia version of this story at this link.

Boomer is 27 years old. He was born in a refugee camp on the Thai border and arrived in the United States when he was just a baby. He has lived in Stockton, California. In 2003, after a couple of years spent in a Californian jail, he got deported back to Cambodia, in the “6th group” of returnees. Boomer is one of the 212 returnees who have already been deported back to a native country that they barely know – if not at all – when they arrive on the Cambodian soil. After his arrival, Boomer quickly realized that he couldn’t give up hope and looked forward to reconstruct a new life in Phnom Penh. Though it’s not easy at all, Boomer – in comparison with other returnees - hasn’t done too bad, even if he admits still struggling to make ends meet, support his family and the project that he has started.

Boomer has created his own organization, “A+ Entertainment”, certainly inspired by the success of KK and his organization “Tiny Toons”. Boomer is an artistic producer, mixer and DJ, but most of all he is an educator and role model for the young boys he brings off the streets of Phnom Penh, where he gives them a chance or at least a ticket to the growing rap-hip-hop-DJ club scene in Cambodia.

The “Khmer Tassou”, four boys who dream of being under the television spotlights, working under the mentoring and tutoring of Boomer, an older brother or a dad they may not have at home.

In the studio, the “Khmer Tassou” are working on their texts. The four boys don’t cheat under Boomer’s instructions; they think and write conscientiously with Boomer behind them.

Poeun Sophon Pheap, 16, alias “DJ Shadow”, another singer at working in Boomer’s studio.