{"id":73355,"date":"2023-04-22T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=73355"},"modified":"2023-04-27T16:46:28","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T23:46:28","slug":"new-long-beach-symphony-show-explores-the-cambodian-american-experience-prach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/new-long-beach-symphony-show-explores-the-cambodian-american-experience-prach","title":{"rendered":"New Long Beach Symphony show explores the Cambodian-American experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Cambodian-American rapper praCh performed his career-making album, \u201cDalama,\u201d at the Art Theatre<\/a> four years ago, he swore it would be his last performance. After over 20 years of making music, Cambodia\u2019s first hip-hop star was ready to venture into other creative projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told myself I would retire from rapping at the Cambodia Town Film Festival. I did my album anniversary, and I had my friends, and we did a packed house show and it was great. And as I was hanging up the mic I was like, ‘I\u2019m done,’\u201d recalled praCh, whose full name is praCh Ly. \u201cAnd then one day I get an email from the symphony.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, April 29, praCh will be performing live at the Terrace Theater in the world premiere of \u201cKhmeraspora,\u201d a new musical performance of song, dance, spoken word and rap that tells the story of the Cambodian exodus to Long Beach in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge-led genocide in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

\"\"
In this file photo: Cambodian Film Festival co-founder and Rapper praCh performs \u201cThe Letter\u201d for the crowd at Saturday night, September 14, 2019 at the Art Theatre in Long Beach. Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The show, written and directed by praCh, is an unprecedented collaboration between the Long Beach Symphony and the Long Beach Cambodian community and includes three new compositions by renowned Cambodian composer Chinary Ung. Performed with 14 members of the Long Beach Symphony and the Ho Chan ensemble, the music showcases a uniting of traditional Cambodian and Western classical instruments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese pieces will unite the art forms and also honor each art form in itself,\u201d said Kelly Ruggirello, president of the Long Beach Symphony.<\/p>\n

The hour-long performance incorporates praCh’s most powerful lyrical works, with guest singers and dance performances, illustrating the collective intergenerational experience of Cambodian immigrants in their flight from the Khmer Rouge to their resettling in Long Beach, which presented new struggles for a community still trying to cope with the destruction of their homeland and lost loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first settled in Long Beach, we weren\u2019t put in a nice neighborhood, we got put into the projects. We were on government support, welfare and food stamps,\u201d praCh said. \u201cI became immune to drive-by shootings and gunshots and all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long Beach is home to the world\u2019s largest concentration of the Cambodian diaspora, and while much has changed for the better in the last 30 years, the community, praCh said, is still healing. To that end, the symphony hopes that this concert can contribute positively to the community’s future and help build a stronger relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way to celebrate, unite and also inspire other communities around the world to embrace and create these kinds of musical collaborations that could change lives and unite communities at a time when it\u2019s desperately needed,\u201d Ruggirello said.<\/p>\n

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The Modern Apsara Company, a local Cambodian classical dance company, rehearse for their upcoming performance in “Khmeraspora” Saturday, April 29, at the Terrace Theater. Photo by Robert Carleton-Chhaing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With inclusion in mind, the Long Beach Symphony is offering free admission to the show. Both the 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. shows are currently sold out (the shows sold out within days of announcements); however, guests are encouraged to RSVP to be added to a waitlist. No-show seats will be given to those on the waitlist the day of the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response has been overwhelming, probably one of the greatest highlights of my career so far,\u201d Ruggirello said.<\/p>\n

The day of the performances also features a Cambodian night market with 20 Cambodian restaurants and vendors participating. The event will also include an art show curated by local Cambodian artist Sayon Syprasoeuth, as well as dancing, music, poetry readings and book signings. The market will be open from 4-9 p.m.<\/p>\n

To commemorate this show and create a global presence, the symphony has brought on award-winning filmmaker Caylee So and documentarian Robert Carleton-Chhaing to create a feature-length documentary about the process of putting \u201cKhmeraspora\u201d together.  The documentary will feature conversations, meetings, rehearsals and the live performance of the show at the Terrace Theater. The film is expected to be released in the next year.<\/p>\n

For praCh, \u201cKhmeraspora\u201d represents a full circle moment in his life. In his youth, he remembered when symphony members would visit his school to perform. He loved the concerts, but his family couldn\u2019t afford to see the symphony\u2019s performances. Now, he\u2019s excited to share this labor of love with the entire Long Beach community to build empathy and understanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd at the end of the day, all I ask is that (audiences) get a better understanding of my people, my community and what we went through. I know that war affects everybody, not just Cambodians. But also, where\u2019s there\u2019s suffering is also healing. And right now we’re healing, and we want to unite and work with everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Long Beach Terrace Theater is at 300 E. Ocean Blvd. Click here<\/a> for more information about the show and to RSVP.<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the capitalization of praCh and the name of the Cambodia Town Film Festival.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 29, the Long Beach Symphony will debut “Khmeraspora,” a musical performance of song, dance, spoken word and rap that tells the story and collective experience of the Cambodian exodus to Long Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":73357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[8767],"class_list":["post-73355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-long-beach-symphony","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73355"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73537,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73355\/revisions\/73537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73355"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=73355"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=73355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}