Creator

Laura Mam

Laura Mam is a Cambodian American singer-songwriter and producer who founded Baramey Production in Cambodia.

Laura Mam (ឡូរ៉ា ទេវរី ម៉ម, Laura Tevary Mam) is a Cambodian American singer, songwriter and music producer who co-founded Baramey Production.[1] She has been releasing music since 2008, and the AXEAN Festival counts her among the first singer-songwriters to win nationwide popularity with original music in Khmer.[2][3]

Early career

Mam grew up in San Jose, California, and earned an anthropology degree at the University of California, Berkeley, where Cambodia was her area of study. She studied Khmer in college and had planned to go to Cambodia as an archaeologist.[1][4] She began posting music on YouTube in April 2008.[3] Mam wrote a love song, and Thida Buth translated it into Khmer. The music video, uploaded to YouTube, became an overnight sensation in Cambodia.[5]

After graduating, Mam formed the all-female band The Like Me's in Cambodia, and in late 2013 Meet Me in the Rain, her first solo album, came out.[4] She moved to Cambodia in 2013 by her own account; CBS gives the year as 2014.[1][5] Mam has said that she and other artists of the original music movement used Facebook and YouTube to push it forward.[1] Mam has said the market was then dominated by karaoke-style covers and pirated music.[6]

Music

Mam writes original Khmer-language songs that combine pop, dance and hip hop with Khmer instrumentation.[2] She plays guitar, and also some piano, bass, drums and tro, a Khmer fiddle, which she learned while living in Phnom Penh.[3] Her songs include "Just Like You" with VannDa, "Fate" (ព្រហ្មលិខិត) with VannDa and "Srey Saart" (ស្រីស្អាត) with Sok Pisey.[2] She has performed at the 1River Music Festival during the Water Festival, the Smart Mega Concert and the Anchor New Year's Eve concert of 2020.[2]

She has served as a brand ambassador for Pepsi, Adidas, Porsche, Sony, Smart, Vivo and iflix.[2] She has also owned restaurants.[1]

Baramey Production

Mam and Thida Buth co-founded Baramey Production to support original Cambodian talent. Baramey is the Khmer word for "sacred power."[1][6] Its artists have included the hip-hop duo Kmeng Khmer.[7] The company manages artists and produces music, film, events and marketing for Cambodian and international audiences.[1] Its artists work in hip-hop, rock, psychedelic music and traditional Khmer styles.[5] As chief executive, Mam represented the full-time artists VannDa, Vanthan, Sophia Kao, Polarix and Khmer1Jivit as of 2024.[6] Baramey released VannDa's Time To Rise, a rap song about artists pursuing their dreams.[5]

Panellists at a table with a red cloth, a woman in white beside a man speaking into a microphone.
Laura Mam and Allen Tan on the panel Unlocking Cambodia's Creative Economy, Phnom Penh, 2016.

In 2021 Baramey signed a partnership with ADA Asia, part of Warner Music Group.[7] Mam has said it was the first Cambodian label to do so, and that the deal lets its artists' copyrights be distributed and protected worldwide.[5][1] Baramey also took part in Warner Music Group's deal with TikTok.[1] Mam has pressed for stronger protection and enforcement of intellectual property in Cambodia's music industry. She has named the lack of publishing and royalty systems as a major challenge.[1] As of 2024 she had paused her own artistic career to focus on Baramey's growth.[1][6]

Recognition

  • Arts and Culture prize, Women of the Future Awards South East Asia, Singapore (2018)[2][1]
  • Goodwill ambassador of Cambodia to Japan, appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts (2023)[1]

Works


See also

References 7
  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Focus Cambodia, Making a mark in the Khmer global music business (January 26, 2024)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 AXEAN Festival, Laura Mam artist profile
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Tharum, How Laura Mam is using music to reconnect with her Cambodian roots (May 12, 2010)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Phnom Penh Post, 7 Questions with Laura Mam (December 20, 2013)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 CBS San Francisco, Bay Area mother and daughter help lead music resurgence in Cambodia (May 16, 2022)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Focus Cambodia, 6 to know (May 15, 2024)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Music Week, ADA Asia partners with Baramey - the first major international tie-up for a Cambodian label (August 13, 2021)
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This page was last edited on 22 October 2026, at 04:41.