A musician on a mission

Picture: Robbin Thomson on the roof of his recording studio.

Robbin Thompson song is a theme against human trafficking in Cambodia

By MELISSA RUGGIERI
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
If it weren't for the theme song from "The Jeffersons," Robbin Thompson might never have seen Cambodia.
That finger-snapping ditty from the'70s, its perky chorus a declaration of hope and change, crept into the subconscious of Marielle Sander Lindstrom a few months ago, awakening her at 1 a.m. at her home in Cambodia.
Lindstrom works for The Asia Foundation as chief of party for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Her current focus is the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Program in Cambodia, and to revitalize the anti-trafficking message, she wanted to find a lively song that "had the feeling of a Coca-Cola commercial -- lots of positive energy -- a big splash," she said.
She raced to her computer and immediately searched the words "movin' on up." Hundreds of song titles popped up, including a cover version of the song by Thompson, one of Richmond's most revered singer-songwriters, who recorded the theme as a bonus track on his 2002 album, "The Vinyl Years."
Lindstrom e-mailed Thompson, asking for permission to use the song for the anti-trafficking campaign.
"I thought it would take me at least six months to track him down and that my e-mail would immediately be rejected," she said in an e-mail interview.
After fatefully checking his spam folder, where Lindstrom's e-mail had landed, Thompson responded to her query, explaining that he hadn't written "Movin' On Up," so she would have to embark on the time-consuming task of tracking down the song's publisher to get permission.
But Thompson also offered an alternative.
He sent Lindstrom an audio file of his "Move on Down the Line," from his current album, "Just a Blur in the Rearview."
"She liked it even better," Thompson said.
Lindstrom concurred: "It was perfect for a feel-good song that was strong and positive, but for Cambodia, we needed to speed it up."
Several e-mails later, Thompson suggested adding Cambodian musicians and a children's chorus to the song. Several months later, he left Richmond for an airport tour of New York to Bangkok, Thailand, to Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia.
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Thompson's primary mission during his 18-day November stay with his wife, Vicki, was to rework his song to Cambodian standards and enlist the vocal assistance of local children.
About 14 of the kids who provided backing vocals attended the Northbridge International School in Phnom Penh and spoke English, but most others, who sang the Cambodian version in Khmer, lived at a haven called Friends International. "They are homeless, but it's not like the homeless here." Thompson said. "It's more accepted, in a way, and you're not freaked out by it because it's just so prevalent. It just is what it is."
The kids were mostly chosen by a studio employee familiar with their singing abilities, and some auditioned for Thompson, who gave them all harmonicas at the end of the session.
His bigger task, though, was to rewrite some of the song's harmless-to-American-ears lyrics to conform to a Cambodian's precise interpretations.
"We changed the lyrics to be more positive and direct, something like 'moving forward with joy' in the Cambodian version to relate to family and a sense of community. All of that was relative to, if you have a strong family, you won't be a victim of human trafficking," Thompson said. "When you're trying to fight the good fight, you don't want to upset the government, and different things mean different things to nongovernment people. Even the word 'change' could be misinterpreted. It's an election year [in Cambodia] and the guy presently in power is a good guy, so it was a concern that the word 'change' could be taken as wanting to start a revolution."
A couple of weeks ago, Thompson learned that more editing will be done to the song because the phrase "oh, yeah," a prominent part of the chorus, has a sexual connotation in Khmer.
Incidentally, the original version of "Move on Down the Line" just won Best Gospel Song at the seventh annual Independent Music Awards.
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Though Thompson's travel expenses were paid by The Asia Foundation, he gave the organization the use of his song for free and volunteered his time. Both his In Your Ear Studio and Richmond's Park Group production facility provided services free or at a reduced rate.
"I'm doing this because I got sucked into the cause. It's also a wonderful thing to do and go see a place I never would have gone. I have a whole new outlook on that part of the world," he said.
The official kickoff of the new anti-trafficking campaign is slated for mid-February, and Thompson plans to return to Cambodia for the occasion.
Lindstrom says she is working with the National Task Force Against Human Trafficking to create a dance to supplement the song and hopes to enlist a corporation to help produce an accompanying music video -- the Cambodian version of karaoke.
"It's music put to video with the words on the screen to communicate a message, and it's seen on TV," Thompson said of this karaoke. "They're going to simulcast it in Phnom Penh as well as D.C. through the U.S. Agency for International Development."
Lindstrom said the song also will be distributed through the provincial governor's offices in the 24 provinces of Cambodia and become part of workshops and training videos for the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Program.
But even though his song will constitute a significant portion of an international campaign, Thompson is more philosophical about his Cambodian adventure and what he experienced.
"No matter what you hear or read about a country, if you do go there, you'll find out that it's not the way they say and that people are people everywhere," he said. "The people there are wonderful, no matter if they were people in high places or living in the street. I felt the same warmth for all of them." Contact Melissa Ruggieri at (804) 649-6120 or mruggieri@timesdispatch.com.