Tibet Freedom Music

March 10 is annual Tibetan uprising day. A friend of mine drove me down to Salt Lake this past Saturday, and we got to meet and spend some quality time with folks from the SLC Tibetan community. It was wonderful get to know some local Tibetans and friends of Tibetans - I had no idea there was a community in the US this active outside of the large coastal cities.

One of the most inspiring and interesting parts of the day was getting to stand on the steps of the Utah Capitol and hear the group sing three songs in Tibetan. This was my first time hearing live Tibetan music. Thankfully, translations were passed out for two of the three songs, for the benefit of Westerners and the Tibetan kids who don't know their heritage language very well. I forgot to bring those papers with me to school today, so I will post those up when I get the chance.

There was one other, but it was a prayer and I can't remember which one (there are a jillion prayer songs on youtube), so I will have to find out from Pema and see if I can find that too.

In order to try and preserve whatever internet neutrality I have left, I won't say much more except that it was a moving experience to see how real the "Free Tibet" movement still is, especially for the exiles, in a world where "Free Tibet" is often nothing more than a hip slogan to put on the back of your station wagon. I don't know how it will work out, or what steps need to be taken to help China and Tibet be reconciled, but I do know that the problem is very real on all sides of Tibet's borders.