Jamyang and Yangchen

That is why they settled down in Dharamsala, where the residence of His Holiness is situated now. Jamyang and Yangchen where among the founders of the musical group “Ako Pema”, which from the very beginning was supposed to preserve the singing tradition of Amdo province. In 2000 they were lucky to show their art to Dalai-lama and after they had the audience with him. For the artists personal meeting with His Holiness is the source of great inspiration, a tremendous impetus to do everything that is possible to preserve evanescent tradition of ancient Tibetan nomadic chanting…

When I was little we sang beautiful and very old songs. Here one can hear them everywhere; we live in such an environment, even now, when Tibet has difficult times…

Tibetans never sing about love in the villages, in the families and on the streets… These songs are performed only high in the mountains. A boy and a girl go to the mountains to pasture sheep and yaks, there they meet and sing to each other. Often a real love starts from these songs. Everything is veiled and implicit in them. It is the language of bright metaphors and gentle hints. This is the main difference of Tibetan singing poetry and western texts of the songs. In Tibet, even in the love lyrics one never says directly: I love you. Everything is expressed through comparison, analogy. “You are a high mountain, and I am an eagle, flying among mountain ranges, looking the place to land at…” In western songs the words are like the burst of machine-gun fire. So direct, point-blank. It’s strange for Tibetans to hear this. To my mind in western tradition the main role play musical instruments and arrangement. The voice power is not the main thing.

In Tibet it’s different; the power of voice is the main thing here. If I sing, I should be heard distinctly. My voice should sound loudly without any microphones…

As Dalai-lama says, Tibet is the country, that can’t be compared to any other on the earth. This is the country of nomads with their immense flocks of sheep and yaks. But the most amazing are the snow mountains. Even the long life prayer of Dalai-lama starts with the words: “In Tibet, the country, surrounded with snow mountains, you are the only source of wellbeing and happiness…” It seems that there are no mountains like this anywhere in the world.

My parents always told me: “We have a very big family, many children, and we are elderly people and we won’t have chance to meet Dalai-lama. But if anyone of you will see him, it would be a great luck for the whole family”.

At home we had a picture of Dalai-lama, and it was taken out very rarely, only to bless the children. They put the picture to the child’s head, blessed him and then took it away, back and deep in the box. When we were small, the parents were afraid of telling us about Dalai-lama. But then I grew up and started to ask the questions, and when I knew the truth I started to ask them to let me go to India. They were worried about me and didn’t let me go. But when I was sixteen, I left home…

At the audience Dalai-lama asked us: “Are you all from Amdo?” We answered: ”Yes”. “I’m also from Amdo, - he said, - and I’m very glad, that you sing songs and perform dances of your province. Never loose your courage and never stop your efforts. Doesn’t matter how difficult the task in front of you is, it can be done gradually. Don’t hope to have a fast success. You should come gradually to your success”. We were happy to hear his words and realized that we have future…