Dharamshala — Students for a Free Tibet-India and TSAMPA-Uniting Tibetan Performing Artists organised a concert entitled "Banned Music" to express its solidarity with the courageous voices of Tibetan artists and writers in Tibet, who have simply been persecuted by Chinese government for singing and writing for Tibet and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Students for a Free Tibet-India and TSAMPA-Uniting Tibetan Performing Artists organised a concert entitled “Banned Music” at the Bhagsu Hotel Ground, Mcleod Ganj, Dharamshala, HP, India, on July 4, 2025, from 6pm to 10pm. Over a hundred people, particularly young people, attended the concert.
The concert aims to to express its solidarity with the courageous voices of Tibetan artists and writers in Tibet, who have simply been persecuted by Chinese government for singing and writing for Tibet and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The Tibetan singers, artists and writers taking part in the concert were Tenchung, Khara Penpa, Loten Namling, Rigthar, Rinchen Dorjee, Tenzin Tsundue, Nyima Tsering, Sonam Tsering, Loyag Tashi, Youngykar (kyar) Dolma, Dawa Dolma, Sonam Dolma. They sang Tibetan songs from Tibet such as "The Sound of Unity-མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱི་རང་སྒྲ།", "Black Hat-ཞྭ་མོ་ནག་པོ།", "Harsh fate- ལས་དབང་བཙན་པོ།", "Excellent Lama-བླ་མ་བཟང་པོ།" "Victory of Tibet- བོད་རྒྱལ་ལོ" “Will Get Homeland Back-ཕ་ས་ཟིན་ཡོང་།” "People of Snowland-གངས་ཅན་པ།" and other Tibetan traditional songs and read peoms. Tenzin Choeyang, Sonam Phuntso and Lhakpa Tsering hosted the concert.
Tenzin Passang, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India, said," Our aim of this Banned Music Concert is to express our solidarity with the courageous voices of Tibetan artists and writers in Tibet, who have simply been persecuted by Chinese government for singing and writing for Tibet and His Holiness the Dalai Lama."
Tenzin Passang said, "since China illegally and forcibly occupied Tibet in the 1950s, the situation in Tibet has only worsened. It has invaded our country, seized our natural resources and is now attempting to eliminate our identity by forcing over a million Tibetan children into Chinese colonial boarding schools. But Tibetans, at home and in exile, continue to fight against the CCP and to protect and preserve their religion, culture and language. It is important that we continue to fight for our freedom and dignity."
"Although there is no freedom in Tibet, Tibetan writers, singers and artists are doing their best to show their aspirations, their hope for Tibet and the return of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama through their writings, poems, songs and other forms. Although they know they will be arrested, imprisoned and tortured, they sacrifice their lives for Tibet and His Holiness," she added.
"With this concert, we want to reconnect with our brothers and sisters in Tibet and sing their aspiration for freedom and call for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and hope it will become a bridge between Tibetans inside Tibet and those in exile," she concluded.
They also organised an exhibition of Tibetan singers who have been and still are imprisoned for their songs in support of Tibetan freedom, the protection of the Tibetan environment and the call for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, including Tsewang Norbu, who self-immolated in front of the Potala Palace on February 25, 2022 to protest the Chinese government's repressive policies in Tibet.
Gyegjom Dorjee, from Khyungchu county, Ngaba prefecture, Amdo region, detained by Chinese authorities in February 2024 for singing “Tearful deluge of a sorrowful song” on January 15, 2024. The lyrics read: "in this land where the victorious one is absent, leaders exist, but false ones. The Tibetans are bereft of direction, like a deer lost in the midst of a fog".
Lolo, from Yushul prefecture in the Amdo region, was arrested on April 19, 2012 and imprisoned for six years for singing “Raise the Tibetan flag, children of the Snowland ”. His other songs include Tibetan Independence, National Pride and the Tibetan Flag, Tribute to Tibetan Martyrs, Loyalty to Spiritual Leaders and more.
