Yamdrok Tso — Holy Lake in Tibet. Photo by Peter Vigier
Yesterday, listening to NPR I stumbled upon the story of a young woman and her crusade to preserve Tibetan music. You can listen by clicking on the button below:
Aside from Dawa Drolma’s own story of struggle and overcoming tremendous obstacles in her short life, it made me think about the struggle artistic forms go through. There are similarities between species evolution and artistic evolution, between the rise and fall of species and the rise and fall of artistic forms. Survival of the fittest. Though I have never believed in the inevitability of evolutionary outcomes.
While I celebrate and revel in American musical forms such as Jazz, Swing, Blues and Rock N Roll, listening to a story like Dawa’s speaks to the price of dominance. The power of American music has all but drowned out traditional music in more than one culture. And that is a serious tragedy. Adding to the obstacles in the way of saving Tibetan music is the political situation surrounding that country. Ever since its takeover by the Chinese in 1950, Tibetan culture has suffered a kind of siege. Oppression and suppression of their traditions have gone on for decades. Those brave souls, like Dawa, who work so hard to preserve and protect, do so against tremendous odds, and they should be honored and supported.
This is an example of what they hope to preserve. It’s striking how close the sound is to Native American music and chant .…
