Tibetan music

A quick note on the karmapa article for my aunt Linda: nytimes did a good job of getting the sentiments of the people here, although there is less of a sense that the indian govt is hostile toward Tibetans in exile (although there is fear of that, and the organizers of the protest were extremely thankful towards indian police and govt). Everyone thinks it's ridiculous that the karmapa would be a chinese spy, because apparently when he was 11 he threw down a chinese prepared speech and walked out of a hall in Beijing. He also left footprints and handprints in rock. We may get an audience with him, which would be awesome.

Yesterday we had a guest speaker-an american who went on this program 4 years ago and is currently trying to be a Tibetan pop singer. She sang at a nightclub in Tibet, then worked as an english teacher and got deported by the chinese. We learned a lot about how Tibetan artists utilize different symbols to express displeasure with chinese rule and sadness at the Dalai lama's absence. In the past year, though, the messages have gotten less veiled and more direct, which is super interesting, and she played us some videos available online that have english subtitles. Even with my limited knowledge I could tell that the sentiments are powerful and moving, and also dangerous. She said 75 percent of pop singers get arrested, which is crazy. She was arrested and is still trying to go back to Tibet.

We went to the golden temple this past weekend, and I have too much to say about it which is why I haven't written yet. I also have sweet pics but those will have to wait for better internet.

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