Tibetan Jam of the Summer 2007

The man to the left was THE hottest act of the summer in Lhasa.

His VCD-- the preferred format for music in Tibet, with videos accompanying each song-- features none of the convenient English subtitling of the other hot acts of Summer '07, like Drigung's "Pleasant Song", Pema'z's "Dream Lover", or Phurbu T. Namgyal's "Love Story", so I have no idea what his name is, or what the songs are about, but give it a listen and you'll agree it doesn't matter too much.

The man who I've labeled "Mystery Tibetan Superstar" in my mp3 tags owned the airwaves for the three weeks we spent there, and the song below was the main reason why (though he has others too...)

It starts out with some traditional drum and clang before quickly getting into it-- a club beat, some cheap synths, and a killer "rapping" section where our hero does some kind of background Tibetan yodel that sends chills up my spine. The overall effect is one of horses, horses galloping through the club.

The best conditions under which to experience this track are this:
Find a mini-bus full of chain-smoking Tibetans who know all the words, then find a crazy driver who speeds up the side of mountains on skinny roads with no railway, then crank it over blown out speakers as you pass a car around a blind curve, thinking, "This is it, the last song I will ever hear!" Yesss!

http://czekaj.com/plunge/AVSEQ04.mp3

(thanks for the hosting jef)