If any of the kids who live near me grow up to have the desire to do foreign travel or develop an interest in threatened cultures, I guess I might be a little bit responsible. At the very least my neighbor kids are likely living with some very exotic musical ear worms this summer. This is all attributable to CDs I’ve been giving away as gifts -- a recording of children’s songs sung in Tibetan.
The songs are simple tunes that can help a child (or sometimes-adult, like me) learn to count in the Tibetan language, or learn Tibetan words for the seasons of the year. There is a song about peace, and another about the beautiful mountains and landscape in Tibet. The melodies are sweet and I for one can’t stop listening to the recording. I play the CD over and over again.
My friends in the Seattle-area Tibetan community recently hosted a CD release party for the recording artist, Jhola (also known as Techung,) whose new album, Semshae (“Heart Songs”) is the musician’s effort to support and help sustain Tibetan culture. The local Tibetan children sang along with Jhola at the party, and the innocent little voices enchanted all of us in the audience.
Here’s a link to a video about Jhola’s CD project. I encourage you to give it a listen:
