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Dharamshala hosts Tibetan Music Awards night
by Hemant Chauhan

     Dharamshala: Psychedelic lights, sterling performances and an enthusiastic audience made up for the second annual Tibetan Music Awards recently in Dharamshala, the adopted home of the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama. Forty-five nominees vied for the coveted Awards that recognized the best in existing and upcoming talent in Tibetan music and culture. "We are trying to honour the artists who have been working hard and are living in our society. It is important that we recognize their hard work and talent. So that is why we organised these Tibetan music awards," Lobsang Wangyal, Producer of the Awards, said. Wangyal said four new categories had been added to the existing seventeen categories of Awards that included Best Male Artist, Best Female Artist, Best Album and the Lifetime Achievement Award. Veteran Tibetan artist, Ama Da Chung, young at heart for her 81 years, received the award for her lifetime contribution to Tibetan music. Chung, who is admired for her undying commitment to the growth of Tibetan music, said Tibetan music and culture had its own identity and nobody could copy it. "It is nice that the new generation are taking interest in Indian and other songs but somehow one should keep own identity as it is their strength," Chung said.

     The star-studded event attracted Tibetan performers from neighbouring Nepal and several other countries including Germany. Winners were chosen by an impartial system of voting through publications as well as the internet. Over 150,000 Tibetans have taken refuge in India since 1959 when the Dalai Lama and his followers fled their homeland, after an abortive uprising against China. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans, is revered as the reincarnation of a long line of Buddhist kings. In 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for advocating a non-violent campaign for genuine autonomy to preserve Tibetan language and culture. The spiritual leader has always maintained he favours a mutually agreeable solution that entails greater autonomy, but not independence, for Tibetan regions.

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