Excerpt from Liner notes: ... Nomads can be found living throughout Tibet, though they are mostly concentrated on the northern plateau. They have long had a special culture of singing, nurtured during their hard and often lonely lives in the open grasslands.
On this CD you can hear nomadic songs from the Nagchu region, the Sertal grassland and the central Kham district. All of these regions share a common "mountain song" style of singing. This is characterized by melismatic and generously ornamented melodies which are sung in a free rhythm, often incorporating a wide vocal range. Individual melodies can vary significantly with each singer having his or her own way of performing a particular song. People can often be heard either singing or playing the flute, sometimes changing over from one to the other. The techniques that are employed by the performer are similar in both versions. This is clearly demonstrated by the song "Five different coloured prayer flags" from Sertal, played on the lingbu, a traverse flute. Each region has its own characteristic songs and these are further distinguished by the very different dialects in which they arc delivered. Although there are only some six million Tibetans living in and around Tibet, the contrasts between the various dialects mean that people from different regions are often unable to understand each other. Yet this is only to be expected if one bears in mind the size of the region and the difficulties involved in travelling around it. ...

This CD is a rare and fascinating document of Tibetan secular music. It will give an impression and first introduction to the rich genres of nomadic songs and urban music. Recorded by R. Zollitsch on a fieldwork trip to Tibet, winter 1997/1998.

mp3 · mountain song