In our fourth episode, Adam meets musician and self-described ‘accidental activist’ Tenzin Choegyal. Accidental activist is an incredibly humble description for a man who has done so much in his life to give voice to the story of Tibetans in exile.
Tenzin was born in Tibet, but only lived there for the first few years of his life. His journey has taken him to Nepal, India, Australia, and all over the world.
Never one to follow convention, Tenzin’s rebellious nature and cheeky sense of fun have helped him craft a unique path in life. He’s created his own style of music, which has led him to play some of world’s biggest stages and to collaborate with other artists at the top of his field. And it is through his music that he advocates for his people.
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From the episode:
You can learn more about Tenzin’s life and music at his website http://www.tenzinchoegyal.com/
Tenzin’s journey back to Mustang, the Nepalese town on the border with Tibet, in 2014 was captured by ABC’s Foreign Correspondent in the episode ‘The Road’. You can watch this here – https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/the-road/5732024
Watch an example of one of Tenzin’s many collaborations, this time with William Barton (didgeridoo, Australia) and Baatasukh Batsukh (vocals and morin khuur, Mongolia), here – https://youtu.be/8NmOY-dVSew?list=UUa5HBfu1q27U72CFiFGh6lw
Tenzin collaborated with Phillip Glass to compose the soundtrack for the documentary ‘The Last Dalai Lama?‘, You can check out one of the tracks from the album, ‘Heart Strings’, here – https://youtu.be/JQo4lvNElNc
HUGE congrats to Tenzin Choegyal for the incredible news of his 2021 Grammy nomination for the album, “Songs from the Bardo”. Tenzin and fellow creators Jesse Paris Smith and Laurie Anderson were nominated in the category of “Best New Age Album”. Winners will be announced at the 63rd Grammy Awards on Sunday, March 14, 2021.
Tenzin noted in relation to this nomination, “This album is very close to my heart and labour of love with support from so many amazing friends. May it benefit many beings.”
May it benefit many beings indeed!
First two photos and the final photo are by Rhianon Whitaker. The photo on the left of the middle row is by Michael Murchie and the phone on the right of the middle row is by Steven Sebring.
Episode Credits
Sound is mixed by David Gaylard.
This episode is sponsored by Multicultural Australia, a charity welcoming refugees, people seeking asylum, international students and other new arrivals to Queensland with the goal of creating a fairer, more prosperous society for all Queenslanders. Learn more by joining the Multicultural Australia community at www.multiculturalaustralia.org.au
All music is from Free Music Archive. We have cut and/or looped sections from the following tracks in this episode:
- Deep Taro, by Tenzin Choegyal.
- Song used with Tenzin’s permission. Find links and contacts on his website, https://www.tenzinchoegyal.com
- Transitioning, by Lee Rosevere
- Released under a Creative Commons License
- Waterbeat, by DJ Lengua
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
- Four Years, by Monplaisir
- Released under a CCO 1.0 Universal license
- A Perceptible Shift, by Andy G. Cohen
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Our logo and graphic design is by Mo Zaidan.
We have also been helped and supported by a generous and talented community of people. For a full list of credits visit www.inmycountrypodcast.com/credits
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