Yungchen Lhamo The Voice of Tibet

Yungchen Lhamo The Voice of Tibet

OReilly Theatre July 17th 8pm

Yungchen Lhamo, Tibet’s internationally acclaimed diva and songwriter, will be making a return visit to Ireland in July 2005.

In concert, Yungchen performs a cappella and her beautifully evocative voice never fails to mesmerise her audiences – as those who attended her concerts in Limerick and Dublin last November can testify.

Born in Lhasa, her name was given to her when she was a baby by a Tibetan lama and translates as ‘Goddess of Song’ (or Melody). At the age of five Yungchen was sent with her family to a labour camp by the occupying Chinese authorities; her two eldest brothers died of malnutrition. She was brought up, and taught to sing, by her maternal grandmother, aunt and mother. At 13 years old, she had to begin working in a factory for a 60-hour week.

In 1989 she escaped from Tibet by walking the dangerous 1,000-mile journey across the Himalayas to reach Dharamsala, India, where she was encouraged to use her vocal talents by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and continued singing with the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts.

She later moved to Australia, where in 1995 she first performed with WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance) and produced her first CD, ‘Tibetan Prayer’, which was released through Natural Symphonies and won the Australian Recording Industry Award for Best World/Folk/Traditional Album.

Two more critically acclaimed albums, ‘Tibet, Tibet’ (1996), and ‘Coming Home’ (1998), have been released by Peter Gabriel’s Real World label. In September 2005, Real World will release her much-awaited fourth album, ‘Ma’ (‘Ah-ma’ is Tibetan for ‘Mother’), on which Annie Lennox and Joy Askew make guest appearances.

Yungchen’s music also appeared on Natalie Merchant’s platinum-selling ‘Ophelia’, the compilation release ‘Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women in Music’, and on the soundtrack of Brad Pitt’s movie, ‘Seven Years in Tibet’. She now lives in New York.
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