ལྷག་དཀར་གྱི་གཞས་གསུམ། Three Lhakar Songs

There are many Tibets today – the occupied Tibet, the Tibet in exile, the Tibet in our hearts, the Tibet in transition and the online Tibet. All these Tibets are with us everyday. But it is the online Tibet, where everything converges - our thoughts, images, words and music. In this virtual world we talk, chat, debate, discuss, argue, sing, cry, shout, boast, snitch, pretend, upload, download, like and dislike.

This is a limitless world. Last night, I nearly got lost enjoying one song after another, until my eyes went red and spines hurt. I just had to stop but not before I found these three essential Lhakar songs, which talk about being Tibetan, speaking Tibetan and being aware about the past glory and future path.

This first song is by beautiful Tsewang Lhamo, a member (?) of the famous Acha Tsendep band. Lhamo these days increasingly sings incredible solo Tibetan songs such as the one below with deep message. 

If you are in New York, Tsewang Lhamo will be performing at Columbia University. The concert will take place on the World Human Rights Day, 10 December 2011, as a part of the Third International Tibetan Language conference.  (All lyrics in English are my rough translation.)

Soul of the Tibetans བོད་མིའི་བླ་སྲོག

Song by Tsewang Lhamo 

Snow mountains are my soul

Blue rivers is my lifeline,

My name is the Land of Snow

I am Tibetan. I speak Tibetan.

I love Tibet’s spiritual inheritance

I love Tibet’s art and culture

My name is the Land of Dharma

I am Tibetan. I study Tibetan.

My name is the Tibetan Plateau

I am a Tibetan girl. I love Tibet.

My ancestors were a monkey and an ogress

I am Tibetan. I speak Tibetan.

This second song by Choephel, who hails from Meldro Gongkar a small town near Tibet’s capital Lhasa, is about the importance of speaking in pure Tibetan. The song has very strong lyrics, which speak directly to you. ཀ་ཁ་ག་ང་ས། - Ka Kha Ga Nga / the essence of my being / the survival of our people sings Choephel.

Reminder དྲན་སྐུལ།

Song by Choephel

I have a source of livelihood inherited from by ancestors

I have a path to follow shown by my ancestors

I have a pledge to keep from my ancestors

I have a hope placed on me by my people –

Tibetan is my language 
The unchanging sound of my tongue

ཀ་ཁ་ག་ང་ས། (Ka Kha Ga Nga)

Is the essence of my being

The survival of our people –

let us speak in Tibetan

Speak in unmixed Tibetan

You may know many other languages

But when speaking to another Tibetan

Please speak in Tibetan

Speak in unmixed Tibetan.
We have a rich language

But this disease of mixing other languages

Is spreading like a plague.

My dear people from the Land of Snow

Know that

The very survival of our race

Depend on our language.

The last song is by Choegon or popularly known as Little Kunga because he is the most well known student of the famous singer Kunga. This 15-year-old singing sensation, my friend Jigdal tells me, is also called the Tibetan Justin Bieber. On closer, you will see that Choegon looks far smarter than Bieber. I can definitely say: Bye Bieber! Hello Choegon!

Listen - ᫳མᨋ᪱ᩚᨕᨵᨋᩖ᪄

Song by Choegon or Little Kunga

This great path of the non-violence is 

Shown by our great septuagenarian grandfather,

Thus, if you are your father’s son

Listen! Do not ever forget this path from your heart.

This growing youth of the Tibetan language

If you realize its importance,

Listen! Please do not ever mix other languages with it.

This sixteen code of the moral conduct is

The legacy of our great forefathers

If you are a descendent of our great ancestors, 

Listen! Do not ever forget these ethics.

If you are a Tibetan

Protect, promote and advance

Our language, culture and spiritual traditions.

Now that you have heard three incredible songs about being Tibetan, speaking Tibetan and feeling Tibetan, make sure to speak proper Tibetan to your friends, and please avoid CRAZY sentences like these:

ཁ་སེང་འཇིགས་མེད་ཀྱིས་cheese cakeའཁྱེར་སླེབས་སོང་། ་དཔེ་tasty་འདུག
ང་ཚོ་busགཞོན་ནས་Bazaar ལ་འགྲོ་དང་།  
བློ་བཟང་table  set བྱས་ནས་ TV onགྱིས་དང་།
རིག་གྲོལ་དང་པདྨ་coupleརེད། ཁོ་གཉིས་love marriage བྱས་པ་རེད།
document འདི་copyབྱས་ནས་ཁྱེར་ཤོག་དང་།