2007.02.18 Street Singing Boy in Lhasa, Tibet

This is a clip from HDV footage filmed in Lhasa, Tibet during the Tibetan New Year in 2007. During the New Years season, pilgrims from around Tibet gather in Lhasa, the Tibetan regional capital, to visit holy sites. Street peddlers, entertainers and beggars throng the streets to financially benefit from these pilgrims and tourists. Monks are seen to give generous hand-outs to the poor during the New Years.

We were solicited by a family of street musicians, who could speak broken English in addition to Tibetan and Chinese. The young boy alternates between Chinese popular songs and Tibetan songs. We later found out that one of the songs was "Xiao Wei - Little Rose", a love song originally sung by a Malaysian Chinese pop star. Seeing that our crew was from the West, the boy alters part of the Mandarin lyrics to sing, "I wish could go to America with you", which causes the audience to laugh.

The next song that he sings is in a non-standard Tibetan dialect, and our translators could not make out the words from the recording.

Towards the end of the clip, a local Chinese policeman carrying a long stick approaches the family, and the young boy is instructed by his mother to hide the money he has received. The tension among the police and the multitudes of pilgrims is tangible during this season.

The young boy's singing in this clip has since been re-mixed into a station ID sound byte at the podcast "i-morley". It has been heard by thousands of listeners. Other sounds recorded in Tibet are available for download at our official site, naturally copy right free.

For more information and videos, visit:
http://www.tibetronica.com/

*Update*

It turned out that one of the songs that the boy sings was originally by a Tibetan singer in exile. The singer is Phurbu T. Namgyal, and the song title is "Nyamdhu Dro".

A video of his performance can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjIQIN1TBwc

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[aerorose6635]

hey, tibetronica

the last song that the child sings is a tibetan song made in india. it's by purbu t. namgal. and translated it means lets go together to the flower garden.

[tibetronica]

thanks for the post.  I wrote to confirm this.

[tibetronica]

I found him. We are now in correspondence. Thank you for the heads up.

[lacycek]

Chinese-time-to-go-home

[namtibet]

now white people they know. what is reallyty. you can tell next what is reall

[MrPortotibetan]

CHINA SHOULD REALIZE THAT TIBET BEFORE CHINESE ACCOUPIED NEVER BEEN LIKE THIS WITH BULK OF STREET BEGGERS SCECIALLY CHILDREN AND NEVER DIED SINGLE BY STARVATION IN TIBET'S HISTORY.. CHINA'S JUST WORD OF MODERN TIBET AND JUST BUILD SOME NEW BUILDINGS ARE JUST TO SHOW BUT IN REALITY PEOPLE IN TIBET IS SUFFERING AND STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE AND FULL OF STREET BEGGERS...WAKE UP CHINA AND SAVE TIBET

[MrPortotibetan]

ITS REALLY VERY SAD TO SEE HOW CHILDREN IN TIBET IS GOING THROUGH.. THIS VIDEO SHOWS HOW REALITY IN TIBET NOW.EVEN CHINA BURSTING OUT WITH MODERN TIBET,IN TIBET HISTORY NEVER BEEN BEGGER STREET UNTILL CHINESE CAME INTO TIBET..I LIK ETHE T.Y.C TITLE(STRANGER IN MY OWN COUNTRY) U WILL NEVER FIND TIBETAN CHILDREN STREET BEGGERS REST OF THE WORLD BUT ONLY UNDER CHINESE RULE INSIDE TIBET..LET TIBET TO ENJOY OUR OWN FREEDOM OF LIFE AND SPEECH...SAVE TIBET

[rastari1]

Must respect to all the tibetan peoples and Free Tibet 

[Kalzang59]

Oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!!! my poor brothers n sisters in Tibet. It seems lhasa is full of tibetan beggers..............i cant see such young kids like this begging on the lhasa street. They should be in school. China is not looking after these young tibetansssssssssss. FREEEEEEEEEEEE TIBETTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[MrThupsyt]

poor boy! this is just the tip of iceberg in Chinese controlled Tibet. 

[ngawangish]

oh my god, he sings so cute. ohhhh so many beggars in lhasa . so sad.

[myfreetibet]

ill help him get to Dharamsala.