Friday, December 4, 2009

Update on Tibetan Singer Tashi Dondrup

According to an article published today in The Times newspaper:
"Chinese authorities have arrested a popular young Tibetan singer, accusing him of composing subversive songs. 
Tashi Dondrup was detained yesterday afternoon while in hiding in the western city of Xining, capital of Qinghai province, where he had taken refuge after the authorities banned his music."
The Times article was also posted on Woeser's blog today with Woeser writing the same information in Chinese and also posting a link to Tashi Dondrup's music videos on a Chinese YouTube type website called Tudou: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/5TylQff3Cy0/

In February this year, High Peaks Pure Earth translated a blogpost by Jamyang Kyi about Tashi Dondrup that she had written on February 11 in which she recounted hearing that a singer named Tashi Dondrup had been arrested. However, the blogpost created confusion as bloggers left comments saying that Tashi Dondrup had been seen in Xining.

Today's Times article clears up the confusion.



Above a Tashi Dondrup music video on Chinese wesbite 56.com that pays tribute to the Dalai Lama whilst showing an image of the X. Panchen Lama on screen. (NB this video will only display correctly using Internet Explorer)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Could someone please post the track titles on his album Torture Without Trace and/or links to download songs or find the right ones on youtube? I would like to see the lyrics of the entire album in order to determine what crossed the line to put him in jail. Certainly, other Tibetan songs were interpreted as being about the Dalai Lama when the videos actually showed a different image on the screen. The title of Tashi Dondrup's album is certainly provocative. What about the rest of it?