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Dates Appearing: August 9 - 14 Current Release: Tibet, Tibet Home: Lhasa, Tibet - currently under military occupation, so unable to return freely. 500,000 Chinese troops now stationed in Tibet. Tour Pastime: Raising awareness of the suffering of Tibetan women in Tibet and as refugees in India through her work in establishing the Yungchen Lhamo Foundation which is raising money to sponsor projects for Tibetan women, such as women's health centres, adult education and supporting single mothers. |
Yungchen Lhamo was born in Tibet at a time when the isolated "forbidden kingdom" was caught in the ravages of the Chinese Culiural Revolution and the brutality that followed. Where once her family had been wealthy they were punished and forced to endure desperate poverty. As a child Yungchen Lhamo knew little of the games and enjoyment children of the west take for granted. Her earliest memory is of work, "We were so poor and my mother could not feed us... and then I went to work in a carpet weaving factory. I missed my mother and grandmother so badly but there were so many of us going through such hardship."
Yungchen Lhamo worked in the factories for eight years until she was 19. She saw her mother on holidays - one month every three years. "My mother and grandmother went through so much but their faith never waned. No matter how sad we were, how deeply we were hurting, I never saw hate in their eyes, I never saw hopelessness. They seemed strong inside while their world was being savaged. It was this faith that they taught me."
Yungchen Lhamo escaped from Tibet in 1989, the year that His Holiness the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. With a small group of friends she trekked from Tibet to India on a perilous journey, enduring bitter weather conditions, lack of food and water and being robbed along the way. What kept her going through it all was the deep resolve to meet His Holiness. "To Tibetan's His Holiness is a living Buddha. There is no greater experience in life than to meet and receive his blessings. I thought even if I was to die trying to see him, my life would have meaning." After fulfilling her dream in Dharamsala, in northern India, Yungchen Lhamo stayed briefly at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts and toured around Tibetan settlements in India. In 1993, she migrated to Australia where her rise to fame was as extraordinary as the life she has lead. Audiences and critics alike were stunned by the power and purity of her voice. Holding people captivated even though they could not understand the Tibetan lyrics of her songs. Yungchen Lhamo never failed to profoundly move her audience. At a time where things are copied, simulated, interpretations are made of themes, it is the attraction of the real thing that people found spellbinding. One woman alone on stage with a remarkable story of bravery and conviction throughout a life of struggle and hardship, singing as an offering to awaken and inspire in her audience their own spiritual center. "When I sing I am visualizing that I am making an offering of song to all the highest spiritual being, and pleased by it they shower down blessings on everyone who actively listens to the songs. I hope that people can feel it and that the blessings can inspire them to think of their own spirituality - something that many people tend to forget about and ignore. I hope that when people hear my songs they feel inspired - that is the reason why I sing."
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