bonglonglong

Bela Fleck is currently touring China with three other muscians under the name of Sparrow Quartet. An English language blog about China called Danwei recently did an interview with the group. The video shows the quartet jaming with two members of a Tibeten band. Bela Fleck gives up the banjo for a brief moment to try his hand at a traditional Tibetan instrument. The quartet was sponsored by a cultural program to do a tour of Tibet. This apparently is the first cultural exchange from a foreign country into Tibet. They also discuss how some of the folk songs that both bands play are very similar. We're not so different after all.

Now I'm not one of those people with the "Free Tibet" stickers everywhere. I do think that the traditional Tibetan culture is being threatened and the Tibetan culture is changing. Whether this is due to the Chinese government's "invasion" or the recent tourist "invasion" that is unclear. I have read that the residential population in Lhasa is only 30% Tibetan. There are diverse view from within Tibet as to whether this change is for the better. On the one hand you loose some of the tradition herding nomadic life style, on the other we now get to read blogs from and about Tibetan life. Yes, Tibet should be free, free to choose.