Seven Dreams of Tibet
It all started when the film 'Seven Years in Tibet' was being shot. Namgyal Lhamo and her sister Chuckie were in Argentina to work as extras. During a bus journey they heard a Tibetan song, sung in a…
Seven Dreams of Tibet
It all started when the film 'Seven Years in Tibet' was being shot. Namgyal Lhamo and her sister Chuckie were in Argentina to work as extras. During a bus journey they heard a Tibetan song, sung in a beautiful male voice. At first Chuckie thought it was a tape and wanted to ask the driver for it, but the singer Tobden Gyamtso, another extra, was in fact sitting at the front of the bus. There and then they decided to start a music group: Gang Chenpa (People from the Land of the Snow).In Seven Dreams of Tibet Namgyal Lhamo, who lives in the Netherlands, travels to Dharamsala in search of the songs and stories of the refugees who are crossing the mountains to Dharamsala to have an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Dharamsala offers a glimpse of Tibet, where human rights are being violated even as we speak. About 1.2 million Tibetans have been put to death in the most horrific way. One monk who had fled the country says: "We are even robbed of the right to die in our own way with some sort of dignity". Religion plays an important part for the Tibetan people in internalizing the horrors of the past. Even after all he had been through, after his release Tobden tried to seek reconciliation with the guard who had tortured him in prison. It seems that the Tibetan people are better able to cope with these horrors in their lives than others. Is it because of their belief in Karma, which may hold the promise of better times in the next life? One day they hope to return to Tibet. But to what sort of Tibet would they be returning? And will people there still speak Tibetan or listen to their songs? —Jan van den Berg
Seven Dreams of Tibet
Documentary
Film Details
It all started when the film 'Seven Years in Tibet' was being shot. Namgyal Lhamo and her sister Chuckie were in Argentina to work as extras. During a bus journey they heard a Tibetan song, sung in a beautiful male voice.
At first Chuckie thought it was a tape and wanted to ask the driver for it, but the singer Tobden Gyamtso, another extra, was in fact sitting at the front of the bus. There and then they decided to start a music group: Gang Chenpa (People from the Land of the Snow).In Seven Dreams of Tibet Namgyal Lhamo, who lives in the Netherlands, travels to Dharamsala in search of the songs and stories of the refugees who are crossing the mountains to Dharamsala to have an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Dharamsala offers a glimpse of Tibet, where human rights are being violated even as we speak.
About 1.2 million Tibetans have been put to death in the most horrific way. One monk who had fled the country says: "We are even robbed of the right to die in our own way with some sort of dignity". Religion plays an important part for the Tibetan people in internalizing the horrors of the past.
Even after all he had been through, after his release Tobden tried to seek reconciliation with the guard who had tortured him in prison. It seems that the Tibetan people are better able to cope with these horrors in their lives than others. Is it because of their belief in Karma, which may hold the promise of better times in the next life? One day they hope to return to Tibet.
But to what sort of Tibet would they be returning? And will people there still speak Tibetan or listen to their songs? —Jan van den Berg.