Tibetan music is in a state of sociopolitical flux. Competing cultures of Western, Chinese, and Indian music are all highly prevalent and enjoyed throughout modern Tibet, throwing into question the stability of a highly diverse, highly distributed “identity” of Tibetan traditional music. This status is exacerbated by the lack of formal documentation and lexicon surrounding Tibetan music.
However, many musicologists have thus turned their gazes to this pursuit, cataloging the etymology, history, and structure of Tibetan music, from the opera to the folk song. The lack of a single equivalent word to describe the western concept of music as both vocal and instrumental performance speaks to the magnitude and the interest of this task.
“In modern Tibetan, there are several
terms in common use when referring to music. These include:
i) glu gzhas (song)
ii) zlos gar (performing arts)
iii) sgyu rtsal (the arts)
iv) rol mo (music)
v) rol dbyangs (music)”“Developments in Musicology in Tibet: The Emergence of a New Tibetan Musical Lexicon”, Ian Collinge
Nonetheless, a plethora of lyrical folk tales and parables, religious over-tone vocalization, and secular, idyllic song exist and are being written in what many musicologists refer to as the new Tibetan “Musical Renaissance”.
Beyond the Tibetan sphere, Tibetan music is also undergoing a global musical surge in influence and awareness, as many films, Western media, and related genres are borrowing from elements of the Tibetan musical canon. Throughout this blog, one may find a brief survey of these musical categories and the interplays between Tibet’s music the world, and possibly, a map of the musical road ahead.
Tibetan Music 