Lu

The Lu style, known as the “street song”, has been used to convey both political commentary and social satire, as well as a celebration of the natural world and Tibet as a cultural setting.  It is purely vocal without instrumentation, sometimes consists of a capella; it also involves the use of  high pitched vocalizations with “glottal vibration” (Tibetan Music).   The street songs themselves existed as parallels to bardic song and lyricism as found in Middle-Ages Europe.  In them, was found:

…[A] kind of public commentary somewhat akin to our own tradition of political cartoons, albeit in a verbal rather than a visual medium. Because they normally consisted of only one or two stanzas (4 or 8 lines), they were heavily dependent on imagery.

Goldstein

The following is one such “Lu” song, that evokes life on the grasslands and on the Tibetan plateau; the lyrics hint at naturalistic, as well as mythological narrative elements, as “The feats of the Great signify the strength of the Tibetan Plateau”; present is a strong sense of nationalism, cultural pride, and a love of the Tibetan homeland.

Below is another video, of a young boy singing a Lu-style song taught to him by his brother.  The video was recorded in Dzogchen, in the Tibetan cultural region of Kham.

Citations:

“Tibetan Music.” Tibetan Trekking Travel Co, tibetantrekking.com/culture/music/.

Goldstein, Melvyn. Lhasa Street Songs : Political and Social Satire in Traditional Tibet. Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1982.