Tibet in Song

Part autobiographical essay, part history lesson, Ngawang Choephel's documentary celebrates traditional Tibetan culture while also voicing protest over its suppression—or outright perversion—by the Chinese government. After escaping Tibet as a child, Choephel grew up in India, where he came to cherish Tibetan songs. Returning to Tibet in 1995 to capture on film a folk-singing tradition in danger of being lost, Choephel was shocked upon his arrival in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. “The first music I heard was Chinese Communist propaganda and Chinese pop songs,” he says. Discovering examples of traditional songs outside the city, Choephel managed to send some recorded footage out of the country before he was arrested (his camera and remaining film were confiscated) and convicted on charges of espionage, which led to an 18-year prison sentence. Freed after nearly seven years, Choephel made Tibet in Song partially to document his own experience of Chinese oppression, interweaving his personal story together with previous footage he shot before being jailed—scenes of ordinary Tibetans testifying to their efforts to maintain traditional songs, suffering brutal treatment in response, while also watching as the authorities manipulated the music to create propaganda extolling the Chinese takeover. Despite Choephel's almost matter-of-fact reporting style, the passion driving Tibet in Song is palpable, presenting a unique and uplifting perspective on Tibetans' struggle to preserve their cultural heritage in the face of systemic attempts to annihilate it. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)