Tibetan Endangered Music Project
The Tibetan Endangered Music Project (TEMP) is a project aimed at preserving the disappearing traditional Tibetan folk songs. This project is much like the Library of Congress Field Recordings project in the United States, spearheaded by John Lomax. Folk songs develop over centuries of time and are handed down to each generation through word of mouth, without even the need to write down the words. This method has worked for a while, but now we live in such a digitized, automated age that this traditional means of communication and preservation is widely ignored by the emerging generations. The Tibetan Endangered Music Project is an attempt to capture the last remnants of Tibet’s vast folk song tradition before they are forever lost to oblivion. The ultimate goal is to create as many digitized recordings of as many folk songs as possible, and present in permanent digitized form on the internet.
LIke most folk song traditions, many of the songs revolve around work: herding songs, butter churning songs, and songs to coax yaks to produce more milk. But a great number of these songs also deal with love, drinking, and lulling children to sleep. These songs are hidden in the remote villages, and thanks to digital technology and a group of committed people, they are being immortalized for future generations. Tibet has further struggles to overcome in regard to the preservation of their music, because the Cultural Revolution between 1966 to 1976 directly endangered all folk songs. The Cultural Revolution was a campaign by the Chinese government led by Mao, which sought o eliminate all forms of art that did not serve politics. The meaning of this censorship could be skewed in any way, and it severely threatened all forms of traditional art and culture. Thankfully, folk songs are difficult to destroy because by their very nature, they are kept in the minds of the people.
The Tibetan Endangered Music Project relies heavily on donations and volunteers, and it has so far gotten enough support to continue with its work. Some of the project’s most valuable assets are Tibetan student volunteers who go back home to their villages and communities and record the songs of their people. Because of the help from these students, the project has been able to capture many more songs that they would have otherwise been able to do.
The TEMP project contributes to the preservation of the Tibetan culture while also helping the ready the country for the technological landscape of the future. The project has already done a wonderful job of preserving hundreds of songs and having them available for the Tibetan people to achieve a deeper understanding of their own culture. The project also serves the Tibetan people by giving a great opportunity for its students to learn technical skills when working with the equipment. These skills will be valuable to their future career success.
It is amazing that the project exists at all, after decades of censorship in Tibet. It’s truly a remarkable opportunity to preserve these songs before they are forgotten, and to do so right after a time when it was illegal to preserve them at all.