The Himalayas in the Record Player

11. Februar 2026

Tibetan Opera Performance in Front of the Potala Palace
(1950s, included in "The Road to Tibet")

Record

Xieqin Song and Dance
(1950s, included in "The Central Delegation in Tibet")

The love for music seems etched deep in the veins of Tibet’s people. Across the long passage of time, song and dance have been their closest companions—whether through personal, solitary singing to express emotion or collective, joyous singing and dancing together. The traditional arts of Toeshey and Nangma, moreover, are inseparable from the melodious accompaniment of instruments like the *dranyen*. This profound aural tradition has prepared fertile soil for the arrival of new forms of sound.

The Performance of Nangma Giduk
(1930s, held at Oxford University)

As time flowed into the twentieth century, with the increasing maturity of trade routes between Tibet and South Asia, a new medium of sound—the record player (སྐད་པར་བན་ཙི།)—began to follow the footsteps of merchant caravans, crossing the Himalayan mountains and entering the towns of Ü-Tsang. Initially, the melodies circulating on these black discs were mostly folk songs popular in South Asia.

The Key Trade Route Connecting Ü-Tsang and South Asia
(1990s, painted by Tsewang Tashi)

A landmark event occurred in the mid-1940s: the British Trade Mission stationed at Dekyilingka in Lhasa specifically invited the renowned local "Nangma Giduk" art troupe to perform several classic pieces and completed the master disc recording in Lhasa.

The Artist in the Midst of Singing
(1930s, held at Oxford University)

Also recorded were Tibetan opera arias performed by Zashi Dunzhu, a master of the Jomolang Tibetan Opera Troupe, and local government official Minzhu Pu, among others. These precious master discs were sent south along the trade route to factories to be pressed into records, then returned along the same path to Lhasa, opening a new chapter in the spread of music.

Old Photo of the Jomolang Tibetan Opera Troupe
First from the right is Zashi Dunzhu
(1950s, photographed by Chen Zonglie)

People would play records at home gatherings to add to the elegant atmosphere; during the summer Lingka season, they would even bring the record player under the shade of green trees, letting the music accompany laughter and spontaneous dance steps. At that time, the commonly seen record player in the Lhasa area was the British HMV brand.

"His Master's Voice"
(1880s, Google)

It is a chain record store originating in the United Kingdom, whose name and trademark are derived from a painting titled "His Master's Voice." The image of the dog Nipper listening to the gramophone in the painting was created by the artist Francis Barraud and was sold to the Gramophone Company in 1899 as a trademark.

HMV Record Player
(1900s, Google)

HMV initially engaged in gramophone production and record distribution, later transitioning into a record retail store. People in Lhasa, because of its iconic dog trademark, referred to this record player as the "Dog Brand Record Player" (ཁྱི་ལན་པར་སྐད་པར།).

The Hairstyles of Two Officials
Dolga Sonam Dorje's Long Braid (Left)
Chimon Norbu Wangyal's Bajor Hairstyle (Right)
(1930s-1950s, held by the Phuntsok Wangyal family)

Interestingly, the phonograph's stylus even gave rise to a unique practical function: at the time, some low-ranking officials in the local government, due to regulations on hairstyles, could not tie the traditional "Bajor" (སྤ་ལྕོག) knot and could only braid their hair into a long braid (ལྕང་ལོ།) hanging down the back of the head.

A Fourth-Rank Official Instructing a Subordinate
Both Wearing Bodog Hats
For Differences in Hairstyle, See Above
(1950s, photographed by Ye Hua)

Officials of this rank typically wore the "Bodog" official hat (འབོག་དོ།). The Bodog hats of high-ranking officials were designed with a hat hole that could just secure the "Bajor" hairstyle, but their flat-top design and lack of fixed hat straps were quite inconvenient for lower-ranking officials. Ingeniously, they used three phonograph needles to pass through the hat brim and their braids, solving this annoyance and creating a peculiar connection between modern devices and traditional attire.

HMV Brand Phonograph Needle
(1930s, Google)

Entering the 1950s, the completion of the Qinghai-Tibet and Sichuan-Tibet highways greatly facilitated exchanges between Tibet and inland China. Operas and folk song records from the mainland also flowed into Lhasa, further enriching people's auditory world.

Wuhan Peking Opera Troupe Performing in Lhasa
(1950s, included in "The Central Delegation in Tibet")

Melody on the Radio

Meanwhile, for many citizens unable to afford a record player, the sounds from street loudspeakers and, not long after, cinemas became their primary window to new music. This naturally shifts our focus to another form of modern entertainment sprouting in the snowy region—film.

Lhasa People's Cinema
(1960s, included in "Tibetan Memory")

The history of film screening in Tibet is closely tied to the Kashmiri Muslim community in Lhasa. Muslim merchants, who settled in the Hebaling and Raosai areas as early as the fourteenth century, frequently traveled between South Asia and Ü-Tsang, gradually evolving into the "Tibetan Muslim" community (ལྷ་སའི་ཁ་ཆེ།).

An Elderly Tibetan Muslim
(1930s, held at Oxford University)

They not only brought a dazzling array of goods but also keenly seized the business opportunities in cultural entertainment. The booming film industry in South Asia prompted them to initially bring portable 8.5mm projectors into Lhasa, screening South Asian films in private homes for friends and family, sparking immense curiosity and excitement.

Main Building of Liu Xia's Mansion
(1990s, photographed by Alexander)

In April 1952, a Tibetan Muslim merchant named Abdul Wahid built Lhasa's first public, small-scale cinema near Liu Xia's Mansion (སྣེའུ་ཤར།) in the southern part of the city, primarily screening South Asian films. The cinema transmitted sound through broadcasting, and those melodious film tunes floated through the streets of Lhasa, becoming the starting point of the radio music experience for many citizens.

Meldro Gyaltsen Amban's Office
(1900s, held by National Geographic)

Around the same time, the newly established Tibet Military Region Cultural Troupe (located in the Meldro Gyaltsen Garden མེ་ཏོག་སྐྱེད་ཚལ། in the southwest of the old city, the former site of the Amban's office) also began systematically studying and creating Tibetan song and dance, broadcasting them through public radio, further enriching the city's soundscape.

Song and Dance Performance in Lhasa
(1950s, included in "The Central Delegation in Tibet")

The demand for cinematic entertainment continued to grow. In 1957, financed by Liu Xia, Langton, Muslim merchant Ahaiti, and others, a larger and more advanced cinema named "Deji Weilang" (བདེ་སྐྱིད་འོད་སྣང་།, meaning "Happiness Light Sensation") was built in the Lugo area (ཀླུ་སྒུག་སྡེར་ཐང་།).

Two Shareholders of the Deji Weilang Cinema
Langton Kunga Wangchuk (Left)
Liu Xia Thupten Tapa (Right)
(1930s-1950s, held at Oxford University)

Equipped with an imported 32mm projector, this cinema screened three films daily, featuring works from both mainland China and South Asia. It quickly became the center of Lhasa's cultural life. Many citizens, even without entering the cinema, gladly gathered under the broadcast speakers to listen to those moving film soundtracks.

Lhasa Citizens Listening to the Radio
(1950s, photographed by Chen Zonglie)

"Our Sherpa Tenzing has done it"

Amidst the diverse musical sounds transmitted via radio, records, and screens, one melody from a neighboring country gained particular popularity in 1950s Lhasa: the Nepali song "Hamro Tenzing Sherpa Le."

The creation of this song originated from a world-shaking feat: On May 29, 1953, New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (བསྟན་འཛིན་ནོར་རྒྱས།) made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. News of their triumph spread across the globe.

Edmund Hillary (Left) and Tenzing Norgay
(1950s, held at Oxford University)

In Nepal, the renowned musician Dharma Raj Thapa (1924–2014), celebrated as the "Voice of Nepal's Folk Soul," quickly drew inspiration from this event to compose this folk song. He devoted his life to collecting, preserving, and disseminating Nepali folk ballads, becoming a key figure in modernizing Nepali folk music and fostering national identity.

Dharma Raj Thapa
(1950s, held at Oxford University)

"Hamro Tenzing Sherpa Le" (meaning "Our Sherpa Tenzing has done it") is truly an epic forged in melody. Dharma Raj Thapa skillfully captured this glory, which belonged to the entire nation, in his notes. Using the people's own language and folk song forms, he transformed the story of contemporary heroes into a cultural memory shared by all.

Dharma Raj Thapa Commemorative Stamp
(2017, Google)

The song's structure is ingeniously designed, featuring straightforward narrative verses, a chorus that repeatedly reinforces identity with the line "Our Sherpa Tenzing has done it," and a conclusion that elevates the theme, making it highly suitable for widespread singing. In the 1950s, when radio was the core mass medium, the song quickly spread across urban and rural Nepal through the airwaves and permeated various social occasions, ultimately solidifying into a profound symbol of national identity and setting a precedent for "current-event folk songs."

“Our Sherpa Tenzing has climbed the Himalayas.
Drums resound, cheers rise, dancing and swirling to the rhythm.
The Nepali star who scaled the peak—Tenzing.
The whole world is amazed and applauds you, brother.”

The First Human Ascent of Mount Everest
(1950s, held by National Geographic)

This song celebrating the Sherpa hero soon traveled via the China-Nepal trade route to Lhasa on records. For the people of Lhasa, Tenzing Norgay's identity as a Sherpa—a branch of the Tibetan people—made his achievement feel particularly close and prideful. Zhaxi Ciren, a national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor, holds deep personal memories of this.

Zhaxi Ciren Singing
(2010s, held by Zhaxi Ciren)

"In the 1950s, I was serving at the Potala Palace as a dance boy in the Garpa Music Ensemble. My brother had married into a 'Kazare' (ཁ་ཚ་ར།, a Tibetan-Nepalese mixed ethnic group) family, and they owned a very fine record player. I often visited their home to listen to records. In 1953, we heard a new Nepali song, 'Hamro Tenzing Sherpa Le,' on the record player. These records had been transported along the China-Nepal trade route at the time."

People Listening to a Record Player During a Lingka Gathering
(1950s, included in "The Central Delegation in Tibet")

At the time, the story of Tenzing Norgay's ascent of Mount Everest was widely circulated in Lhasa. As a Sherpa, a branch of the Tibetan people, he felt especially close to the residents of Lhasa, who all praised him and celebrated his achievement as a remarkable tale.

Tenzing Norgay and His Mother
(1950s, held by National Geographic)

"When we learned that the song celebrated Tenzing Norgay’s feat, it quickly became popular throughout the streets of Lhasa. However, we didn’t understand the meaning of the Nepali lyrics and could only learn to sing its distinctive opening: ‘ཨམ་རོ་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཤར་པ་རེད། ཅོ་རོ་ཉི་མ་ཅོ་ཅོ་རེད།’ (transliteration), and then sing the rest with half-familiar, improvised Nepali pronunciation."

Nepalese Merchants Singing in Lhasa
(1950s, held at Oxford University)

The narrative of Elder Zhaxi Ciren vividly captures the living details of cultural transmission in that era. An even more fascinating cultural fusion soon followed. Some Lhasa residents began attempting to fill the framework of this foreign melody with traditional Tibetan folk lyrics, giving rise to new, fully localized Tibetan versions. One widely circulated set of lyrics sang as follows:

ང་ཚོའི་ལུང་པའི་ཕུ་ནས།

གསེར་གྱི་ཆུ་གཅིག་རྒྱུག་བྱུང་།

གསེར་ཆུ་གང་འགྲོའི་ས་ལ།

ལོ་ཡག་རྩ་བ་ཚུགས་སོང་།

Sweet streams flow from the snow-capped mountains of my homeland
Into the valley's golden land
Wherever the clear spring passes
Late autumn hangs heavy with bountiful grain

Snowy Mountains
(2010s, held by the author)

ཤེལ་བྲག་མཐོ་བའི་སྒང་ལ།

མཐོ་རིང་སྐས་འཛེགས་བཙུགས་ཡོད།

དབུ་རྒྱན་མཚར་བའི་སྒང་ལ།

སྨན་རྩེ་ཡོལ་ལ་བཏགས་ཡོད།

Cloud-ladders hang from the cliff’s edge,
softly swirling like gauze, high into the clear sky
as if draping over the mountain’s jeweled crown
a cloak woven from rainbow light

Cliffs and Forests of Eastern Tibet
(2010s, held by the author)

Thus, a hymn composed for a Nepalese national hero—filled with concrete events and proud exclamations—was skillfully transformed after crossing geographical and cultural boundaries into a lyrical folk song in Lhasa, depicting the scenery of the homeland and rich with metaphor and poetry. From "Our Tenzing climbed the mountain peak" to "Sweet streams flow from the snow-capped mountains of my homeland," the same melody carries different emotions and imaginations, yet both are deeply rooted in the most profound love for the land beneath their feet.

Former Nepalese Representative Office in Old Lhasa
Gurkha Compound
(1990s, photographed by Alexander)

The journey of this song precisely mirrors the quiet yet profound transformation of Lhasa’s soundscape in the mid-twentieth century: from ancient oral solo singing to private listening on record players, from public broadcasts on street corners to the audiovisual feast in cinemas, modern technology reshaped the ways music was transmitted and received.

Staff Inspecting Film
(1960s, included in "Tibet Today")

And "Hamro Tenzing Sherpa Le" perfectly illustrates how culture flows along trade routes and airwaves, how it is heard, reinterpreted, and recreated in new soil, ultimately undergoing a remarkable process of localization.

Group Photo of the Nepalese Chamber of Commerce
(1950s, held at Oxford University)

It is more than just the spread of a melody; it is a vivid example of cultural fusion—a national anthem born from a specific historical moment in Nepal, touching the heartstrings of Lhasa’s audience through its emotional core and easily transmissible form. By incorporating localized lyrics, it merged with Tibet’s own poetic traditions and emotional expression, becoming a unique thread connecting the shared sentiments and aesthetics of two Himalayan cultural regions.

Nepalese Representative
(1950s, held at Oxford University)

This past profoundly reminds us that the vitality of culture lies in its fluidity and adaptability, in how different communities actively transform external sounds into echoes of their own hearts.