The Himalayas in the Record Player

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.