Current News:

The Colours of Ostrava festival has launched their website devoted to this year's festival, and Yungchen Lhamo is one of the top artists.

Click here to view the website.

Her "Happiness is" track in their flash player, and her festival profile can be found here.

'Ama' voted among the Top 10 Best of 2006 by KPFK-Los Angeles, CA., one of the leading Global Music radio stations in America.

 to see the full listing of the top ranked albums in 2006 on KPFK.

Posted 01/03/07

'Voice of Tibet' transcends

Click here Yungchen Lhamo was in the right milieu Saturday night. The singer often called "the Voice of Tibet" performed in the atmospheric setting of the
Silk Roads Gallery, with its stunning plethora of Buddhist-related art.

By Don Heckman
Special to The LA Times
Posted 10/02/06

Click here to read about Yungchen's participation at the Table of Free Voices: Live from Berlin on 9 September 2006.

By Christine Lepisto, Berlin

Click here to read a World Music Central interview with Yungchen.

National Geographic podcast features Yungchen. Click here to take a listen to the piece.

Reviews for the Newly Released AMA

An Outstanding Album

"Ama" has fulfilled all the hopes and promises invested in this gracious and slight vocalist. Her fourth release is a delicately crafted album that reflects a coming of age for Yungchen Lhamo.... This is an outstanding album that will, in all likelihood, see a new posse of fans follow Tibet’s most distinguished female voice.

Magazine Review
Reviewer: www.mondomix.com

CD of the Week

Yungchen Lhamo's new album hits from Real World Records, and comes with a nice mix of her own Tibetan lyrics and sounds...Fans should check out the opening track "Ranzen" and her reflection of the tragedy of" 9/11"

Magazine Review

Reviewer: needcoffee.com

Irresistibly calming sound and texture

Lhamo's third album solidifies her role as the "voice of tibet" - a voice with an almost irresistibly calming sound and texture. She explores much more than tranquility on this album, however, with performances that also reflect the rough-hewn mountain grandeur of her native country, as well as a gripping duet with Annie Lennox on "Fade Away". The most remarkable track may be "9/11", a stirring, deeply felt response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, recorded spontaneously in a New York studio.

Magazine Review

Reviewer: Los Angeles Times
USA

An Exquisite Exploration

Ama's impact springs from the communicative power and beauty of her sublime voice....This carefully produced album reveals the mature development of an individual's artistic and spiritual vision - one that surpasses any attempt to merely make Tibetan music more accesible. Followers of Yungchen Lhamo's career since her flight from Tibet in 1989 will delight in the new range and richness of expression she acieves here, whilst new listeners will equally find much to inspire, provoke and enthral.

Magazine Review

Reviewer: Songlines
UK

The HMV

Among the world's great singers, a rare few become the voice of their nation. After years of international touring with the blessing of the Dalai Lama, Yungchen Lhamo has truly become the voice of Tibet. This third album for Real World (the first in 8 years) is infused with the quiet spiritual power of Tibetan Buddhism but now features Yungchen's own original songs with the striking production of Jamshied Sharifi and pan-global instrumentation to make a much more modern and indeed much more personal record than before.
Ama means "mother" and Yungchen dedicates this album to her own mother who suffered greatly and raised her daughter amidst the violence and persecution of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Themes of struggle, loss, peace and forgiveness run through this magical recording. The icing on the cake are the guest appearances from two incredible, incomparable singers Joy Askew and Annie Lennox.

One of the world's most exquisite voices

Lhamo has quietly established herself as one of the world's most exquisite voices, the purity and scale of her singing conjuring up the vastness of her Himalayan homeland....There are laments, but also earthy evocations of delight and contentment, notably on 'Tara', alongside guest singer Joy Askew.

Magazine Review

Reviewer: The Sunday Observer
UK

The Entertainment Weekly

In 1989, this cultural hero fled oppression in her native Tibet to the refugee community of Dharamsala, India, eventually settling in New York City.This backstory frames Yungchen Lhamo's strangely melismatic, birdlike vocals, which are mainly in Tibetan. On Ama, she pushes boundaries via improvisation and collaborators, including singer Annie Lennox and a U.N.-worthy collection of international instrumentalists.

Grade: B

Reviewed by Will Hermes
USA

Lovingly crafted piece of work

A lovingly crafted piece of work, it provides poignant insights into the predicament of the exiled artist. Lhamo's cooly ethereal voice is given faultlessly tasteful settings - whirring and twanging traditional instruments merging with the subtlest touches of treated electric guitar. The sound has all the bracing clarity of a Himalayan morning, and there are moments of real beauty.

Magazine Review

Reviewer: The Telegraph
UK

YA Transcultural Aesthetic

Yungchen Lhamo is a new kind of Tibetan, one who was not only forced out into the world at large, but who embraces all its possibilities....This isn't a chant album, but original songs in Lhamo's native tongue. Produced by Jamshied Sharifi, an Iranian-American musician who is master of global sounds and voices, Ama has a transcultural aesthetic, mixing traditional Tibetan chanting and singing with Middle Eastern percussion, fuzzed guitar, Chinese erhu, and African kora, among other instruments.
Magazine Review

Reviewer: Amazon.com

Reviewed by John Diliberto

One of the most clear, exquisite voices in the world

Blessed with one of the most clear, exquisite voices to be found anywhere in the world, Yungchen Lhamo is a refugee from Tibet, who escaped across the Himalayas to India, where she first started singing, and who now lives in New York. Inevitably, her delicate songs reflect her experiences. There are cool, drifting atmospheric passages that would work well as a film soundtrack, matched against gently sturdy dance songs that reflect Tibetan folk styles. The songs range from a tribute to her home city Lhasa to Fade Away, in which she's joined by Annie Lennox, and a Buddhist prayer for those who died on 9/11. Like many of the best songs it starts with the "voice of Tibet" singing solo, sounding even more powerful and distinctive without the global backing effects.

Magazine Review

Reviewer: The Guardian
UK

Cranky Crow World Music

No doubt, the Tibetan "Goddess of Song," Yungchen Lhamo's upcoming release, Ama has been long in coming.  Although Yungchen has toured in the past few years, bringing her lush vocals, a cappella to many of the world's stages, her last CD, Coming Home was released in 1998.  Her loyal following, which includes me, have been anxiously waiting for a new recording and now we are generously rewarded.  Yungchen's most recent effort, Ama marries the vulnerable a cappella performance of her first recording, Tibet, Tibet with the lush instrumentation of Coming Home.  The vocalist's compassion and spirituality burns and emits light like a butter lamp and her spiritual lyrics sail forth like a breeze dancing with Tibetan prayer flags.  Messages of hope ring out as does the question, which Yungchen puts forth in her concerts, "when will the world unite and help liberate the country of Tibet?"

Ama, which acts as a tribute to Yungchen's long-suffering and courageous mother can be listened to on many levels.  On one level the songs act as prayers and contemplation.  On another level, the sometimes sparse arrangements act as a backdrop for Yungchen's spectacular vocal talent.  And still on another level, the CD acts a marriage between Tibetan and Western musicians, not to mention the surprise appearance of the West African kora played by Mamadou Diabatè.  Guitar, trumpet, strings play along side Tibetan chants, piwang, danyen, bamboo flute and other exotic instruments.  The collection of songs fall somewhere between Tibetan music or what we Westerners think Tibetan music should sound like and exotic European music.  Produced by Jamshied Sharifi, who deserves applause for the arrangements of the songs, this album gives birth to hope which we all so desperately need at this juncture.  We are also reminded of the power of compassion, a quality which Yungchen possesses in great quantity.
The first track, Ranzen with its buzz of electric guitars and Yungchen's urgent vocals, resembles the song, Defiance from the Coming Home CD.  The song builds dissonance that is soon followed by lighter material. Gebu Shere focuses on Yungchen's vocals, backed by atmospheric guitar that shimmers in the background and highlights the song's melancholy mood. Om Mani Padme Hung, a Tibetan mantra which has appeared on all three of Yungchen's CDs receives a jangly treatment here with exotic flute, traditional lute and the low growls of Tibetan chants.  No doubt, this track will be a favorite for many listeners.  Guest vocalists appear on the tracks Tara (with Joy Askew) and Fade Away which features Annie Lennox. 

Yungchen who moved to New York City in 2000, also brings 9-11 back to our consciousness.  Her song simply titled, 9/11, (a spirited a cappella performance that should not be missed), carries hopeful sentiments, by the time the strings and Tibetan bells come in, tears will be flowing down listeners' faces.  She cites in the liner notes, "We can only hope the experience has made us all more human."  Her recording Ama carries the same message and certainly anyone who takes the time to listen to these songs, will be blessed by the Goddess of Song.  By all means, save up your dimes between now and May and purchase this CD. It is already available in the UK. 

PLH (04/13/06)

Performing artists offer 'something for everyone'
By BETTY WEBB

The Valley’s arts and entertainment offerings always have been diverse, but this season’s are so diverse they're almost startling.

The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music. There is truly something for everyone.”
The Fes Festival is based on the famous Moroccan festival in which various groups celebrate world peace through music, song and dance. Performing here will be the gospel group McCollough, Sons of Thunder; Tibetan vocalist Yungchen Lhamo; Algerian Jewish musician Francoise Atlan; and Hadra des Femmes de Taroudant, representing Morocco’s Sufi music tradition.
“It won’t be just a concert,” Hotchner says. “There will also be various panel discussions addressing issues of worldwide concern.”

-- Posted 9/22/05

Yungchen Lhamo appears as one of six featured subjects in East/West: Health, Healing and Discovery, a 1-hour documentary examining innovative approaches to healing, both traditional and non-traditional, from the orient and occident.

In the movie, the power of Yungchen's singing and compassion is on prominent display, as she sings to terminally ill patients in the wards of the Jacob Perlow Hospice - part of the Beth Israel Hospital in New York City - demonstrating how Tibetan devotional singing can serve to transform consciousness at the time of one's passing. The film, part of a proposed television series, was produced by Three Humans Inc. in association with Highwood Productions.

To view a clip from the documentary, click here. This file is large (15MB) so please be patient while it loads. High speed access recomended.

-- Posted 6/23/05

Yungchen is currently at work on her much-anticipated fourth album in New York City, as well as performing at a variety of international venues. Her touring schedule for 2003 includes 35 dates in cities in North America, Europe and Northern Africa.
-- Posted 3/31/03

Look for her in upcoming television programs on the BBC and in a variety of film projects, including two soon-to-be-released documentaries.
-- Posted 3/31/03

Accolades from the World's Press:

"A deep unwavering Om filled Carnegie Hall when the audience sang to accompany Yungchen Lhamo's pristine, gliding vocal lines."
      --The New York Times

"The sheer beauty of her voice: spine-tingling stuff."
      --The Guardian (UK)

"At a fall concert in New York, Lhamo's devotional songs spun a hypnotic aural image of Tibet's spiritual warmth and resilience. China could take a lesson from the singer's words to the audience near the end of her set: 'Buddhism gives us strength, not muscle.'"
      --Elle

"The brilliant Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo"
       --The New Yorker

"Singer Yungchen Lhamo not only charmed with her sweetly broken English and sense of humor, she wowed."
       --Rolling Stone

"Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo impressed enormously."
      --New York Daily News

"That she sings without any accompaniment, and succeeds in holding the attention of the listener, places her in a special category. I cannot readily recall another singer capable of such a feat."
      --The West Australian

"Angel-voiced Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo"
      --Newsweek

"Lhamo carries the weight of the world with the grace of a dove. When she sings tonight at the Knitting Factory, it's as near to heaven as you're ever going to get on Leonard Street."
      --The New York Post

"Tibet's finest vocalist"
      --Marie Claire

"Pure, haunting, bell-like, clear, luminous. She sings from the heart to the heart."
      --The Yoga Journal

"The ethereal beauty of her voice"
      --The Times of London

"With her extraordinarily long hair blowing softly in the breeze and her tiny tiara shimmering under the lights, her voice soared through the chilly night air, transporting the crowd's collective imagination to the highest peaks of her homeland. With her gentle soul and angelic voice, this goddess created a memorable festival night."
      --Adelaide Advertiser

"Yungchen Lhamo raises her beautiful and passionate voice [with] great delicacy and sensitivity. What separates her from other 'World Music' female voices like Sheila Chandra and Enya is the immense spiritual power and emotional intensity."
      --Sydney Morning Herald

Press Kit

Click the icon below to read an in-depth interview with Yungchen:

  Interview

Click folder icon below images to download zipped JPEG image for press use, or click on image to view enlargement.