Tibetan [Ritual] Music

Tibetan music, like other aspects of Tibetan culture, ranks among the most delightful, strange, and pleasing in the world. Field recordings of ritual chants are fascinating, and there are applications of the otherworldly instrumentation and voice. (Chants often resemble throat singing.) Two albums of Tibetan bells particularly head the "strange music" category. The music from these purely non-electronic instruments nevertheless sounds ethereal and electronic/spacey, thus comparable to other albums of wind harp, temple gongs, Harry Partch instruments, etc. Religious Tibetan music is beyond comparison.

Many Tibetan LPs fall into the "field recording" class, but even these have magical moments. The work songs (for lugging stone, building, cutting grass, herding, etc.) of Tibet have isolated, pastoral, mountain-echo qualities unlike any other. Most Tibetan folk music is traditional, having none of the encumbrances of formality, written notation, concert halls, conservatories, and so on that bind Western music. The one exception is travelling bands who perform at village festivals.

Buying: LPs of Tibetan music are rare but generally have not been discovered as great things. The unique ones are fantastic, and even the standard ones on Lyrichord and Nonesuch are very worthwhile.