In 2020, we at Lion’s Roar were blessed when the award-winning Tibetan singer-songwriter Yungchen Lhamo specially recorded a premiere video of her song “Awakening” (from her album of the same name) as part of our first “Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit,” produced in partnership with Tibet House US.
Since then, I have only become more and more a fan, by this point playing Yungchen Lhamo’s most recent album, One Drop of Kindness (2023), more times than I could guess. Hers is some beautiful music: uplifted and unpretentious, inspired and inspiring. And the kindness—in her voice, her melodies, her presence—is practically palpable.
If you’re not a Yungchen Lhamo fan already, you may well become one now, as she’s recently been given the “Live on KEXP” treatment—meaning that she’s been featured in a new video from the esteemed Seattle-based nonprofit arts outlet so well known for capturing great performances from musicians of all kinds. Whether you watch or just listen, this is a very good time, featuring Yungchen Lhamo both solo and backed by guitarist John Alevizakis and percussionist Curtis Andrews, and skillfully interviewed by KEXP’s Darek Mazzone about her work and what Alevizakis calls her “grace, inspiration, and energy.”
Enjoy:
And if you like what you hear, I hope you might also check out Yungchen Lhamo’s One Drop of Kindness Foundation, which is dedicated to bringing compassionate support to healing and distressed communities by offering an Empathetic Listening and Compassionate Training program; the “You Are Beautiful, I Am Beautiful” Project, which “involves music, role-playing therapies, and the use of simple mantras for the benefit of the homeless, developmentally disabled, and mentally ill”; and raising support to help the Shri Sengedrak Ngedhon Samten Choeling nunnery and retreat center, about 90 miles north of Kathmandu.
