Mini-Global Mashup: Tibet Meets Colombia
The Mini-Global Mashups continue through December 2022! Curated by acclaimed trumpeter and composer Frank London (The Klezmatics), the Mini-Global Mashup series is bringing together two amazing global music artists along with accompanists for an afternoon of music, conversation and exploration. Post-show Q&A.
Mini-Global Mashup: Tibet Meets Colombia presents Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo and Colombian artist Martín Vejarano. (accompanied musician(s) TBA)
Yungchen Lhamo was born and raised in Lhasa, Tibet. In 1989, Yungchen Lhamo (which translates as ‘Goddess of Melody’) carried her baby son on a 1,200-mile journey, walking across the Himalayas from Tibet to India, then became the first Tibetan singer to achieve worldwide acclaim. Her first album, Tibetan Prayer, won the Australian Recording Industry Award for Best World Music Album in 1995. She was then signed by Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records label and released three more albums, Tibet, Tibet, Coming Home, and Ama, between 1996 and 2006. In 2013, Yungchen released her fifth album, a meditational collaboration with Russian classical pianist Anton Batagov, on the Cantaloupe Music label. Her unique voice promotes sound healing and spiritual awakening, and has been described as: “Not only beautiful, but strong – her phrasing, control and depth of emotion are unsurpassed.” She has toured all five continents and performed, usually acapella, in opera houses, concert halls, cathedrals, rock and country music festivals, and in homes for the mentally ill and homeless.
“Pristine, gliding vocal lines.” – The New York Times
“The sheer beauty of her voice: spine-tingling stuff.” – The Guardian (UK)
“Angel-voiced.” – Newsweek
Born to a dancer/choreographer and a filmmaker/profesor in Bogotá, Colombia, Martín Vejarano was surrounded by the arts from an early age. Martín’s main focus has been the traditional musics from Colombia, with an emphasis in Gaita/Cumbia Music. He holds degrees in Jazz from The Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music and in Music Theory from The City College of New York. As an educator and music instructor, Vejarano is currently a teaching artist at Flushing Town Hall and a long time collaborator with the Center For Traditional Music And Dance, through which he has received the NYSEA Master-Apprentice fellowship to teach traditional Gaita Music, a number of times. Martín currently directs and leads four music projects: La Cumbiamba NY, Cumbia River Band, Chia’s Dance Party and NYC Gaita Club.