Techung is a prominent Tibetan singer/songwriter living in exile in the Adirondacks, New York. He is best known for his performances of traditional Tibetan music, dance and opera under the name Tashi Dhondup Sharzur. However, he uses his childhood nickname, Techung, when performing as a solo artist. Whether performing in traditional or contemporary styles, his dual goals are to revive Tibetan music in the Tibetan community and to expose the rich performing cultural tradition of his homeland to the world community.

 

Techung grew up in Dharamsala, India where his family was forced to resettle in India along with tens of thousands of other Tibetans after the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1949. Because of the limited educational opportunities open to young refugees in the 1970s, he was enrolled at the age of nine in the newly formed Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), despite his family not having an artistic background. In his seventeen years of residency at the Institute, he studied all aspects of the Tibetan performing arts - folk, court, and religious music traditions - through the oral teaching tradition used by the venerated Tibetan elders with whom he was honored to study. He toured with TIPA in its first international tour as a leading child actor in 1975-76 and for many years afterwards. 

 

After emigrating to the USA, he co-founded the San Francisco-based Chaksampa Tibetan Dance and Opera Company in 1989. Chaksampa made their debut at Carnegie Hall with Philip Glass, REM, Trey Anastasio, Shawn Colvin, and Patti Smith as part of New York Tibet House’s annual Monlam festival concert. Under Tashi Dhondup’s leadership as Artistic Director, they have performed all over North America and Europe, often by invitation, at prestigious venues such as the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The group has performed in all four of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts organized by the Milarepa Fund, appearing with such artists as U2, John Lee Hooker, Taj Mahal, Buddy Guy, Pearl Jam, Herbie Hancock, Tracy Chapman, The Beastie Boys and others. Techung also held the position of Education Coordinator and Tibetan Community Laison for the Milarepa Fund. One of Chaksampa’s songs is included in the “Tibetan Freedom Concert” CD on Grand Royal and Capitol Records.

 

In addition to being looked up to as one of the keepers of traditional Tibetan musical traditions, Techung is also respected for the original solo and collaborative music he creates by drawing on both his own heritage and his familiarity with other world music traditions. He collaborated on his first solo album, “Yarlung: Tibetan Songs of Love and Freedom” (1997) with composer/performer Miguel Frasconi, followed by “Sky Treasure” (2001) with Windham Hill jazz keyboardist Kit Walker. His song “Losar” (Yarlung) was chosen as the 2003 ‘Best Modern Traditional Tibetan Song’ at the first annual Tibetan Music Awards held in Dharamsala. His recent album Techung-Tibet-Lam La Che: On The Road (2013), with Keb Mo and poet Tsering Woeser, received four Best awards at the 2013 Tibetan Music Awards: Best Album, Best Song, Best album cover design and Best Love song.

 

Techung’s voice and music have been featured in the IMAX film “Everest,” the feature film “Windhorse,” the documentary films “Stranger in My Native Land,” “Tibet’s Stolen Child,” and “Three Days for Tibet” (about a concert in Dharamsala with Joan Osborne, Zakir Hussein and other musicians). His music has also been used to promote the Milarepa Fund (promoting the 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concert), Students For a Free Tibet’s “Tibet Will Be Free” DVD, and Amnesty International (soliciting support for the human rights case of the Venerable Palden Gyatso), as well as on an audio book by Diki Tsering titled “Dalai Lama, My Son.” His music is currently being used in the documentary film “What Remains of Us” which was selected at the 2004 Cannes film festival. His music will also be used in the upcoming Tibetan feature film “Dreaming Lhasa” directed by Tenzing Sonam and Ritu Sarin. More recent film collaborations in the Discography.

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With the goal of reaching Tibetan children, Techung released his first Tibetan children's music album Semshae – Heart Songs, in 2010. This is the first Tibetan children’s music CD and is the result of seven years of research. It was composed especially to encourage Tibetan children in exile to learn the Tibetan language. The primary goal of the project is to ensure that the Tibetan culture of compassion is preserved through children’s music.

 

Since 2004 Techung has performed live opening acts for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, at public talks in USA, Costa Rica and Japan and in New Orleans (2013)

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Most recently, in 2018, Techung was awarded the prestigious New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Folk and Traditional Arts.

 

Currently (2021) He serves as artist advisory committee member for the New York Foundation for the Arts. 

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Listen to Techung's Music Here.

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