Happy New Year 2012

January 2012

Dear Friends,

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I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year 2012, from Dharamshala, India. I will be in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, on the New Years eve, performing at a concert with over two hundred thousand Tibetans and Buddhists from around the world. I feel fortunate and blessed to be here at this sacred place to receive the Kalachakra teaching from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I feel happy to see HH in good health and pray for his long life, pray for all sentient beings and for world peace.

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The past year had been very kind and adventurous for me and for my career. Last year at this time, I was promoting my children's CD Semshae in North America, Europe, and India. After the tour I was fortunate to have been invited as artist-in-residency at Emory University, where I spent about a month and half. After the residency, there was a brief moment of possibility of moving back to India to work on my music project, but then Emory's World Music department offered me a position to teach Tibetan music at Emory. With kind help from the professors and my dear friends, I moved to Emory and made Atlanta, Georgia, my temporary home. 

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I am now in Dharamshala visiting my parents. My main reason for this trip is to head down to Bodh Gaya to participate in a music concert during the Kalachakra teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I am grateful for the generosity from my friends Kirra Tara, Cheryl Haines, Ray-Light Japan, Sara McLintock, Rex Niswander, Mr. and Mrs. Tenzin N. Sangpo, Marguerite Tingkhye, and Hal Jacobs, who made this trip successful. Thank you for supporting me and believing in my cause for preserving and promoting Tibetan music.

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While on this trip, I worked on some PR for the concert in Bodh Gaya on behalf of the Alliance of Tibetan Musicians. Due to the recent protests and self-immolations in eastern Tibet, we find it appropriate to dedicate this year's concert to honoring our patriots in Tibet. You can see some of the press materials on Phayul.com and TibetSun.com

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My parents are doing great, except for age-related joint and back pains. My step-dad is now 90 and Ama la is in her late 60s. This trip was especially meaningful because I met so many Tibetans, mostly elders from Tibet who are in Dhramshala and heading down to Bodh Gaya. Seeing them and being around them gives me the feeling of being home and being with our people. Their spirit and deep devotion to His Holiness, I feel, is the spirit that has kept our identity and culture alive and gives me hope that one day I may return with them to our homeland. It was very nice to meet Tibetan poets and activists such as Tenzin Tsundu la and Buchung D. Sonam and other creative friends whose collective efforts and dream is to work for our freedom.

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I'll be back in Atlanta in mid-January and will resume my teaching at Emory. I wish you all a very Happy New Year. May 2012 brings peace and harmony in the world especially in the Arab world and in Tibet.

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Techung