Some Help From Dad: Yungchen Lhamo and "Lhasa"

Today's random tune is by Yungchen Lhamo, a Tibetan exile in New York City. Lhamo's name translates to "Goddess of Song," and was given to her by a lama after her birth in Lhasa. Fleeing Tibet in 1989, she first lived in Australia and then in New York. She tours extensively, singing unaccompanied, and has collaborated with artists such as Annie Lennox, Billy Corgan, Sheryl Crow, Michael Stipe and Peter Gabriel, to whose label, Real World Records, she is under contract. This song, Lhasa, can be found on her 2008 album Ama, and is dedicated to her father who co-wrote the song.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yungchen_Lhamo

People are Glorious: Sanubar Tursun and "Ademler Ulugh"

A Uyghur musician provides our random tune for today, called Ademler Ulugh (People are Glorious). Sanubar Tursun has established herself as a leader among Uyghur female singer-songwriters. She is a multi-instrumentalist, with virtuosity in both the chang (hammer dulcimer) and on the dutar (a long, two stringed lute). Originally from Xinjiang, she is part of a musical family which includes her well-known younger siblings Hesenjan and Husenjan Tursun. She is currently studying musical composition in Shanghai. You can find Ademler Ulugh on the 2012 various artists compilation Music of Central Asia, Vol. 10: Borderlands.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: http://www.akdn.org/akmi/artists/sanubar-tursun

Mongol Pride: Various Artists and "Khamag Mongol"

Today's song is a little bit on the interesting side. Khamag Mongol, our random song, is performed by singers from different regions that consider themselves of Mongolian descent and who came together to do this song. The song celebrates Mongolian culture and unity. At least that's how I imagine it and I'm probably not that far off. Wikipedia defines Khamag Mongol as a 12th century tribal confederation that preceded the Mongol Empire But that's where my knowledge ends. I don't know who the singers are, nor do I know what the lyrics say. All I know is that the costumes are cool, the landscape of Mongolia starkly beautiful, and the sentiment seems real. I can't tell you where to find a recorded copy of Khamag Mongol, so you'll just have to enjoy this video.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Don't Let the Bulb Burn Out: Michael Lee and "Shine in Love"

Gotta little sugar for you today. Our random song is called Shine in Love by Michael Lee. I can't find much information on Michael Lee, possibly because it's a common name for a lot of people. So, you'll just have to enjoy this romantic song that apparently gets used in weddings. We found Shine in Love on the 2007 various artists compilation the World of 96.1 FM.

Music Cures Crazy: Anda Union and "Boomborai"

A group from China sings and plays today's random tune, called Boomborai. Anda Union is reviving a music that had almost been forgotten in China by combining traditional tunes and styles from both Inner and Outer Mongolia and creating an innovative new kind of music. They combine music from all the tribes that Genghis Khan united, and as music gatherers they dig deep into Mongolian history, folklore and traditions. Their goal is to re-engage young Mongols with their culture and language. You can find Boomborai on their 2011 album The Wind Horse. The song is a story about a miracle cure of a young woman who had lost her mind. Her father was taking her to see the shaman when his cart broke down, and he began to sing a song of sorrow while walking around the cart. The villagers joined in, and at that point the young woman quietly got up and began to sing and dance with them, apparently cured.

Globalquerque Video 7: Rahim AlHaj and Liu Fang

Today's Globalquerque video is of Albuqerque's own oud master Rahim AlHaj and Chinese pipa master Liu Fang performing in the Fountain Courtyard at the National Hispanic Cultural Center during Globalquerque 2014 on September 20th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Liu Fang was born in China and currently lives in Montreal. She is described as the "empress of pipa" and is considered one of the foremost players of the pipa and the guzheng. She plays both traditional Chinese songs as well as classical Chinese music and modern compositions from the East and West. Rahim AlHaj was born in Iraq and emigrated to Albuquerque as a political refugee. He has been playing the oud since the age of 9 and studied in Iraq under the greatest masters of the oud. His political activism against the Saddam Hussein regime forced him to leave Iraq in 1991, and he lived in Jordan and Syria before coming to the US. He detailed in the concert how he wrote songs for oud and pipa and found Liu Fang to play them - and this song is one of those that he wrote.

I shot this on my Samsung Galaxy and because I was using zoom the video is a little grainy. There is also a bit of background sound from cicadas, which Rahim Alhaj notes before they play.

What's Your Sign?: Sa Dingding and "Capricorn"

What's your sign? That phrase is often satirized as a pickup line. I never felt comfortable with my sign. I'm a Capricorn, and I was always bored by my horoscope. Whenever I read my horoscope, and got to Capricorn, it always seemed that a Capricorn was the most boring person on earth! It seemed like all we were interested in was business. While it seemed like all the other signs were getting their groove on, finding love and getting involved in intrigue, all the Caps were interested in was the stock market, or the financial pages. I concluded that if I was a Capricorn, I was a very unlikely one. The only horoscope page I could read about Capricorns was Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology, which seemed a little more...I don't know...open and esoteric about astrological signs.

Sa Dingding makes you feel anything but businesslike. Beautiful and with a haunting voice, and appearing in a gorgeous video, it makes one feel like being Capricorn is sexy and exotic. A singer-songwriter of mixed Chinese Han and Mongolian ancestry, she was influenced early in her life by the folk music of the ethnic minorities of Mongolia and China, and she became interested in Buddhism and learned to speak many languages, including Mandarin, Sanskrit and Tibetan. She also created her own language to bring out her songs' emotions. Dingding released her first album at 18, and in 2008 she won the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award for the Asia-Pacific region. That award gave her the chance to perform for a western audience for the first time. She co-wrote a song in 2008 with Eric Moquet of Deep Forest to raise funds for the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake relief, and she has recently performed at WOMAD and at the UK's Harrogate Festival. She has also announced plans for a European tour. Capricorn can be found on her 2012 CD The Coming Ones.