His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama turns 80 on July 6th 2015. The first institution he created in 1959 while establishing his Tibetan government in exile in India was TIPA, the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. We created this album in honour of the Dalai Lama's birthday and to support TIPA and their valiant musicians who struggle to keep Tibetan performing arts alive.

The repertoire includes Tibetan opera, dance and folk tunes, nomad songs from the Tibetan plateau sung in Amdo, and special stage purification dances.

We recorded this album in the auditorium at TIPA in McLeod Ganj, perched above the Indian hill station of Dharamsala. Monkeys sat on the roof and contributed 'percussion' when they felt like it by banging on the roof when they liked something. They were a frustrating if appreciative audience.

Joining TIPA musicians on this album are monks of Nechung Monastery, singing special pujas (prayers) unique to this monastery. Nechung Kuten, the Tibetan State Oracle, encouraged this recording and contributed his Monastery and his monk musicians to the project.

The album opens with a blessing of the environment recorded in the new Nechung monastery in Dharamsala, a prayer to the four lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and a Losar prayer for the New Year. Tibetan wind instruments, human skull rattles and Tibetan long horns accompany them with vigour.

Track Listing:
1. Chinbep Puja (Blessing of the Environment)
Monks of Nechung Monastery
2. Great Eastern Sun (Tibetan nomad song, Amdo)
Toenpa Kyap
3. Gyalue Namthar & Ringa (stage purification dance)
Penpa Tsering, Sharab Wangmo and a chorus of dakinis
4. Rangyul Rangla Mayna
Jamyang Choeden, voice and guitar
5. Rime Soldep (Four Lineages Puja)
Monks of Nechung Monastery
6. Nangsa Woebum
Penpa Tsering
7. Zandang Palri (from the Great Prayer Festival, Monlam)
Monks of Nechung Monastery
8. Ayr-sha
Tsering Lodoe
9. Drelkar
Penpa Tsering
10. Losar Puja (prayer for the New Year)
Monks of Nechung Monastery
11. Homage to the Lama (Amdo folk song)
Toenpa Kyap, voice & guitar; Tsering Lodoe, lute
12. Tashi Shoelpa
Members of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts
13. Dopoe Namthar from the opera Drowa Sangmo
Tsering Lodoe
14. Norsang Yab Ki Namthar from the opera Prince Norsang
Tsering Lodoe
15. Gyalue Namthar (stage purification dance)
Tsering Lodoe
16. Gyun, Chak Sumpa (refuge puja)
Monks of Nechung Monastery
17. Amdo Glory (Tibetan nomad song)
Toenpa Kyap
18. Tibetan long horns
Monks of Nechung Monastery