Tenzin Choegyal
Tenzin Choegyal is one of the world’s finest musicians in the Tibetan tradition. As a son of Tibetan nomads, he feels a particular connection to the music of the high Himalayan plateau. Now living in Australia, but visiting North America this month for his annual Tibetan benefit concert at Carnegie Hall, Tenzin’s friendship with Koady and Koady’s Australian family is why our 2022 #StayCoolSwimCold challenge beneficiaries included the Tibetan Children’s Village. He is one of the warmest and most generous and humble artists you’ll ever have a chance to see!
In a career spanning 20+ years Tenzin has performed at festivals across Australia and curated numerous events and concerts including Brisbane’s annual Festival of Tibet, and singing up the sun at the Woodford Folk Festival on New Year’s Day each year.
Internationally he has performed in New Zealand, Japan, India, Germany, Bangladesh, Russia and USA, including performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has also opened many of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Public Talks in Australia, New Zealand and Japan with his musical offerings.
While proudly continuing the unbroken nomadic lineage which is central to his repertoire, Tenzin also embraces opportunities to take his music into more contemporary, uncharted territory, both in the studio and on stage.
His collaborative albums include ‘The Last Dalai Lama?’ with Philip Glass, ‘Peradam’ album by Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith featuring Anoushka Shankar & Charlotte Gainsbourgh and the 2021 Grammy-nominated ‘Songs from the Bardo’ released through Smithsonian Folkways with his longtime friend and collaborator, Jesse Paris Smith and Laurie Anderson – a moving interpretation of the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’.
An outstanding composer/performer with a great depth of musical knowledge, intuition and inventiveness, Tenzin continues to bring new sounds of Tibet while strongly holding the essence of ancient Tibetan wisdom. He attributes his art form to the early karmic imprints of hearing his mother and father as a toddler.