Chinese trains are luxurious and relaxing compared to Indian ones. Passengers are different as well, a bit less colorful and spontaneous. On this night train to Xian this lullaby was played to wish us good night.
Tibetans hang their prayers flags everywhere they go. On them are painted
deities and prayers so that the wind can carry them around, spreading
a message of peace and brotherhood
In Shigatze, second city of Tibet, I caught this sound coming from a radio in a shabby house, right beside the main monastery. Children were very amused by my recording.
In Gyantse four men were playing dices with rules I could not understand. It was the middle of a sunny, very bright afternoon; the Tibetan plateau was full of clean air and the sky blue. We were by the main road, sitting on the ground around those people that offered us a drink and many smiles.
Recorded in Beijing. The city is so big you can't avoid using the underground.
Moving around crystal skyscrapers and big cars was a shocking return to
the capitalistic world
China did not give me the impression of a country with solid roots and a good memory of its past. But tourism is a big business and at underground stations or outside museums it is easy to find people who play traditional music.
Buddhist monks debate logic at least one hour a day, it's part of their training to reach awareness and enlightment. There we were in Sera, not far from Lhasa. This monastery used to be one of the biggest with over 6,000 monks. Now they are just a bunch but still remain very noisy. I caught a monk and tried to debate with him in English about the nose of president Bush and the one of the Dalai Lama, a funny exercise for me but it did not get far. The rule is that one of the two monks supports a hypothesis and claps his hands to give more strength to his words and idea. The other should reply and contrast him until when one of the two is stuck with the argument and loses.
With prayers wheels in background this old man, the bright face full of wrinkles, sits and prays by twisting his rosary and repeating a mantra
It's a little spoilt by the wind. It has been recorded at the entrance of the main Taoist temple in Beijing. The piper was a little aside, supposedly having a good time with a friend and his pipe
In Lhasa, along the main pilgrim circuit we were greeted by an old man and his nephew with the typical “Tashi Delek”: good morning and good luck.
You listen to these people sweeping the ground by prostrating in front of the main monastery in Lhasa. A tough exercise if repeated many times at over 4,000 meters altitude by people that can be not so young anymore
By a fountain there was a little shop with people working, hanging around or playing. The sound of the radio was not too loud neither too soft, just in harmony with the picture.
One of my favourite recording subjects when I was not turning one myself. There the wheel was huge, two meters high inside a chapel full of colorful paintings and candles.
That's how Chinese are conquering the world, corporate spirit. Before starting to work, in the chilly morning, these 20 employees of a supermarket run together and sing some power giving song. Impressive and scary.
In Lhasa people do their ordinary business among pilgrims and tourists. It's a colorful and noisy mess, authentic and pleasant to be in.
Trying to pray by a statue of Buddha with their children making noisy games.
A perfect sample if you want to know how's Tibetan language. These two ladies were chatting at the entrance of a temple, monks were playing music inside.
He's not more that eight years old, practicing some mantra with an old monk beside that makes a funny partner in the song.
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