The 1,000-mile journey from Lhasa in Tibet over the Himalayan mountains to Dharamsala in India has to be one the most testing and physically gruelling exploits that anyone can undertake. Yungchen Lhamo — her name means ‘Goddess of Melody’ and was given to her at birth by a lama — walked this path back in 1989 to pursue her spiritual practice.
Yungchen moved to Australia in 1993 where her first CD release Tibetan Prayer won an ARIA award for Best World Music Album in 1995. She then released three acclaimed albums on Real World Records: Tibet Tibet (1996), Coming Home (1998) and, in 2006, Ama, which features duets with Annie Lennox and Joy Askew.
She toured the world, visiting over 80 countries and performing on prestigious stages such as Carnegie Hall in New York, London’s Royal Festival Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Louvre in Paris, the Vatican in Rome, and at numerous WOMAD festivals and rock concerts. She has collaborated with many well-known artists, including Natalie Merchant, Billy Corgan, Peter Rowan, Bill T Jones, and Russian classical pianist Anton Batagov.
In 2013 she stopped performing outside of the USA to spend time working with the homeless and mentally ill in Upstate New York, where she now lives.
Yungchen has a voice of astounding clarity and purity that promotes sound healing and spiritual awakening, and her ability to sing long-sustained pure notes has astonished many sound engineers.
Now in 2023 she has returned to Real World Records — and to the world stage — with her latest album One Drop of Kindness – one of love, compassion, offerings and wisdom, a reminder that each of us can make a difference and achieve spiritual awakening.
