MusicTibet.com
News :: 2004
China frees popular Tibetan musicians
Dharamsala, India, 17 May 2004 (Music Tibet News Service) Chinese authorities have released two popular Tibetan musicians two months after their detention, according to a radio report.
The two men, Namkha, a Tibetan singer, and Bokocha, a monk and composer, were arrested around March 10 in Tongde County, a traditionally Tibetan area now part of China's Qinghai Province, apparently because of the implicit political content of their music.
Chinese security forces returned the two men around May 5 to a spot about 10 kms from a county known as Kawasumdo in Tibetan and Tongde in Chinese, according to Radio Free Asia, a US government funded radio based in Washington DC.
The two men were not mistreated while in custody, the relatives of the two men told the radio, although Namkha returned home with his shoulder injured.
Neither of the men has spoken in detail about their detention, and where they were held remains unknown.
Namkha's relatives declined to comment on his health and said he was unavailable to speak on the phone. Bokocha, who was in retreat at the time of his arrest and has already resumed his retreat.
There are four monasteries in the area. Every one of those monasteries organised prayers for their release. Even the local community were very much united behind them, sources told the radio.
Another source said the two men appeared to be under continued watch by Chinese security officials and under some additional restrictions.
Chinese State Security officials were also reportedly confiscating all of Namkha's CDs and warned local monks of "serious consequences" if they were found in possession of Namkha's music.
One song, titled "King's Messenger," begins: "Dear youths of Tibet; Those who are left behind in Tibet should not remain timid. Raise your head with pride; I am the messenger of the King."
Another song that appears to have drawn official ire is titled "Amdo Pogoe," meaning "Courageous Amdo Man."
Both men come from a nomadic area in China's Qinghai Province. Bakocha is a monk at the Ba Shangtse Monastery in Tongde County.
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