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Introduction to THL Music Encyclopedia

The first recordings to be included here were made in Tibet in 2000 by the members of the Preserving Living Traditions Tibetan Folk Music Project directed by John Flower. Recording engineers were Paul Brown and Travis McCauley. Other participants were Tenzin, Konchok Jiatso, Tsering Gyelbo, David Germano and Nicolas Tournadre.

Recordings were made that year in:

• Panam
• Lhatse
• Lhasa
• Basum
• Ngari

Examples of these genres were recorded:

• Drinking songs (chang gzhas)
• "West" song (stod gzhas)
• "Fast" songs ('khrug gzhas)
• Ceremonial songs (gzhas chen)
• Folk songs (dmangs gzhas)
• Folk songs (glu)
• Dancing songs (zhabs bro)
• Pastoral songs (glu gzhas)
• Classical songs (nang ma)
• Narrative songs (rnam thar)
• Dramnyen-dance songs (sgra snyan zhabs bro)
• New Year songs (lo gsar gzhas)
• Work songs (las gzhas)
• Wedding songs
• Gesar Epic songs

Provided for unrestricted use by the Tibetan and Himalayan Library