To say that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an influential person would be an immense understatement. Apart from his prominence as a globally-recognized spiritual and political leader, His Holiness has been making waves in the world of music as well. Last year, his debut album Inner World in which his sacred mantras and teachings are accompanied by traditional instruments topped the Billboard 100 New Age chart. Among the cast of collaborators on this album is the renowned sitar player Anoushka Shankar, whose style perfectly complemented His Holiness’ messages of peace and compassion.
This is not the first time for the 14th Dalai Lama to get involved in the production of new music. In fact, the origins of Swiss-Tibetan pop rock outfit Porok Karpo can also be traced back to an interaction between the spiritual leader and India-born Tibetan vocalist, artist, and activist Loten Namling.
Porok Karpo means white crow, which signifies creation
It happened back in 2014. Namling’s work as an artist brought him to Oslo in Norway. And during a photo-op, there he met the Dalai Lama by pure chance. The two had a short but meaningful conversation in which Namling felt compelled to speak to the spiritual leader about Tibet’s traditional and political songs – the type that can land you in prison if you sing them in the wrong places in Tibet. As a lifelong fighter for Tibetan independence and cultural preservation, Namling told the Dalai Lama that the songs needed to be heard by larger audiences throughout the world. The spiritual leader then responded by telling him to do it.
This sparked a fire inside Namling. And shortly after his meeting with the Dalai Lama, he passed that spark onto guitarist and producer Patrick Lerjen when they met in the streets of Berne in central Switzerland. Namling told Lerjen about his encounter with the Dalai Lama and what he wanted to do. Coincidentally, Lerjen at the time was actively searching for something new and challenging to serve as the inspiration for his next musical direction. Lerjen then went to work on the first drafts of what would be the foundations for Porok Karpo’s songs.
Armed with his G&L guitars, overdrive pedals, and a ton of experience in contemporary rock, Lerjen became the bridge with which Namling could bring Tibet’s music to the world. From their initial collaborations, the two then recruited two other experienced Swiss musicians in the game: Mik Keusen on keys and Philipp Moll on the electric bass. With its completed lineup, Porok Karpo began making the rounds across Europe around 2015, and continues to do so today.
The Tibetan Warrior learns to rock
Before he became the front man for the world’s preeminent Swiss-Tibetan folk pop-rock fusion band, Loten Namling’s activism was immortalized in the documentary Tibetan Warrior. Without giving anything away, Namling’s most notable creative political work involves a long trek across Europe to Geneva, in an effort to raise awareness of how China is treating Tibet and its people. As the India-born son of exiled Tibetan freedom fighters, Namling has been fighting for the Tibetan way of life since he was a child. And through his and his bandmates’ work in Porok Karpo, he continues to echo the sentiments of the Tibetan people through the tradition of classic rock.
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