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Tenzin Choegyal

@tibet_effect

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Australian/Tibetan Artist 🙏 | Improvisor| Composer| Producer| Music is Life l Queensland Music Award| ARIA | GRAMMY® Nominated| Tibetan Music Award|

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After 6 years, I had the honor of returning to Dharamshala for the inaugural Tibetan Artist Festival @tibetanartistsfest with Metok my Dranyen. During this short visit, I feel truly blessed to have received His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s blessing in person. How fortunate we are to walk this earth in his presence. Thank you, His Holiness, for continuously inspiring me to be a better version of myself each day.

A heartfelt thank you to Bhuchung @badsonam the entire organizing team, and the Tibet Fund @thetibetfund for making this festival a reality, and for ensuring it was a meaningful and inclusive experience for both the artists and the audience. It was deeply encouraging to see the growing appreciation for Tibetan art in exile. There was a time when my own work felt out of the box, and many didn’t know what to make of it. But now, the next generation of Tibetan artists in exile has a much more welcoming space, with open ears, eyes, and hearts within our community. Thank you, everyone, with much gratitude. 🙏
I shall post photos from the festival later.

Photos: these special photos are by @choejor and thank you Tenzin Takla la

Receiving blessings from His Holiness while presenting the Grammy Medal & certificate. By Choenjor

Presenting these to His Holiness and Amala felt like offering them to my own parents, who left this world too early. A whole book of emotions, I could built a world out of this single moment. by @tibet_effect

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Long before international stages and prestigious award nominations, Tenzin Choegyal was a young boy surrounded by the songs of his Tibetan family, melodies that would become the heartbeat of his extraordinary life.

Born into a nomadic family in Tibet, Tenzin fled with his family to India during childhood. Growing up in exile at the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamshala, he found comfort and belonging in music, especially the beautiful singing of his mother and the bamboo flute played by his father.

When he arrived in Australia in 1997, he carried his traditional dranyen, his remarkable voice and a deep love for his homeland. From performing at Woodford Folk Festival to captivating audiences at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Tenzin gradually built an international career spanning more than three remarkable decades.

His beautiful ability to connect ancient Tibetan traditions with contemporary sounds has brought collaborations with celebrated artists including Laurie Anderson, Jesse Paris Smith, Matt Corby and Philip Glass. His album Songs from the Bardo earned a Grammy nomination in 2021, while Snow Flower received recognition at the Queensland Music Awards.

Beyond the stage, Tenzin founded Brisbane’s Festival of Tibet, creating a welcoming space to celebrate Tibetan culture, creativity and community.

Now, another wonderful milestone has arrived. His collaboration with Philip Glass, Be the Sky, has earned a nomination for Best World Music Album at the 2026 ARIA Awards.

Through every performance, Tenzin continues to honour his parents, his heritage and the people whose stories travel through his songs. What makes his journey so moving is not simply how far his music has travelled, but how lovingly he has carried home with him.

📸 by @tibet_effect @thrillbeam @carolynchristensen1 @angecostesphotography by @tibet_effect

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Huge congratulations to director Sahil Shah @thereelexplorer and his incredible team of BIRDS ON ICE for having its world premier at the Busan International Film Festival! 🎬✨

Have the best time, Team BOI - aka Team Noodles! 🍜❤️

For everyone in Busan, screening details for Birds on Ice at BIFF are in the bio. 🇰🇷

And for the rest of the world… you won’t have to wait too long. You’ll get to see it soon too!!!! 🥳🎥

Go Team BOI! 🐦❄️ Super happy for you all!!! by @tibet_effect

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One of my favourite magazines, The Big Issue, has always held a special place in my heart. It supports and creates work opportunities for people experiencing homelessness, marginalisation and disadvantage.

I still remember buying the September 2015 issue on the streets of Brisbane City. His Holiness the Dalai Lama was on the cover, alongside an article by Steven MacKenzie exploring some of the biggest issues of our time, including the experience of being a refugee.

Fast forward to September 2026, and I had the great pleasure of speaking with Charlotte Smith for The Big Issue about my concert for the Australian premiere of the new album, “Be the Sky”, created with Philip Glass and featuring Alex Ring Gray, Saori Tsukada, Scorchio Quartet and the Tibetan Children’s Village Choir.

What began as a conversation about the album naturally became a conversation about HOME and TIBET - about belonging, displacement, exile, memory and what it means to carry a sense of home within you.

The album is released in honour of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday, celebrating his extraordinary life and decades in exile.

It feels deeply meaningful to see these two Big Issue moments 2015 and 2026 connected across time.

The Big Issue - September 2015: His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the cover.
The Big Issue - September 2026: A conversation about Be the Sky.

***Since 1959, His Holiness has carried Tibet with him, living in exile for almost seven decades.

🎵 Be the Sky — link in bio.
#BeTheSky #TheBigIssue #Tibet #DalaiLama #PhilipGlass TibetanMusic MusicForChange by @tibet_effect

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This is THANK YOU to brother Yuyu Chu, principal violinist and the Artistic Director of the Taipei Philharmonic, for curating such a beautiful and evocative concert for MOC’s In Harmony with the Mountains and the Sea Concerts in Taipei.

Enjoy this short clip of improvising Snow Flower, captured by Cindy during the sound check 🎶🙏

Listening back to this moment, I’m reminded that one of my favourite moments was improvising on the Lingbu, the Tibetan bamboo flute, alongside his violin in Snow Flower. In that delicate dialogue between Lingbu and violin, I found myself thinking about the concept of reincarnation - what happens when one life ends and another begins.

As we improvised on Snow Flower, it felt like a fragile melody passing from one existence into another, carrying a memory we cannot quite name.

Congratulations, and thank you 🙏 Yuyu la, for curating such a beautiful, heartfelt concert for everyone to enjoy, experience, and journey with. @chuyuyu_ig by @tibet_effect

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BE THE SKY features original works from Tenzin Choegyal and Philip Glass’s two-decade collaboration between their two distinct yet deeply connected musical worlds. The album also spotlights performances by the GRAMMY® Award-winning Scorchio Quartet, Saori Tsukada, Alex Ring Gray, and over 100 refugee children from the Tibetan Children’s Village, the school and orphanage where Choegyal himself was raised. Album artwork by @tenzingrigdol by @tibet_effect

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A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made these two concerts titled “In Harmony with the Mountains & the Sea” in Taipei so special. ❤️🇹🇼 Amplifying Tibet stories through songs & music.

My deepest gratitude to the Ministry of Culture MOC, Taiwan, and to all the organisers, artists, musicians, crew, and everyone behind the scenes.

It was an honour to share my music alongside Seredau, an incredible Taiwanese Indigenous artist; Lhundup Tsering, a fellow Tibetan artist living in Taiwan; the Global Hakka Opera Vocal Choir; and the wonderful children’s choir, all supported by the amazing Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra curated by Yuyu Chu. 🎶❤️

And to everyone who came, sang, cheered, and shared these beautiful moments with us - Thank you with all my heart. Your warmth and love made these two Concerts super heartwarming. What a beautiful experience. I’ll treasure these memories for a very long time. 🙏❤️

Goodbye, Taiwan, for now… 🇹🇼 See you all again very soon. ❤️
Until then, thank you for the memories.
@chuyuyu_ig @ministryofculturegoi @lhundup.melody @seredau_tariyaljan @lhundup.melody by @tibet_effect

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