The first I heard about JJI Exile Brothers was from my son Kevin, who had spent some time in McLeodganj, the town above Dharamsala where the Dalai Lama lives. By the way, in Hindi, Dharamsala means “abode of people in pursuit of the Divine”. Dharamsalas are hostels on pilgrim routes, where pilgrims or sadhus (wandering holy men) can find refuge for the night.Kevin told us about the best restaurant in town, with the nicest staff, the healthiest food and the most interesting music.
He also mentionned that JJI were three brothers, rock musicians and really nice guys. Once we had settled at the yoga center in Dharamkot, we went a mile down the road to McLeodganj, to eat at JJI Exile brothers on Bhagsu Road. The restaurant we entered was really intimate, with 4 tables seating a maximum of 20 people.
We rapidly became regulars. We came for the family who runs it, with Tashi-Tashi, the brothers’ uncle and Niema, the brothers’ mother and Tashi’s sister, the two of them most often in charge of the place; and for Max, the gifted young cook.
Romantic evening ambiance during monsoon power shortages
We would study the antique decorations on the walls, read the dozens of faded cards and notes sent by customers from around the world, listen to the outstanding, eclectic choice of music, and of course taste the homemade, healthy Tibetan and Italian cuisine. In the evenings the ambiance would sometimes have a romantic touch, especially when monsoon rain power shortages would have us eat by candlelight, one candle per table.
Jigme and Max preparing dumplings and salsa
Tashi, Niema and Max have this warm, humble and deep authentic presence that we found in the whole family. Tashi and Max would frequently ask me for updates on Kevin' travels throughout India and Nepal, as they had made friends with him before his departure.
While eating we could hear Niema read the Hindustan Times in English to other Tibetan women sitting together. Like most everyone in McLeodganj, they would follow every statement, commentary or trip account concerning His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After all, she had immigrated as a child just a couple of years after he had, when the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1958, and had lived here ever since then longing for the day her country would peacefully regain its freedom and her family could go home.
One evening, as we were savoring our favorite dishes, –Thunthuk for Kamala, a Tibetan soup of fresh vegetables, subtle spices and fresh home made flat noodles, and cheese gnocchi for me -, a young man with a round face, dark mid-long curly hair and a warm, outgoing smile introduced himself. Jamyang, the older of the brothers sat down next to us, and, as we were commenting on the unique quality of the ‘40s and ‘50s crooner music playing that evening, gave us the short story of JJI.
The brothers’ Tibetan rock band, “JJI Exile brothers” had become increasingly famous several years ago, touring in the US and Europe, and generating a large following among their generation of Tibetan refugees in India. They recorded a CD that Jamyang popped on for us; it was a mix of traditional Tibetan music, rock, blues, country, and poetic ballades, all admirably composed, with Tibetan lyrics. Track four started with a few notes, immediately awakening a deep, stirring melancholy. As I shared my feeling with Jamyang, he explained that the song was called “If” and talked about what life would be like for his people if the Chinese invasion of Tibet had never happened.
The Three JJI Exile brothers, rehearsing in the basement before the concert,
and at the restaurant jam session
Regarding the Tibetan topic, India is in a challenging position. Tensions with neighboring China continue to make the headlines on several inter-related topics: the sensitivity of India hosting the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile, the waves of incoming refugees, as well as the indefinite border between Northern India and China, since a brief border war in 1962. See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/world/asia/19india.html.
A quiet yet very present tension exists between Indians and Tibetans in the areas that have welcomed increasing numbers of refugees, currently estimated at around 100 000. Quiet because there is rarely any visible outbreak between non-violent Tibetans and peaceful Himalayan Indians; present because when you start asking about the topic, the Indians will share their frustration and irritation about the economic gaps between refugees and locals. While the Indian government and many NGOs are financially helping the Tibetan exiles, numbers of locals are still living in dire poverty. There is certainly a lot to be said from both sides; the Indians are more sensitive to the economics, while the Tibetans can legitimately question their uncertain future as refugees in a hosting land. These are just some complexities of the reality of Tibetan refugees that are visible only from here.
I asked Jamyang if the brothers ever put-on any concerts in McLeodganj. They hadn’t been playing in concerts for the past couple of years, he explained, other than in Vienna a few weeks earlier and in Amsterdam back in January... He told us they held regular music jams at the restaurant on Sunday nights and invited us over. That proved to be a challenge, as we rose before 5:00 am and started yoga practice at 6:00. We rarely would go down to McLeod to spend the evening…
Several weeks later, late June, after my 6-day return trip to New York for my daughter Meaghan’s graduation, Kamala and I decided to have lunch at JJI to celebrate my return. It was the ideal way to come back to the very particular pulse of McLeodganj and its surroundings.
As we greeted Niema and settled at our table, I was intrigued by some little flyers she was writing on. She told us the brothers were having a concert a week later, with a guest star, Raf, on the saxophone. When Jamyang came in towards the end of our meal I shared my excitement with him. We would actually hear them in concert before we left the area! He proposed that we come to listen to them rehearsing later that afternoon.
I postponed the visit to the next day, showed up at the restaurant to notice drum and electric guitar sounds arising somewhere from the rear of the restaurant. Max took me down the outdoor stairs, over some corrugated tin roofing the rain had made slippery a few minutes earlier, down a few more moldy cement steps and into to their small practice room. It was decorated with Tibetan images, prayer flags, graffiti, and crammed with a chaos of instruments, amplifiers and cables.
JJI stands for the 3 brothers’ names in order of age: Jamyang (Bass and lead vocals), Jigme (lead guitar, vocals) and Ingsel (drums and vocals). They were ending their first rehearsal set with Raf, so I had time to listen to a couple of songs before their break. Raf has been living in McLeodganj for a couple of years now, developing his personal style and composing for alto saxophone and clarinet, and attending meditation retreats. He had met the Brothers a few months earlier, but had only played with them a few times at the Sunday evening restaurant jam sessions.
He kindly offered me to play on his alto saxophone during the break. This was an exceptional treat since I hadn’t blown into a sax since I had moved out of my apartment in January! Jamyang and Raf stuck around and we had a little jam based on my very modest jazz repertoire. I was having a fabulous time; playing with musician friends contrasted from the more serious things we had been focusing on during our trip… personal discipline, fasting, learning and practicing yoga with the associated efforts and pains…
Talking with Jigme at the break, I learned that when the group was at its peak, several tragedies hit family and friends. The JJI Brothers lost their desire to play, tour and live the life of stage stars. They felt the loss in their family and the weight and despair of the cause they were advocating; the tragedy of their people became even more real to them through their own hardships.
Chinese government policies have been geared to eliminate and completely eradicate Tibetans from the cultural, social and economic picture by marginalizing them in their own country. These policies include taking housing away for a variety of “reasons”, moving Tibetans to ghettos, providing employment exclusively to the thousands of Chinese immigrants that arrive every week in Lhasa, making public schools not only payment based but too expensive for any unemployed Tibetan family to afford. Now Tibetan children are actually being kept away from public education in their own homeland.
The finishing of the direct Chinese train line to Tibet has since a couple of years drastically increased the number of Chinese immigrants coming to Tibet as a land of opportunity. Lhasa has been developed from the centuries old mythical spiritual center into a downtown of karaoke bars, brothels and gambling halls. “political prisoners” have been detained against human rights and monks demonstrating pacific resistance systematically tortured.
Many well documented films have been made on the topic. If you are interested in knowing more, look into the following documentaries : "Tibet: The Cry of the Snowlion", "Windhorse", "Dreaming of Tibet", "Tibet's Stolen Child".
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=83
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/
Jigme Mandul, friend, protest artist and stage performer /acrobat
Jigme Mandul painted half Tibetan flag, half skull.
The structured policies of the Chinese government have pushed young men towards rackets, drugs and alcohol and young women to prostitution. Despite a high degree of sympathy in principle for the Tibetan cause, the world continues to ignore how systematic and effective China has been in executing this program for the past 50 years.
For several years the Brothers had stopped playing, dropping into depression, “auto-medication” and hopelessness.
Raf explained later that the Amsterdam and Vienna concerts earlier this year had brought back some hope, re-building their interest to resume more serious music endeavors. He had started playing frequently with Jamyang over the past two months and this had just recently stimulated Jigme and Ingsel to want to play all together again. When I met them they were actually just starting to rehearse together as a group. Jamyang had the idea of planning a local concert and the date was set for July 6th, the location was Yongling Crèche and Kindergarten school hall on Jogiwara Road. They had but a week to prepare…
The practice resumed an hour or so later as I sat in a small humid corner, listening and observing how photogenic this tiny room tucked below the restaurant was. I could envision the beauty of some natural light pictures with the graffiti walls, the Tibetan decorations and the youthful energy they exuded. I had just brought a camera from New York and had found a perfect subject to explore! As they enthusiastically agreed for me to come back the next day with my camera, I thought it was definitely going to be a lot of fun, combining my passions for photography, music and for discovering people. It was going to be their first concert in McLeodganj for 3 years and had all the oomph of a come-back. And I wanted to encourage them and help turn the volume up!
The idea of having a Tibetan rock concert in McLeod had its detractors, even though the Brothers called it “The Freedom Concert”. Since the violent Chinese repression of Tibetan protests in April that cost the lives to hundreds of Tibetans and imprisonment to hundreds more, there was a moratorium on any public Tibetan entertainment.
Daily candle vigils at 6:30 pm in McLeodganj
Even the usual performance of the TIPA (Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts) for His Holiness’ birthday at the Dalai Lama’s temple in McLeod was cancelled this year. Protests throughout India and the regular evening candle vigils in McLeodganj were the only accepted forms of Tibetan public gatherings. This was one of the many ways for the Tibetan refugees to express their solidarity with their brothers and sisters back home.
To make a long story short, there were several days of practice below the restaurant and final rehearsal at the school. The sound equipment was minimal, several instruments feeding into the same amplifiers, microphones and guitar pickups crackling, cable problems to be soldered at the last minute. Raf and the brothers worked on details and solos of each song, while I took dozens of pictures, distributed flyers, put posters up and played some saxophone now and then.
The concert date had been chosen by chance, and happened to be the birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This was a very special day in Dharamsala. We had endured full monsoon weather for the past month with regular downpours, grey, foggy skies and very little sun. We had spent up to 10 days without seeing the sun at all.
Then, the day of the Dalai Lama’s birthday, in McLeodganj where His Holiness is established, the sun shone intensely in a perfectly blue sky all afternoon. It was as though we had been living in a bowl and the lid had been taken off, revealing a world above us that we had forgotten……the colors, the immensity and the depth.
Find the sign! The modest signage to direct people down the path
Everything was almost ready. Jigme, a cousin, and I made up a few last minute signs indicating where the concert was, out of paper bags from the grocery store next door, and taped them to the walls on Jogiwara road.
By the time the concert started, the hundreds of Tibetans, Indians and tourists from Korea, Japan, US, Europe and Israel that had lined up for their 100 rupee ($2.5) tickets had filled the school hall. Jigme, the cousin, lit candles along the stage as Niema welcomed everyone with words of peaceful protest and unconditional support for the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Then everyone joined in for a special Happy Birthday song. The concert took the form of an unassuming protest, with on-stage activist live-art creation, a painted dancing protestor and the activist lyrics of their songs.
Family and friends were volunteering at the desert and beverage table, serving homemade cakes, hot chai and soft drinks poured into plastic cups from half gallon bottles bought at the local grocery store. It really felt like a neighborhood fund-raiser, which in fact it was. All the proceeds were collected to buy a washing machine and dryer for a Tibetan old folks’ home.
The event was a big success. The audience was ecstatic, appreciating a rare live rock concert and the Brothers’ talent and overflowing energy level. With more than 300 tickets sold, the retirement home would get its appliances. The brothers had made a statement about their passion for their art and their audience.
Romantic evening ambiance during monsoon power shortages
We would study the antique decorations on the walls, read the dozens of faded cards and notes sent by customers from around the world, listen to the outstanding, eclectic choice of music, and of course taste the homemade, healthy Tibetan and Italian cuisine. In the evenings the ambiance would sometimes have a romantic touch, especially when monsoon rain power shortages would have us eat by candlelight, one candle per table.
Jigme and Max preparing dumplings and salsa
Tashi, Niema and Max have this warm, humble and deep authentic presence that we found in the whole family. Tashi and Max would frequently ask me for updates on Kevin' travels throughout India and Nepal, as they had made friends with him before his departure.
While eating we could hear Niema read the Hindustan Times in English to other Tibetan women sitting together. Like most everyone in McLeodganj, they would follow every statement, commentary or trip account concerning His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After all, she had immigrated as a child just a couple of years after he had, when the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1958, and had lived here ever since then longing for the day her country would peacefully regain its freedom and her family could go home.
One evening, as we were savoring our favorite dishes, –Thunthuk for Kamala, a Tibetan soup of fresh vegetables, subtle spices and fresh home made flat noodles, and cheese gnocchi for me -, a young man with a round face, dark mid-long curly hair and a warm, outgoing smile introduced himself. Jamyang, the older of the brothers sat down next to us, and, as we were commenting on the unique quality of the ‘40s and ‘50s crooner music playing that evening, gave us the short story of JJI.
The brothers’ Tibetan rock band, “JJI Exile brothers” had become increasingly famous several years ago, touring in the US and Europe, and generating a large following among their generation of Tibetan refugees in India. They recorded a CD that Jamyang popped on for us; it was a mix of traditional Tibetan music, rock, blues, country, and poetic ballades, all admirably composed, with Tibetan lyrics. Track four started with a few notes, immediately awakening a deep, stirring melancholy. As I shared my feeling with Jamyang, he explained that the song was called “If” and talked about what life would be like for his people if the Chinese invasion of Tibet had never happened.
The Three JJI Exile brothers, rehearsing in the basement before the concert,
and at the restaurant jam session
Regarding the Tibetan topic, India is in a challenging position. Tensions with neighboring China continue to make the headlines on several inter-related topics: the sensitivity of India hosting the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile, the waves of incoming refugees, as well as the indefinite border between Northern India and China, since a brief border war in 1962. See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/world/asia/19india.html.
A quiet yet very present tension exists between Indians and Tibetans in the areas that have welcomed increasing numbers of refugees, currently estimated at around 100 000. Quiet because there is rarely any visible outbreak between non-violent Tibetans and peaceful Himalayan Indians; present because when you start asking about the topic, the Indians will share their frustration and irritation about the economic gaps between refugees and locals. While the Indian government and many NGOs are financially helping the Tibetan exiles, numbers of locals are still living in dire poverty. There is certainly a lot to be said from both sides; the Indians are more sensitive to the economics, while the Tibetans can legitimately question their uncertain future as refugees in a hosting land. These are just some complexities of the reality of Tibetan refugees that are visible only from here.
I asked Jamyang if the brothers ever put-on any concerts in McLeodganj. They hadn’t been playing in concerts for the past couple of years, he explained, other than in Vienna a few weeks earlier and in Amsterdam back in January... He told us they held regular music jams at the restaurant on Sunday nights and invited us over. That proved to be a challenge, as we rose before 5:00 am and started yoga practice at 6:00. We rarely would go down to McLeod to spend the evening…
Several weeks later, late June, after my 6-day return trip to New York for my daughter Meaghan’s graduation, Kamala and I decided to have lunch at JJI to celebrate my return. It was the ideal way to come back to the very particular pulse of McLeodganj and its surroundings.
As we greeted Niema and settled at our table, I was intrigued by some little flyers she was writing on. She told us the brothers were having a concert a week later, with a guest star, Raf, on the saxophone. When Jamyang came in towards the end of our meal I shared my excitement with him. We would actually hear them in concert before we left the area! He proposed that we come to listen to them rehearsing later that afternoon.
I postponed the visit to the next day, showed up at the restaurant to notice drum and electric guitar sounds arising somewhere from the rear of the restaurant. Max took me down the outdoor stairs, over some corrugated tin roofing the rain had made slippery a few minutes earlier, down a few more moldy cement steps and into to their small practice room. It was decorated with Tibetan images, prayer flags, graffiti, and crammed with a chaos of instruments, amplifiers and cables.
JJI stands for the 3 brothers’ names in order of age: Jamyang (Bass and lead vocals), Jigme (lead guitar, vocals) and Ingsel (drums and vocals). They were ending their first rehearsal set with Raf, so I had time to listen to a couple of songs before their break. Raf has been living in McLeodganj for a couple of years now, developing his personal style and composing for alto saxophone and clarinet, and attending meditation retreats. He had met the Brothers a few months earlier, but had only played with them a few times at the Sunday evening restaurant jam sessions.
He kindly offered me to play on his alto saxophone during the break. This was an exceptional treat since I hadn’t blown into a sax since I had moved out of my apartment in January! Jamyang and Raf stuck around and we had a little jam based on my very modest jazz repertoire. I was having a fabulous time; playing with musician friends contrasted from the more serious things we had been focusing on during our trip… personal discipline, fasting, learning and practicing yoga with the associated efforts and pains…
Talking with Jigme at the break, I learned that when the group was at its peak, several tragedies hit family and friends. The JJI Brothers lost their desire to play, tour and live the life of stage stars. They felt the loss in their family and the weight and despair of the cause they were advocating; the tragedy of their people became even more real to them through their own hardships.
Chinese government policies have been geared to eliminate and completely eradicate Tibetans from the cultural, social and economic picture by marginalizing them in their own country. These policies include taking housing away for a variety of “reasons”, moving Tibetans to ghettos, providing employment exclusively to the thousands of Chinese immigrants that arrive every week in Lhasa, making public schools not only payment based but too expensive for any unemployed Tibetan family to afford. Now Tibetan children are actually being kept away from public education in their own homeland.
The finishing of the direct Chinese train line to Tibet has since a couple of years drastically increased the number of Chinese immigrants coming to Tibet as a land of opportunity. Lhasa has been developed from the centuries old mythical spiritual center into a downtown of karaoke bars, brothels and gambling halls. “political prisoners” have been detained against human rights and monks demonstrating pacific resistance systematically tortured.
Many well documented films have been made on the topic. If you are interested in knowing more, look into the following documentaries : "Tibet: The Cry of the Snowlion", "Windhorse", "Dreaming of Tibet", "Tibet's Stolen Child".
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=83
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/
Jigme Mandul, friend, protest artist and stage performer /acrobat
Jigme Mandul painted half Tibetan flag, half skull.
The structured policies of the Chinese government have pushed young men towards rackets, drugs and alcohol and young women to prostitution. Despite a high degree of sympathy in principle for the Tibetan cause, the world continues to ignore how systematic and effective China has been in executing this program for the past 50 years.
For several years the Brothers had stopped playing, dropping into depression, “auto-medication” and hopelessness.
Raf explained later that the Amsterdam and Vienna concerts earlier this year had brought back some hope, re-building their interest to resume more serious music endeavors. He had started playing frequently with Jamyang over the past two months and this had just recently stimulated Jigme and Ingsel to want to play all together again. When I met them they were actually just starting to rehearse together as a group. Jamyang had the idea of planning a local concert and the date was set for July 6th, the location was Yongling Crèche and Kindergarten school hall on Jogiwara Road. They had but a week to prepare…
The practice resumed an hour or so later as I sat in a small humid corner, listening and observing how photogenic this tiny room tucked below the restaurant was. I could envision the beauty of some natural light pictures with the graffiti walls, the Tibetan decorations and the youthful energy they exuded. I had just brought a camera from New York and had found a perfect subject to explore! As they enthusiastically agreed for me to come back the next day with my camera, I thought it was definitely going to be a lot of fun, combining my passions for photography, music and for discovering people. It was going to be their first concert in McLeodganj for 3 years and had all the oomph of a come-back. And I wanted to encourage them and help turn the volume up!
The idea of having a Tibetan rock concert in McLeod had its detractors, even though the Brothers called it “The Freedom Concert”. Since the violent Chinese repression of Tibetan protests in April that cost the lives to hundreds of Tibetans and imprisonment to hundreds more, there was a moratorium on any public Tibetan entertainment.
Daily candle vigils at 6:30 pm in McLeodganj
Even the usual performance of the TIPA (Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts) for His Holiness’ birthday at the Dalai Lama’s temple in McLeod was cancelled this year. Protests throughout India and the regular evening candle vigils in McLeodganj were the only accepted forms of Tibetan public gatherings. This was one of the many ways for the Tibetan refugees to express their solidarity with their brothers and sisters back home.
To make a long story short, there were several days of practice below the restaurant and final rehearsal at the school. The sound equipment was minimal, several instruments feeding into the same amplifiers, microphones and guitar pickups crackling, cable problems to be soldered at the last minute. Raf and the brothers worked on details and solos of each song, while I took dozens of pictures, distributed flyers, put posters up and played some saxophone now and then.
The concert date had been chosen by chance, and happened to be the birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This was a very special day in Dharamsala. We had endured full monsoon weather for the past month with regular downpours, grey, foggy skies and very little sun. We had spent up to 10 days without seeing the sun at all.
Then, the day of the Dalai Lama’s birthday, in McLeodganj where His Holiness is established, the sun shone intensely in a perfectly blue sky all afternoon. It was as though we had been living in a bowl and the lid had been taken off, revealing a world above us that we had forgotten……the colors, the immensity and the depth.
Find the sign! The modest signage to direct people down the path
Everything was almost ready. Jigme, a cousin, and I made up a few last minute signs indicating where the concert was, out of paper bags from the grocery store next door, and taped them to the walls on Jogiwara road.
By the time the concert started, the hundreds of Tibetans, Indians and tourists from Korea, Japan, US, Europe and Israel that had lined up for their 100 rupee ($2.5) tickets had filled the school hall. Jigme, the cousin, lit candles along the stage as Niema welcomed everyone with words of peaceful protest and unconditional support for the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Then everyone joined in for a special Happy Birthday song. The concert took the form of an unassuming protest, with on-stage activist live-art creation, a painted dancing protestor and the activist lyrics of their songs.
Family and friends were volunteering at the desert and beverage table, serving homemade cakes, hot chai and soft drinks poured into plastic cups from half gallon bottles bought at the local grocery store. It really felt like a neighborhood fund-raiser, which in fact it was. All the proceeds were collected to buy a washing machine and dryer for a Tibetan old folks’ home.
The event was a big success. The audience was ecstatic, appreciating a rare live rock concert and the Brothers’ talent and overflowing energy level. With more than 300 tickets sold, the retirement home would get its appliances. The brothers had made a statement about their passion for their art and their audience.
We left around 10 pm, shortly before the end; when I saw the group the next day they were worn out. I think it was the emotional rush of being on stage again… in their home town.
In the following days I created a slideshow from the best of the rehearsal and concert pictures and distributed it to family and friends. It was my way of acknowledging the Brothers’ fine talent and encouraging them to be themselves in their art form.
Every Sunday evening the restaurant is transformed into a little theater for the jam session. Jigme offered that I play a couple of songs on the saxophone with them the following Sunday. That week was like the sequel of the previous one; we got to spend more time together, this time rehearsing “Gypsy”, a ballade evoking the migrant lives of refugees that Raf composed, and “ The Rose“ a blues -rock tune about freedom.
Rehearsing for the jam session
with Raf and Jamyang
The instruments and amps created a small stage space in the back of the restaurant and seating room for about 25 people was set up after ending the dinner service early and piling the few tables in the street. Tibetans and tourists filled the room while Niema served chai and deserts. After half an hour of music, Bhagsu Road was filled with people glued to the windows of the restaurant and listening from the street.
Kamala told us it was the evening she had the most enjoyed since we arrived in Dharamkot, 3 months earlier. It was such a blessing for me to actually work on a couple of tunes with musician friends and to perform with them in such an intimate, friendly atmosphere. I had spent a lot of time getting to know the brothers and family, my incursion into the world of Tibetan exiles in McLeodganj.
Looking at the concert pictures
The restaurant jam session
After the concert of the previous week, the Exile Brothers had made their come back to the McLeodganj scene and were making plans to tour the Tibetan schools in the area and share their art with refugee children. The next day Kamala and I started our Vipassana meditation retreat for 10 days… The day it ended, on our way to the train, we went to have lunch with Niema. She and her sons had gone to the US Consulate in Delhi to obtain visas to play in a couple of concerts in New York and the Midwest in the following month. The visas were not granted. Niema thought it could be because the Consulate was of Indian origin…
Every Sunday evening the restaurant is transformed into a little theater for the jam session. Jigme offered that I play a couple of songs on the saxophone with them the following Sunday. That week was like the sequel of the previous one; we got to spend more time together, this time rehearsing “Gypsy”, a ballade evoking the migrant lives of refugees that Raf composed, and “ The Rose“ a blues -rock tune about freedom.
Rehearsing for the jam session
with Raf and Jamyang
The instruments and amps created a small stage space in the back of the restaurant and seating room for about 25 people was set up after ending the dinner service early and piling the few tables in the street. Tibetans and tourists filled the room while Niema served chai and deserts. After half an hour of music, Bhagsu Road was filled with people glued to the windows of the restaurant and listening from the street.
Kamala told us it was the evening she had the most enjoyed since we arrived in Dharamkot, 3 months earlier. It was such a blessing for me to actually work on a couple of tunes with musician friends and to perform with them in such an intimate, friendly atmosphere. I had spent a lot of time getting to know the brothers and family, my incursion into the world of Tibetan exiles in McLeodganj.
Looking at the concert pictures
The restaurant jam session
After the concert of the previous week, the Exile Brothers had made their come back to the McLeodganj scene and were making plans to tour the Tibetan schools in the area and share their art with refugee children. The next day Kamala and I started our Vipassana meditation retreat for 10 days… The day it ended, on our way to the train, we went to have lunch with Niema. She and her sons had gone to the US Consulate in Delhi to obtain visas to play in a couple of concerts in New York and the Midwest in the following month. The visas were not granted. Niema thought it could be because the Consulate was of Indian origin…
Our new family in Mcleodganj...
As Jigme put it one day, when I wanted to pay for our meal:
As Jigme put it one day, when I wanted to pay for our meal:
“Why would you pay? It separates us. Don't. We are together.”
On leaving McLeodganj, what we left behind was our Tibetan family.
That some day very soon we will come back to be with... and just be with...
Niema and Kamala
In the meantime, the Brothers are still preparing their tour of the schools and spending time sitting in front of JJI restaurant on Bhagsu Road in McLeodganj. They might be shooting the breeze, or composing their next tune, planning their next CD, or wondering again about that eternal homeland they have never yet seen...
Niema and Kamala
In the meantime, the Brothers are still preparing their tour of the schools and spending time sitting in front of JJI restaurant on Bhagsu Road in McLeodganj. They might be shooting the breeze, or composing their next tune, planning their next CD, or wondering again about that eternal homeland they have never yet seen...
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