Show Notes
Episode 3: After protest photos and freedom songs are smuggled out of Tibet, Erin returns home, where a dinner with Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys transforms what she witnessed into a new kind of action. Together, they begin imagining what music, culture, and activism could do for Tibet, leading Erin to attend Lollapalooza with the Beastie Boys and a group of Tibetan monks. Note: This episode includes discussion of torture, plus a cuss word or two.
In this episode:
Erin and Sam race to get the photos they took during the protests in Lhasa out of Tibet and into the hands of the international press.
Ngawang Sangdrol describes life inside Drapchi Prison and how she and other Tibetan nuns secretly recorded songs of freedom on a smuggled cassette tape.
Erin reflects on hearing the voices of imprisoned Tibetan women singing for freedom, and why those recordings carried a different kind of power.
Adam Yauch receives Erin and Sam’s letter about what they witnessed in Tibet, opening a new path for his own activism.
Erin and Adam begin imagining how music, culture, and action could come together for Tibet.
The Milarepa Fund is born from Beastie Boys royalties and a shared belief in compassion, nonviolence, and the power of music.
Tibetan monks join the Beastie Boys on Lollapalooza, bringing Tibetan culture and the message of freedom to thousands of young concertgoers.
A dollar added to every Beastie Boys ticket becomes the seed money for the first Tibetan Freedom Concert.
Voices in this episode: In order of appearance:
Erin Potts — co-founder of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts and the Milarepa Fund, expert on music and activism, and executive producer of Freedom Needs a Soundtrack.
Adam Yauch — member of the Beastie Boys and co-founder of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts and the Milarepa Fund, heard through archival audio.
Ngawang Sangdrol — Former Tibetan Buddhist nun and political prisoner, first imprisoned at age 13 for peacefully calling for Tibetan independence. While in prison, she and other nuns secretly recorded songs of freedom that helped carry Tibet’s struggle to the outside world.
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Freedom Needs a Soundtrack is a Rangzen production, produced by Adonde Media and distributed in partnership with KALW Public Media in San Francisco.
More from Freedom Needs a Soundtrack
Episode 6: Just two weeks before President Clinton’s trip to China, the D.C. concert becomes the biggest and most consequential yet. After lightning injures concertgoers, the movement carries its message to the Capitol, Beijing and beyond. Erin and others look back on what it set in motion, and ahead to what the fight for freedom needs now.
Episode 5: The Tibetan Freedom Concerts head to New York, where the team faces slow ticket sales, city bureaucracy, and the pressure of turning one breakthrough concert into something bigger. But even as the concert nearly breaks them, U2’s surprise appearance fulfills Erin’s teenage promise and helps carry the movement toward Washington, D.C. Note: This episode includes a cuss word or two.
Episode 4: After two years of near misses, Erin, Adam, and a young team of organizers finally bring the first Tibetan Freedom Concert to life, with one of the most talked-about lineups of the 1990s and a bold new model for turning music into action. Note: This episode includes discussion of torture, plus a cuss word or two.
Episode 2: After studying Tibetan in Nepal and meeting Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys in Kathmandu, Erin Potts travels inside Tibet for the first time. In Lhasa, she and Sam Chapin leave their government-assigned tour, move into the Tibetan part of the city, and come face to face with life under Chinese occupation. When they witness a protest, tear gas, gunfire, and a violent police crackdown, they are left holding proof the world needs to see. Note: This episode includes discussion of a violent response to a peaceful protest, plus a cuss word or two.
Episode 1: Before the Tibetan Freedom Concerts became one of the biggest shows of the 1990s, teenage Erin Potts dreamt of a concert for Tibet featuring her favorite band. Meanwhile, imprisoned Tibetan nun Nawang Sangdrol reveals what it meant to resist from inside Tibet. Their stories meet in the same place: the power of music. Note: This episode includes discussion of political imprisonment and torture, and a cuss word or two.