Show Notes
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.
In This Episode
The Tibetan Freedom Concerts begin with a bold idea: a young activist, a musician, and a belief that music could move people to act.
As a teenager, Erin discovers U2, Live Aid, and Amnesty International, and begins to see music as a force for justice.
Through Amnesty, Erin learns about Tibetan nuns imprisoned for nonviolent protest and begins the path that will eventually lead her to co-found the Tibetan Freedom Concerts.
Ngawang Sangdrol shares how she became a nun, was arrested as a teenager, and sang freedom songs with other nuns inside Drapchi Prison.
The episode ends with the power of freedom songs, and the idea that movements need courage, action, and joy.
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 — Beastie Boys member and co-founder of the Milarepa Fund, heard through archival audio.
Flea — Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist and performer at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, heard through archival audio.
Thom Yorke — Radiohead singer and performer at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, heard through archival audio.
Björk — Artist and performer at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, heard through archival audio.
Tom Morello — Musician and activist, best known as the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.
Biz Markie — Artist and performer at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, heard through archival concert audio.
Deyden Tethong — Tibetan activist, producer, and executive producer of Freedom Needs a Soundtrack.
Dave Grohl / Foo Fighters — Artist and performers at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, heard through archival concert audio.
Bono / U2 — Artist and performer heard through archival concert 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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This series 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 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.
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.