Published by: World Tibet Network News 97/05/18 24:00 GMT

Local musician appears with Brad Pitt, Sonic Youth

By Jim Sheeler

Boulder Planet

Published: May 14 - 20, 1997

Nawang Khechog just finished serving as an

assistant director and completed an acting role in

the upcoming Brad Pitt movie, "Seven Years in

Tibet." He's busy writing the music for a New York

theater production called "Children of the War."

He will perform next month with the Beastie Boys

and Sonic Youth at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in

New York. He has three music albums coming out

within the next year.

Considering all that, he's most excited about an

event in his own back yard.

"The Dalai Lama's visit to Colorado is one of the

most important things to happen in our lives,"

said Khechog, who lives near Ward, west of

Boulder. "The Dalai Lama is our sunshine. He is

our hope."

When the Dalai Lama speaks at Macky Auditorium,

McNichols Arena and the Naropa Institute, Khechog

will be there, bringing along the soaring, longing

music that originated in their homeland of Tibet.

It's a music that millions of people long for -

one that is seldom heard in its land of origin. As

one of the foremost modern Tibetan musicians, it's

a sound that Khechog refuses to let fade away.

Nawang Khechog doesn't remember much of the music

of his native land. He escaped the country with

his parents in the 1950s after it was occupied by

the Chinese. His family was the only one of his

nomadic group to survive, and not all of them did.

Seeking refuge in India, many in Khechog's family

couldn't take the drastic temperature change from

the freezing climate of Tibet to the sometimes

sweltering summers of India. His two younger

sisters and his grandmother perished.

As he grew up, Khechog studied to become a monk,

and sought out the Dalai Lama. While following the

holy man's teachings, he also discovered the

flute. It was one of the few items he would bring

with him to the mountains of India, where he spent

four years living in a cave as a hermit.

After emerging from the mountains, Khechog

traveled to Australia, where he learned to play

the didjeridu and recorded three albums. After

coming to the United States in 1991, he met

Boulder-area New Age musician Kitaro, who would

end up producing Khechog's 1995 album, Karuna, at

his home studio in the mountains.

Khechog now lives near Kitaro, in the forests of

the mountains above Boulder - an area he says

reminds him of his time in the foothills of the

Himalayas. He continues to pick up new sounds from

countries all over the world, boasting between 30

and 40 instruments in his home.

Khechog's music evokes the breadth of his life

experiences, mixing the booming, sometimes

mournful sounds of the Tibetan long horn and his

own chanting with the soothing, peaceful flute

flutterings. It is a music that matches the

haunting, yet nonviolent struggle of a country and

its people.

"When I play the instruments, I become the medium

for the music," Khechog said. "When I play

different instruments, I always get a different

feeling, so I feel that each instrument has

something different to say, and it's saying it

through me.

"I also combine this natural feel of music and

composing songs so they also have a natural story

to tell. I feel that's very important to have that

natural feeling. It's kind of like a garden. The

natural elements of the water and sun make the

flowers grow, but there is a possibility to

arrange the garden in a way that it's also

beautiful.

"Also, some of my songs are performed in a

completely natural way - like a wildflower."

Helping hands from Hollywood

Khechog's popularity has grown worldwide

throughout the last few years, as has the cause of

the Tibetan people. Last September through

December, he flew to Argentina to help with the

filming of the new movie, "Seven Years in Tibet,"

which stars Brad Pitt as the man who taught

English to the Dalai Lama.

Khechog helped with organization of the Tibetans

on location, and was even enlisted as an actor,

playing the small part of a construction foreman.

"It was a tough job - sometimes we worked 20 hours

a day - but it was worthwhile," Khechog said.

"It's going to become a powerful thing to help

communicate the story of the country."

As far as working with Brad Pitt, Khechog says the

Hollywood hunk was, overall, a "nice guy."

"There are a lot of stray dogs in Argentina, and

he would feed them. He even brought two of the

dogs back with him to California," Khechog said.

"That was a very kind gesture. I felt that he has

a kind heart."

Star power like that of Pitt, and music power like

that of the Concert for Tibet - which drew 100,000

people last year in San Francisco and is expected

to do the same in New York in June - is part of

the worldwide realization that might give Khechog

a chance to once again play his music in the land

from where it originally came.

"It's similar to the situation in South Africa,"

Khechog said. "Concerts and movies helped the

freedom of South Africa, and when all these events

take place, the consciousness will be raised about

the situation in Tibet.

"These are the ways we will hold on to our

culture."