Melong is a new Tibetan band based in Minnesota,US. The band formed in 2007 has four members: Tenzin Jigme, Tenzin Ngawang, Jampa Choephell and Georje Dorjee. Although individually they came from different backgrounds in music, but common passion to create a new Tibetan sound brought them together.
Ever since it’s formation, the band has been performing at different Tibetan concerts in US. The latest one is on the occasion of Dalai Lama’s birthday celebration in Chicago on 3rd July. After two years since the formation, the band is now ready with their debut album: Notes in Exile.
In an exclusive online interview with phosamosa.com, Melong band’s guitarist Tenzin Jigme talks about their debut album and their musical journey.
Interview by Tsetan
Q: How was the band formed?
A:Melong was formed in early 2007 in Minnesota. Me and my cousin Tenzin Ngawang got together for a jam session with Jampa Choephell. I had just moved to Minnesota from Colorado after completing my studies there in the field of music. Tenzing Ngawang is a graduate from Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) and Jampa has had brief stints with TIPA and Yak band during his days in Dharamsala. We felt pretty good about where all of us were musically. We also knew that there was a need for a live Tibetan band and so the band was formed. We found our drummer George Dorjee through a friend and rest is history…
Q: What is Melong’s genre of music?
A:We consider ourselves as being mainly a rock band but we do cover other genres of music like reggae as well. Being Tibetans, what we also recognize and try to do is to infuse Tibetan traditional instruments in our songs and use these ethnic instruments in our live performances as a medium to promote Tibetan culture and Tibet issue.
Q: What is new about Melong’s music compared to other Tibetan music?
A:Well, I don’t think there’s anything new about our music. But I think our music is definitely different from other Tibetan music that’s available out there. Most Tibetan music is either pop or tunes that you can dance to. We have tried to stay away from the norm. Also, the fact that all of us in the bands are musicians helps us with our sound.
Q: In your first album, what are the themes of the songs?
A: We have songs of freedom, love songs, fun songs and definitely some blues. We cover quite a bit of different genres on this album and have definitely tried to make it a little commercial since this is our debut album.
Q: What kind of problems do you face as a Tibetan musician?
A: Piracy…people need to stop making copies of CDs and distributing them. You know it is actually illegal to do that here in the United States and even in India or Nepal. You can be fined and go to jail for that. Artists invest a lot of time, energy and money to make quality music for the listeners. So we would really hope that our Tibetan listeners support Tibetan artists and start buying the CDs rather than burning copies for their friends and families. I mean u wouldn’t steal from a store and give that stolen item to your friends as a gift, would you? It’s the same concept…
Q: Before coming up with the album, Melong has been performing at various concerts. How was the experience so far?
A:The response has been overwhelming. Everywhere we go, since we are performing live with real instruments on stage rather than singing on tracks, the audience members really seem to appreciate that. We give our best at every show because at the end of the day, the audience has paid to come see us. We want to give them their moneys worth with our performance. We hope we can at least do that much.
Q: What is the distribution strategy for your album to reach the maximum number of listeners?
A: At present we will be mailing out CDs to individuals in different cities around North America, who in turn will sell them for us. We still have not decided on a strategy for India and Nepal which are huge markets for us. But we have to do things right as I mentioned previously about piracy issues. The best way for us is to tour and sell our CDs at our concerts which we will be doing this summer. We have shows in Chicago, Minnesota, New York, San Francisco, and so hopefully we can sell most of our CDs on the road. Eventually the CD will be available for sale online as well.
Q: How much of time do the band manage to spend time on music presuming that music is not full time professsion for you guys?
A: Because of work and other commitments, we try and practice atleast once a week. When we have a concert coming up we might rehearse a couple more times.
Q: How excited is the band about the debut album as it is releasing soon?
A: We are very excited. We released a single from the album called “powa”, on our myspace site (www.myspace.com/melongband) and the response has been great. So we hope people have the same response to rest of the songs on the album as well.
Q: What are band’s future plans?
A:Keep doing what we love to do…make music and fight for our freedom.
Q:Message to the Tibetan music listeners.
A:Our message to Tibetan music listeners is that please support your Tibetan artists. No matter whether you like their music or not…we live under very different circumstances than artists from other countries. Wherever we go, we face hardship because we don’t have our own country and our people are scattered all over the world. But as artists we will remain true to our values, faithful to our country and we hope we get that support from you because without your support we don’t exist.
Tibet will be Free.
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