Tibetan singer Tashi Dondrup arrested over 'subversive' CD

Friday, December 04, 2009

Times Online
Jane Macartney in Beijing
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Tashi Dondrup: CDs sold out quickly

Chinese authorities have arrested a popular young Tibetan singer, accusing him of composing subversive songs.

Tashi Dondrup was detained yesterday afternoon while in hiding in the western city of Xining, capital of Qinghai province, where he had taken refuge after the authorities banned his music.

The 30-year-old professional singer released an album titled Torture without Trace last month, sources told The Times. It comprises 13 songs expressing nostalgia for the exiled Dalai Lama and remembering the crackdown that followed an anti-Chinese riot in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in March last year.

The 5,000 CDs sold out quickly among Tibetans in the Amdo region of eastern Tibet, where Tashi Dondrup is a local star. Authorities at once banned the album.

Officials in central Henan province, where the singer is a member of the Henan Mongolian Autonomous Region Arts Troupe, issued a warrant for his arrest. The musician, the son of Tibetan farmers who was married two months ago, fled into hiding.