The recently held "Shoton Star" youth singer contest during the Shoton Festival in August aroused the country's widespread concern for the development of Tibetan ethnic music in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
"The Tibetan music is wonderful and unique, which sounds from an ancient time but holds the power to lead me to the future spiritually", said a tourist from Beijing with feeling when he first heard the original Tibetan songs.
In fact, the Tibetan music is quite popular among Chinese people. A large number of Tibetan songs have emerged and well-known across China since the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, including Folk Song to the Party, Sky Road and Emancipated Serfs Sing Proudly.
Concerning the status, exploration, protection and inheritance of Tibetan music, experts across the country expressed their own opinions during a music summit held in Lhasa.
Music has its root growing from the earth. The original Tibetan music has developed on the high plateau for centuries, which is certainly the root of Tibetan music, said Zhu Zhizhong, director of Folk Music Professional Committee in Chinese Folk Artists Association.
"In an era of information exploration and diversification, we still had better stick to our root in ethnic music", Zhu added, "The original music culture can't be replaced."
The Tibetan songs have taken on a trend with more creations but less quality products since 2000, said He Xiaobing, professor in Communication University of China.
The Tibetan music gained great fervor in the 1960s to 1970s, 1990s and the early years in the 21st century.
The three upsurges bring a close relationship between Tibetan music and poplar music and enrich the Tibetans' music resources, while they also bring about the anxiety of "lacking high-quality music".
Under such circumstance, how to combine rich cultural heritages with the spirit of the time becomes a key problem to solve for all Tibetan musicians.
With development of over 5 decades, the modern Tibetan music cannot compare with the traditional music, which also boasts various types in long history.
"The Tibetan music should combine modernization with traditional inheritance for better development, which cannot realize without excellent traditional culture", said Minlang Dorje, vice president of Tibet Music Association.
"Inheritance and marketization are not in a contradictory relationship but they can coexist harmoniously", said Zhang Bin, secretary-general of China Radio Literature and Art Association. "The traditional culture must be protected as well as kept advance with the times".
The ethnic music protection should be guaranteed under an integral mechanism in a systematic project.
The protection of ethnic music is an urgent yet long-term work when the Tibetan music traditions are fading with the disappearance of traditional social basis, which is widely recognized by scholars and musicians.
"We need a comprehensive understanding about ethnic music and push all forces in different fields and social circles to promote its development", said Ou Zhu, a Tibetan music researcher.
Tibetan singer Samka hopes the Tibetan music would be strengthened and more professional.
"I couldn't find a proper music team when I published my first album, and finally succeeded after almost a year's effort," said Samka. He thought professional music teams with marketing ability, rather than good Tibetan singers, were urgently lacked in Tibet.
Lhasa puts great effort in promoting Tibetan culture and shows high self-confidence and self-consciousness in cultural development, which is certainly a prerequisite and basis for sound development of Tibetan music, according to Chitara, Lhasa municipal party secretary.
"What belongs to the nation belongs to the world. We hope the excellent Tibetan music will head for the world and has a bright future", said Chitara.
