Tibetan Freedom Concerts
Tibetan Freedom Concerts were a series of benefit concerts initiated in the 1990s by Adam Yauch, the lead singer of the Beastie Boys, and the Milarepa Fund, an organization aimed at raising awareness for the plight of Tibetans suffering under Chinese occupation. The first concert took place in San Francisco in 1996, attracting over 100,000 attendees and featuring a mix of popular alternative and hip-hop bands alongside testimonies from Tibetan refugees and Buddhist prayers. Subsequent concerts continued to highlight the human rights abuses faced by Tibetans, with notable performances from artists such as U2, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rage Against the Machine. The 1998 concert in Washington, D.C., marked a significant turnout of 112,000 participants and raised millions for the Milarepa Fund, which focused on promoting justice for Tibet. Despite the eventual decline in attendance and interest by the end of the 1990s, the concerts played a critical role in bringing international attention to the cultural genocide suffered by the Tibetan people. The final concert in 1999 was held simultaneously in multiple locations worldwide, signaling a shift in engagement between youth culture and the Tibetan cause. Overall, the Tibetan Freedom Concerts served as a platform for cultural exchange and activism, highlighting the ongoing struggles of Tibetans while uniting diverse audiences around a common cause.
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Tibetan Freedom Concerts
The Event Musicians from multiple genres join together to support justice for Tibet
Date June 15-16, 1996; June 7-8, 1997; June 13-14, 1998; and June 13, 1999
Place Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California; Downing Stadium, New York, New York; R.F.K. Stadium, Washington, D.C.; and Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, Wisconsin (respectively)
The Tibetan Freedom Concerts, occurring from 1996 to 1999 across the United States, led to an increased awareness of the sufferings of the Tibetan people at the hands of the Chinese government. The concerts brought together a young hip-hop and alternative generation with the ancient practices of Tibet and increased a demand to see justice restored.
It was 1992 when Adam Yauch, lead singer of the Beastie Boys, first met the refugees. He was hiking in the Himalayas as they recounted to him the plight of the Tibetans, whose country had been invaded in 1950. They have suffered from countless human rights abuses under the Chinese government, and thousands have been displaced and imprisoned. It is estimated that more than one million Tibetans have died as a direct result of the invasion.
Yauch returned to the United States and in 1994, with activist Erin Potts, started the Milarepa Fund. The organization worked to promote awareness and encourage justice for Tibet. In 1996, the organization garnered support with the first Tibetan Freedom Concert. It was held in San Francisco and gathered a young generation to see alternative and hip-hop bands, while educating them on the atrocities occurring on the other side of the world. Performances by Rage Against the Machine, the Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as the Beastie Boys were mixed with testimonies from refugees and prayer chants led by Buddhist monks. Over 100,000 attended the event, a strange gathering of young punk rockers and older Tibetan holy men.
In 1997, the second annual concert was held in New York and drew twenty-seven acts to the stage. Yauch brought Tibetan musicians to join headliners such as U2, Alanis Morissette, the Foo Fighters, and A Tribe Called Quest. While fewer than 50,000 attended the concert, there was an increased call to protest Chinese products.
The 1998 concert was held in Washington, D.C., and saw the largest crowd at 112,000. $3.3 million was raised for the Milarepa Fund. President Bill Clinton was soon to travel to China, and organizers pressed him to speak with Chinese president Jiang Zemin about the issue of Tibet. During his visit, Clinton did urge Zemin to seek peaceful negotiations with the occupied nation.
The final Tibetan Freedom Concert was held in 1999 in four locations around the world, including Amsterdam, Sydney, Tokyo, and East Troy, Wisconsin, where 32,000 came to the soggy event. The final concert did not have the draw of the previous year, and there was an increase in the division between the youth and the Tibetan cause.
Impact
Though interest in the benefit concerts had dwindled by the end of the 1990’s, they brought to light the cultural genocide suffered by the Tibetan people.
Bibliography
Avedon, John F. In Exile from the Land of Snows. New York: HarperPerennial, 1997.
Stolder, Steven. “We Are Tibet.” Rolling Stone, August 8, 1996, 20.