Concert at Rick's to benefit Tibetan freedom movement

This Sunday, Students for a Free Tibet will sponsor the first Tibetan Benefit Concert, featuring Tibetan chanting master Sonam Dhargey.

Headlining at the event will be Detroit's Immigrant Suns. Local acts including Transmission, Mazinga, #6 and The Prisoners will also perform.

The aim of the concert is to raise money to give to nonprofit organizations supporting Tibet. Most importantly, the benefit will raise money for Tibetan language schools.

During the Chinese occupation of Tibet, Tibetan citizens haven't been allowed to teach their own language or cultural traditions, and restoring Tibetan language schools is a step toward resurrecting the country's cultural identity.

Brian Siff, co-founder and coordinator of the local branch of Students for a Free Tibet, says that the concert is a chance to educate students about the political situation in Tibet while enjoying music from local bands.

Courtesy of Students for a Free Tibet The Immigrant Suns are featured at a Tibetan benefit concert at Rick's this weekend.

Students for a Free Tibet was started on campus earlier this year and has had a lot of success in getting students involved in the Tibetan struggle for freedom.

Earlier this week, the group sponsored "Sacred Dance for World Healing," a concert by the monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery, who performed for a crowd of more than 500 people, an overwhelming response mirroring students' increased concern for and awareness of Tibetan issues. Siff hopes that the Tibetan Benefit Concert will elicit the same kind of response.

Sonam Dhargey will open and close the show with traditional Tibetan Buddhist blessing prayers.

Dhargey, a former monk and chanting master of Gyuto Tantric College of Tibet, will perform a chanting technique known as "Awesome Voice," which is cultivated in the monasteries of central Tibet. "Awesome Voice" allows the singer to simultaneously sing three notes of a chord. Dhargey has performed with the Grateful Dead and is well known for his amazing chanting abilities.

In addition to Dhargey, the Tibetan Benefit Concert will also feature Gelek Rinpoche, an Ann Arbor resident and founder of Jewel Heart, a Tibetan cultural center here in Ann Arbor. Rinpoche was born in Tibet and teaches Tibetan Buddhism.

He has edited and printed more than 170 rare Tibetan manuscripts and will speak at the benefit about his experiences.

Student awareness of Tibetan issues has been helped by Hollywood's recent fascination with the country.

Movies like "Seven Years in Tibet" and "Kundun" have brought the struggle to the forefront. The Tibetan Freedom Concert, organized by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, has enjoyed great success since its inception two years ago. Students for a Free Tibet managed to get permission from Columbia Pictures to show the Tibetan Freedom Concert movie on campus to arouse students' interest in the movement.

PREVIEW
	Tibetan Benefit Rick's Sunday at 8 p.m.

Siff agreed that the celebrity backup has really helped the Tibetan cause. "People associate the word Tibet with a lot of things," Siff said. "We have a campus that wants to help people, so it's been to our advantage," Siff continued, referring to the recent trend.

For students who may not know much about the situation but feel compelled to support this particular human rights cause, Students for a Free Tibet will provide question-and-answer tables at the concert to try and help students understand the dire situation in Tibet.

There will be postcard-writing tables as well, and plenty of information on hand about the Chinese occupation and how it's affected the people of Tibet.

Siff has high hopes for the concert, as well as for the group's continuing efforts. "History has shown over and over that when students get together, they can bring about change," Siff said.

The First Tibetan Benefit Concert is students' chance to help bring about change for a country that has been culturally suppressed for more than 40 years.

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