by Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
Kathmandu, May 25: There are around 28 FM radio stations in Kathmandu broadcasting News and various entertainment related programs, but a local radio program in Tibetan language was never heard of until recently.
The recently launched one hour weekly Tibetan song program – Tashi Delek Kathmandu has, however, come as a new lease of music entertainment to Tibetans and lovers of Tibetan music here in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
Since April 8 this year, the Voice of Youth 96.8 FM started broadcasting a new and an exclusive program that plays Tibetan music and song between 1-2pm every Sunday.
This is the first time that a Tibetan language radio program has been carried out in Nepal and the listeners can now enjoy Tibetan music of all genres on their radio sets.
“It is purely a music program and no other contents are broadcasted through it”, says Tsetan, a young dynamic host of the program.
Tsetan, a radio journalist based in Kathmandu came to know about the Voice of Youth through his friends. The FM station, located at Tusal area in Boudha, where a large number of Tibetans in Kathmandu reside, has been broadcasting a number of different programs in different ethnic and foreign languages. In the meanwhile, the station also wanted to start a program in Tibetan and had been looking for a suitable host to it.
The Tibetan program was immediately started after a small voice test by Tsetan proved successful.
The one-hour program currently plays both modern and traditional Tibetan songs. “Soon, songs from Tibet will also be played in our coming programs,” Tsetan told phayul.
“Many Tibetans are not so aware of number of Tibetan singers and their songs” says Tsetan. We are more used to songs by exile Tibetan singers, but I find it interesting to listen to songs by Tibetan singers from inside Tibet,” Tsetan adds.
“I happened to listen to some of the songs sung from Tibet, and I was deeply impressed by the standard and type of songs they have come out with,” mesmerizes Tsetan.
“I have already become a big fan of some of them and I want fellow Tibetans to try listening to them once” Tsetan suggests.
Mr. Kumar Bhattarai, Managing Director of Voice of Youth mentions two reasons for initiating the program; firstly the sheer size of Tibetan population in Boudha area and secondly Voice of Youth broadcasts youth oriented programs representing youth of all ethnic groups and considers Tibetan as one of the groups.
Presently, the station is broadcasting programs in 14 different ethnic and foreign languages mainly considering the interest and want of young people.
“Tashi Delek Kathmandu is already running smoothly with good public response, and will go on accordingly,” says Mr Kumar. In addition, according to Tsetan, plan is already on the roll to include a public talk session in the Tibetan program where listeners can call and participate in gossips.
