The Tibetan Freedom Concerts
by Andy Sawada
What started as the ultimate concert road trip eventually became the
ultimate concert experience. First in New York City, then Washington
D.C. and most recently Chicago, the Tibetan Freedom Concerts have been
a series of performances that have helped me to realize the strength
and power that music enjoys to mobilize and place geo-politics into the
mainstream.
When my friends and I decided to travel to New York City, I can honestly say that it was primarily for the music. It seemed a concert of a lifetime. It was a performance that would showcase the following - A Tribe called Quest, the legendary Lee Perry, U2, Radiohead and of course, the Tibetan freedom fighter poster boys, the Beastie Boys, who helped create the non-profit organization that would stage the concert and thereby directly benefit from it.
However, as the Beastie Boys probably had ordained, after attending the event, my friends and I left the concert completely changed. We now felt compelled to learn more about the tragedies and atrocities that have taken place in Tibet and to make a concerted effort to make a difference in the world!
The concert created such an impression on us that we decided that it was worth the money and the time to commit to this cause throughout the year as well as to commit to going to all of the future concerts, no matter where they were held. At the succeeding concerts, we expanded our knowledge about the history of Tibet, the cultural genocide of Tibet conducted by the Chinese government, and what constructive action individuals might perform in order to help stop the oppression of the indigenous Tibetans.
At our third concert, the political cause had become more important than the music. The history of the concert began as Adam Yauch from the band, Beastie Boys, thought of what he could do as a musician and a Buddhist to assist with the plight of Tibet. He concluded that the best way to address the situation in Tibet was to bring the issue, which wasn't the most publicized issue in the media, into the mainstream. The best way to accomplish that as a musician was to hold a benefit concert. Thus, the Milarepa Fund was created as a non-profit agency that would accept donations to fund those groups committed to strive for a free Tibet, as well as organize the concerts.
The first concert was held in San Francisco in 1996. Attendance for the one-day event was 100,000 people, and the concert made $800,000 for the Milarepa Fund. This grass-roots approach for raising the political profile of Tibet was a huge success. However, there wasn't a lot of establishment media and publicity for the concert, which was why the following year, the Milarepa decided to try to raise the profile of the concert by staging it in the D.C. area.
However, the concert was ultimately held at Randall's Island in New York City. This two-day concert raised over a $1,000,000 yet attendance was just under 60,000. The concert was a great success, thanks mainly to the media and MTV. The first day of the concert was sparsely attended, however, following the live coverage on MTV and the fact that the concert was held in the media capital of the world, the Milarepa Fund succeeded in bringing the concert and the issues to the mainstream media.
The following year, the concert was held at R.F.K. stadium in Washington, D.C. Despite a lightening storm on the first day that postponed the concert, the two-day event raised $1,200,000 and claimed attendance figures of 120,000 people. The key component to this concert was the public rally afterwards in Washington to show the disdain of the business dealings of the U.S. in China despite the latter's horrific human rights record.
In 1999, the Milarepa Fund decided to globalize the Tibetan
freedom movement. Concerts were held in Chicago, Tokyo, Amsterdam
and Sydney on the same day. Milarepa decided that the best way to
further the cause was to internationalize the concert and hopefully
spread the news why the cause was so worthy.
The most interesting aspect of this concert experience is the ability
that a simple musical
event can have on mobilizing such a large group of music fans into
human rights activists. By staging a concert with many of today's
popular musicians, music fans could learn and identify
with a cause with which most were unfamiliar. These series of
musical
concerts have helped to engage one of the largest non-active
political
groups. Most music fans of these bands tend to be between the age of
15-25, and most of these followers were relatively uneducated about
politics and world issues. However, after four years of the concerts
and musical activism by many of today's popular artists, the issue of
human rights and Tibet is now one of the most popular causes for both
young adults and music fans.