Dadawa

Being the first musical artist from mainland China to release an international album since 1950, Dadawa (born Zhu Zheqin in Guangzhou Province, China, during the early '70s) went to Tibet to draw on that culture for her first record. Dadawa's father was a science editor and she studied to be a teacher, but switched to professional singing in her early '20s. When she entered and won a TV talent contest, composer He Xuntian along with his brother, He Xunyou, discovered her. Under their mentorship she changed her name and was soon performing on television in France, Spain, and Sweden. In 1993, they spent several months in Tibet and in 1994, they started composing and recording. Warner Brothers International released Dadawa's debut album, Sister Drum, in 1995. On it, the Chinese artist sang her own interpretation of Tibetan music accompanied by drum, horn, and flutes, creating a mystical and ethereal atmosphere. Because of the Chinese government's suppression of Tibet, Sister Drum met with considerable fury from those concerned with the brutal exile of Tibetans and the squashing of its religion. Many felt it was an expression of Han cultural imperialism, finding unbearable insults in Dadawa's wearing a nun's robe on the cover jacket and chanting and mispronouncing sacred mantras accompanied with a pompous orchestral background. This Chinese claim on the traditional Tibetan culture was also haunting to many as it implied the Tibetans are ancient and backward, but not a different country than China. The political overtones were also evident when the single "Sister Drum" came out, showing Dadawa hugging the wall of the Buddhist's sacred temple, Jokhang, a place where even the international media are barred. Perhaps because of the controversy, the album sold over a million...