Tibetan Protest Singer Is Said to Be Under Arrest
Gebe performing at a concert hall in Sichuan Province on Saturday evening before his arrest.
The singer, Gebe (sometimes spelled Gaybay, Gepe or Gepey), was detained Saturday night as he was leaving the concert hall in Aba Prefecture, according to reports from Free Tibet and Radio Free Asia, which is financed by the United States government. Aba, or Ngaba in Tibetan, is a heavily Tibetan area of Sichuan.A popular Tibetan singer was arrested in Sichuan Province last week after a concert at which he performed songs from his banned album, according to Free Tibet, a London-based advocacy group.
In a video uploaded to YouTube by Free Tibet of his performance just before his arrest, Mr. Gebe can be seen on stage singing the song “Will Be Perished” and playing the dramyin, a traditional lute, to the sound of clapping and cheering from the audience.
The song, “Will Be Perished,” calls on young Tibetans to preserve Tibet’s language and cultural traditions. Here are a few verses, in the translation provided by Free Tibet:
The new generation of Tibetans,
Knowing other languages is good,
But we will be perished if we ignore our mother tongue.Students who are in the garden of knowledge,
It is good to have new thoughts,
But we will be perished if we forsake all our traditions.Singers who are enjoying being on stage,
It is good to play instruments wonderfully,
But we will be perished if we overuse alcohol and tobacco.
Mr. Gebe had not been seen in public since 2012, the year his album was released. In addition to “Will Be Perished,” the album contains songs that express the suffering of the Tibetan people under Chinese Communist rule and call for the unity of the Tibetan people and victory for the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. The album was banned in China soon after its release.
The police from Ma’erkang — or Barkham in Tibetan — County in Aba detained Mr. Gebe in spite of appeals by the concert organizer and other artists present that Mr. Gebe was innocent of any crime, said Radio Free Asia, citing a local resident speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“Heartache!” the Tibetan poet and dissident Tsering Woeser wrote on Twitter on Monday after learning of Mr. Gebe’s arrest.
“Gebe, who had disappeared for so long, finally resurfaced,” Ms. Woeser wrote on her blog, Invisible Tibet. “But before we had time to celebrate his independence we heard news of his arrest.”
It is unclear where Mr. Gebe was being held and what, if any, charges have been brought against him.
Reached by telephone, a man from the Ma’erkang County police denied knowledge of the matter.
Mr. Gebe is one of at least 11 Tibetan musicians who have been arrested by the Chinese authorities since 2012 for writing and performing songs that assert Tibetan national and cultural identity and challenge Communist Party rule in Tibet, according to Free Tibet.
The songs give voice to a sentiment held by many Tibetans that policies formulated by the Han, China’s dominant ethnic group, are encroaching on Tibetan culture. In extreme cases, some Tibetans, pushed beyond frustration by the government’s policies, have resorted to self-immolation.
Chinese government officials have pushed back against the idea that Tibetan cultural and religious traditions are under threat. In a white paper on human rights in China issued on Monday, the government touted its efforts to protect Tibetan culture, saying it had invested 127 million renminbi, or $20.3 million, in efforts to preserve the region’s cultural heritage.
藏族歌手格白举办演唱会后被拘捕
2014年05月29日
[视频：格白周六晚被捕前在四川省的一场演唱会上演唱。在YouTube上观看。]
据位于伦敦的倡导组织自由西藏(Free Tibet)的消息，一名西藏流行歌手上周在四川省一场演唱会后被逮捕，他在演唱会上唱了自己被禁专辑中的歌曲。
自由西藏把格白被捕前演唱的一段视频传到YouTube上，在视频中可以看到，格白在台上弹着扎木念(dramyin，一种传统的六弦琴)，演唱着《将被灭亡》(Will Be Perished)这首藏语歌曲，也可以听到观众拍手欢呼呐喊的声音。据自由西藏和由美国政府资助的自由亚洲电台(Radio Free Asia)报道，歌手格白（Gebe，有时也拼写为Gaybay、Gepe或Gepey）周六晚在离开阿坝州的音乐厅时被逮捕。阿坝(藏语的英文拼写是Ngaba)是四川省许多藏族人居住的地区。
《将被灭亡》这首歌号召年轻的藏族人保持藏族的语言和文化传统。以下的中文翻译基于自由西藏提供的英译歌词：
新一代的藏族人啊，知道其他语言很好，但如果我们无视自己的母语，我们将被灭亡。
知识乐园中的学生啊，有新鲜的思想很好，但如果我们抛弃所有的传统，我们将被灭亡。
享受舞台风光的歌手啊，能奇妙地演奏很好，但如果我们沉迷于酒精与烟草，我们将被灭亡。
自从在2012年发行了个人专辑之后，格白一直没在公开场合露过面。除了《将被灭亡》这首歌外，他的专辑中还包括表达藏族人在中国共产党统治下受苦受难、呼吁藏人团结，以及达赖喇嘛(Dalai Lama)比胜等歌曲，达赖是流亡的藏族精神领袖。格白的专辑在中国发行后不久就被禁了。
自由亚洲电台援引当地一名匿名居民的话称，阿坝州马尔康县(藏语的译音是Barkham)的警察将格白拘捕，尽管音乐会的组织者以及在场的其他艺术家向警察申诉说，格白没有违反任何法律。
藏族诗人和异见人士茨仁唯色(Tsering Woeser)在格白被捕后于周一在Twitter上写道，“心痛！”
唯色在自己名为“看不见的西藏”的博客中写道，“失踪许久的格白终于复出，但我们还来不及庆幸他得自由，就传来他被拘捕的消息。”
尚不清楚格白被关在哪里，也不知道是否对他提出指控，罪名是什么。
马尔康县警察局一名接听电话的人称，不知道此事。
据自由西藏统计，2012年以来中国政府至少逮捕了11名藏族音乐人，格白是其中之一，这些人被逮捕是因为他们写作和演唱宣扬西藏民族和文化认同的歌曲，挑战了中国共产党在西藏的统治。
这些歌曲表达了很多藏族人的感情，他们认为，中国人口最多的民族汉族所推行的政策，正在侵蚀西藏的文化。在某些极端情况下，一些藏族人对政府的政策忍无可忍，选择自焚以示抗议。
中国政府官员一直反对藏族文化和宗教传统受到威胁这种说法。在周一发布的一份中国人权白皮书中，中国政府标榜了其为保护西藏文化所做的努力，称政府已经投资1.27亿元人民币，用以保护西藏的文化遗产。
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