03. Dec 2009
Singer Tashi Dondrup arrested
(Times) Chinese authorities arrested a popular young Tibetan singer for composing subversive songs, Times Online reported. Tashi Dondrup was detained while in hiding in Xining, Qinghai province, where he had taken refuge after the authorities banned his music, the report said. Apparently the professional singer, a member of the Henan Mongolian Autonomous Region Arts Troupe, released an album titled Torture without Trace in October 2009. The album's songs express support for the Dalai Lama and commemorate the crackdown that followed the unrest in Tibet in March 2008. The 5,000 CDs sold out quickly among Tibetans in the Amdo region of eastern Tibet, where Tashi Dondrup is a local star, the report said. Chinese authorities immediately banned the album.