Just two weeks before President Clinton’s trip to China, the D.C. concert becomes the biggest and most consequential yet. After lightning injures concertgoers, the movement carries its message to the Capitol, Beijing and beyond. Erin and others look back on what it set in motion, and ahead to what the fight for freedom needs now.
In This Episode:
- The 1998 Tibetan Freedom Concert sells 122,000 tickets in 27 minutes.
- A lightning strike at RFK Stadium seriously injures concertgoers and forces organizers to end the first day early. The concert returns the following day with a renewed sense of purpose.
- Lhadon Tethong addresses 66,000 people and reflects on a new generation of Tibetan leadership.
- Musicians, activists, politicians, and thousands of young people rally at the U.S. Capitol before President Bill Clinton’s trip to China, where Clinton publicly calls for dialogue between Chinese leaders and the Dalai Lama.
- Ngawang Sangdrol is released after 11 years in prison and hears the Drapchi nuns’ freedom songs outside prison for the first time.
- Students for a Free Tibet takes nonviolent action to the Great Wall of China and the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch relay.
- Erin reflects on leaving the Milarepa Fund and the leadership that grew from the Tibetan Freedom Concerts.
- The episode honors Adam Yauch and considers his legacy as an artist, activist, and co-founder of the concerts.
- Erin, Deyden, Lhadon, and Sangdrol reflect on what the concerts changed and what Tibet’s continuing struggle for freedom requires today.
Voices in This Episode (In Order of Appearance):
- Erin Potts — co-founder of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts and the Milarepa Fund, and executive producer of Freedom Needs a Soundtrack.
- Rebecca Rankin — Music journalist associated with MuchMusic (archival audio).
- John Norris – MTV News anchor (archival audio).
- Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers — musician and performer at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts (archival audio).
- Deyden Tethong — Tibetan activist, producer, and executive producer of Freedom Needs a Soundtrack.
- Dr. Julian Orenstein — a medic who treated injured concertgoers at the DC Tibetan Freedom Concert (archival audio).
- Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys — co-founder of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts and Milarepa Fund (archival audio).
- Lhadon Tethong — Tibetan activist and co-founder of Tibet Action Institute, former executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, and a speaker at the 1998 Tibetan Freedom Concert.
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama — Tibetan spiritual leader and global advocate for nonviolence (archival audio).
- Thom Yorke, Radiohead — Singer and performer at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts (archival audio).
- Josh Schrei – Part of the Milarepa Fund staff (archival audio).
- President Bill Clinton — 42nd President of the United States (archival audio).
- Ngawang Sangdrol — Former Tibetan Buddhist nun and political prisoner.
- Katty Kay, BBC World — journalist who reported on the 2008 uprising in Tibet (archival audio).
- Adam Horovitz, Beastie Boys — musician (archival audio).
- Michael Diamond, Beastie Boys — musician (archival audio).
- Wolf Blitzer, CNN — journalist and anchor (archival audio).
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Freedom Needs a Soundtrack is a Rangzen production, produced by Adonde Media and distributed in partnership with KALW Public Media in San Francisco.