JJI Exile Brothers: Tibetan rock band in exile.

The very name of this band 'JJI Exile Brothers' conjures up the pain of separation from their motherland, the bonding of kindred souls in the midst of adversity. They are Jamyang, Jigme and Ingsel, aged 25, 24 and 22, sons of Nyima, who was brought to India as children as part of the great influx of refugees from Tibet following the Chinese invasion. Theirs is the universal language of youth now combined with the music traditions and instruments of their native Tibet; a land they have never seen but which they yearn for along with their community.

Speaking of their situation, and the thousands like them who have never been to Tibet, Jamyang, who trained in the art of Thanga painting from the Tibetan school in Mussourie, says: "We are free, but we are aware of what is happening through the news and television."

Performing in McLeodganj near Dharamsala at 'the Concert for Peace', the brothers received a rousing response from the crowd; the brothers, who sing in English, Hindi and Tibetan, are getting used to this kind of reaction. At their first concert in 1998, Nyima says people in the audience were in tears, overcome with emotion as her sons played their songs. (Extracts from the Hindu online newspaper).

BY ANJANA RAJAN, met the JJI Exile Brothers in McLeod Ganj, India - the new voices of Buddhist music.You can get your copy on MP3 in the The Chevstar Dloadshop where you can listen to all the tracks on the 'JJI Exile Brothers first Buddhist rock album.