Tibetan Freedom Concerts
The Event Musicians from multiple genres join
together to support justice for Tibet
Date June 15-16, 1996; June 7-8, 1997; June 13-
14, 1998; and June 13, 1999
Place Golden Gate Park, San Francisco,
California; Downing Stadium, New York, New
York; R.F.K. Stadium, Washington, D.C.; and
Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy,
Wisconsin (respectively)
The Tibetan Freedom Concerts, occurring from 1996 to
1999 across the United States, led to an increased aware-
ness of the sufferings of the Tibetan people at the hands of
the Chinese government. The concerts brought together a
young hip-hop and alternative generation with the ancient
practices of Tibet and increased a demand to see justice re-
stored.
It was 1992 when Adam Yauch, lead singer of the
Beastie Boys, first met the refugees. He was hiking in
the Himalayas as they recounted to him the plight of
the Tibetans, whose country had been invaded in
- They have suffered from countless human
rights abuses under the Chinese government, and
thousands have been displaced and imprisoned. It is
estimated that more than one million Tibetans have
died as a direct result of the invasion.
Yauch returned to the United States and in 1994,
with activist Erin Potts, started the Milarepa Fund.
The organization worked to promote awareness
and encourage justice for Tibet. In 1996, the orga-
nization garnered support with the first Tibetan
Freedom Concert. It was held in San Francisco and
gathered a young generation to see alternative and
hip-hop bands, while educating them on the atroci-
ties occurring on the other side of the world. Perfor-
mances by Rage Against the Machine, the Smashing
Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as the
Beastie Boys were mixed with testimonies from refu-
gees and prayer chants led by Buddhist monks. Over
100,000 attended the event, a strange gathering of
young punk rockers and older Tibetan holy men.
In 1997, the second annual concert was held in
New York and drew twenty-seven acts to the stage.
Yauch brought Tibetan musicians to join headliners
such as U2, Alanis Morissette, the Foo Fighters, and
A Tribe Called Quest. While fewer than 50,000 at-
tended the concert, there was an increased call to
protest Chinese products.
The 1998 concert was held in Washington, D.C.,
and saw the largest crowd at 112,000. $3.3 million
was raised for the Milarepa Fund. President Bill
Clinton was soon to travel to China, and organizers
pressed him to speak with Chinese president Jiang
Zemin about the issue of Tibet. During his visit,
Clinton did urge Zemin to seek peaceful negotia-
tions with the occupied nation.
The final Tibetan Freedom Concert was held in
1999 in four locations around the world, including
Amsterdam, Sydney, Tokyo, and East Troy, Wiscon-
sin, where 32,000 came to the soggy event. The final
concert did not have the draw of the previous year,
and there was an increase in the division between
the youth and the Tibetan cause.
Impact Though interest in the benefit concerts
had dwindled by the end of the 1990’s, they brought
to light the cultural genocide suffered by the Ti-
betan people.
Further Reading
Avedon, John F.In Exile from the Land of Snows. New
York: HarperPerennial, 1997.
Stolder, Steven. “We Are Tibet.”Rolling Stone, August
8, 1996, 20.
Tessa Li PowellSee also Alternative rock; Grunge music; Hip-hop
and rap music; Lollapalooza; Morissette, Alanis; Mu-
sic; Woodstock concerts. Titanic
Identification Award-winning film
Director James Cameron (1954- )
Date Released on December 19, 1997
Titanicwas the most expensive and most successful film
made in the twentieth centur y. A work of historical fiction,
the film harnessed the romance and tragedy of the realTi-
tanicdisaster of 1912 and brought it alive for a new gener-
ation.
The filmTitanicenjoyed intense popularity despite
mixed critical reviews. Running three hours and four-
teen minutes, the film combines historical events
with a fictional love story between the main charac-
ters, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose
DeWitt Bukater (played as a young woman by Kate
Winslet and as an older woman by Gloria Stuart).858 Tibetan Freedom Concerts The Nineties in America