Jamyang Kyi was born in Tsolho Chamdo county, Amdo, Eastern Tibet, 1965. In 1984 she graduated from the local college, majoring in Tibetan studies. She is an award-winning journalist, television reporter, and news editor. She has worked in the Tibetan language section of the Qinghai Provincial Television Station for over 20 years. Jamyang Kyi is also a writer and researcher, focusing on the issues facing Tibetan women. She sang at weddings and radio stations until a Tibetan anthropologist and doctor, Gelok, noticed her voice at a karaoke party. With his help Jamyang Kyi performed at the Nationalities Village in Beijing, where she met a composer, Sangye Norbu, who was working for the central radio broadcasting department; he composed two songs for her and, with the support of the Nationalities Music Company, produced a cassette on which both she and Ya Dong are featured. Financed by a private publishing company, her first solo cassette of traditional songs from Amdo, dran-gdung (‘Missing and Sad’), was released in 1996, as a result of which she became famous throughout Tibet. Jamyang Kyi’s music is influenced by both modern pop and traditional folk music from all areas of Tibet. On April 1, 2008 Jamyang Kyi was detained and tortured for talking about violence against Tibetans by the Chinese police When she was released on May 20, 2008, she testified about the torture she suffered, and she is still kept under close watch. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.