Idol franchise

Yunggiema (央吉玛) is a singer from the Menba minority people who emigrated from Bhutan to the Southeast region of Tibet over 300 years ago. She sings the songs and stories of her ancient clans-people, as passed down by her grandmother. Some of these are set to sparse traditional arrangements and others, to more modern beats.

Her brand of ethnic music is niche to say the least, contrasting sharply with the typical C-pop and Korean acts that tend to pick up the headlines in China. The chances of Yunggiema’s music being granted the time of day beyond a very small circle of world music fans were always going to be limited. There are several ways to break through such glass ceilings: established artists will often grant developing artists permission to create derivative works e.g. mixes (this can of course work both ways), or sometimes directly collaborate. Synchronisations are also an effective way to reach new audiences, however in these cases the music will always be ancillary to the focal content – the film / advert / product. Yunggiema went a step further in 2013 and placed herself

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