Freedom has a special savour in the mouth of an exile. For Yungchen Lhamo, a singer who fled Tibet nine years ago to make her way in the West, that taste of freedom is Coming Home. The second release for Real World from the critically acclaimed vocalist is a bold new direction that at the same time renews pledges made to her people, her faith and to those around the world sympathetic to her cause.

That strength is witnessed in the songs on Coming Home. All written by Yungchen, they share the incantatory qualities of Buddhist prayer and yet take off on graceful flights of their own. Each is steeped in metaphor, layered in symbols spiritual, political and familial.

“When I grew up I knew nothing of freedom. I lived in poverty and was denied the rights most people take for granted. This is the ordeal Tibetans are subjected to, then and now. Since I escaped, by foot over the Himalayas like so many other Tibetans, I have been able to find freedom in the West. Working on this album, being able to experiment using my Tibetan voice with Western sounds, is an expression of that freedom —a freedom to work and express myself that I never knew in Tibet.

“Tibet has many young, courageous and talented people working to keep our culture dynamic and alive. Tibetan culture will not die nor remain static. We will grow as part of the modern world as long as we have a chance of freedom —something most Tibetans unfortunately do not have. My greatest wish is to see the Tibetan people strong and free, working and living together in harmony. I hope my work here can contribute to the strength of my culture in this modern world and help raise people’s awareness of our struggle.”

“My first love is performing a cappella. Alone on stage accompanied by the orchestra of an audience is a pure, lovely experience and I will go on performing like that. Recording in a studio gives you the chance to experiment and explore new sounds. I have been very fortunate to have had the chance to work with Hector Zazou.