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<h1 class="left">If Yesh could will it, her voice would resound across the world, splatter over the Himalayas, and seep into every crevice of the Tibetan plateau. In many ways, her music is an attempt to reclaim the beloved homeland that was lost to her far too soon, before she could hold its soil in fistfuls, or witness a cloud coincide with its all-imposing land. Yesh’s family is part of the large Tibetan community living in exile around the globe, whose only way of travelling to their country of origin is through a steadfast practise of its art. The musician, currently based in New York, creates an experimental soundscape drawing influences from genres of pop, soul, R&B, electronic, and from traditional ones such as Tibetan drums and singing styles. She carries the listener, as if it were on a blowing wind, to the inner world of a woman on a journey for liberation, trembling in rage and aching with hope, extracting strength from the voices of a generation of women before her– mothers and grandmothers, and their guttural truth that erupts in song and story. Having grown up with music, for as long as she can remember, her artistic exploration sees her traverse the terrain of selfhood, the lived realities of the female experience, energies that fire up the very bones of a being, and finally finds itself settled in the solidarity of communal life.</h1>

<h1 class="right">Currently working on her debut album with Asma Maroof, and having performed across continents, in Le Consulat in Paris, at Basel Social Club at Art Basel and at the Rubin Museum of Art in NYC, Yesh unravels bit by bit, her raw, resounding vocals, and haunting songwriting that stays fixated in one’s head long after experiencing it. The visual world she creates with much deliberation in her music videos, in their glitchy distortions and surreal superimpositions, are a reflection of the language of storytelling she converses in. It hardly seeks to comfort a viewer, rather to startle and disquiet, all the while reminding them of the intense power and powerlessness she feels. In an exclusive interview, Yesh speaks to dirty about her musical journey, how it interplays with her longing for home, and of creating music as a Tibetan woman of the diaspora, in collaboration and in community.</h1>

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<h1 class="right">dirty: What got you started on your journey in music?</h1>

<h1 class="right">Yesh: In my childhood, music was like a leading actor. It was present everywhere. There was a lot of dancing and singing in my family. And so, music felt no different from eating or breathing. Later, when I grew up, I realised that music and especially singing was no longer a natural part of my life. I longed for a place where I could create freely and where I could set the beat. I knew that could only be music. So about twelve years ago I made a conscious decision to put music and singing at the centre of my life.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">dirty: Can you tell us a little about your background? Where you grew up, your familial life, and how your early years defined the trajectory of your life.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Yesh:  My parents were part of the first Tibetan refugees finding exile in Switzerland. I was born in Switzerland and grew up in the Pestalozzi Children’s Village. A non-profit organisation located in Trogen, a small village, founded in 1945, the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation provided the children’s village for war-affected children from all over the world. The whole village was very multicultural and international. I came into contact with cultural diversity at a very early age. I grew up in nature, surrounded by hills, forest, cows, sheeps, a donkey named ‘Jimmy’, and in a house with fifteen other children. My friends were Tibetan, Haitian, Cambodian, Palestinian, Ethiopian, Bosnian. We were surrounded by different languages, cultures, music and dance. I think this way of growing up has shaped my voice and my artistic work the most.</h1>

<h1 class="right">dirty: What musical influences did you have growing up?

<h1 class="right">Yesh: A wide range of music. My parents listened to a lot of old Hindi music. In the house where I grew up, there was always music blasting from each room that the older kids in the house played. There was Hip Hop and RnB, Mary J.Blige, TLC, Tracy Chapman, Bob Marley, Tricky, Skunk Anansie, Tina Turner, and many more.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">dirty:  What has your relationship been like with your home country?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Yesh:  I feel homesick even though I have never been to Tibet. It’s a hurtful sensation. I mainly know Tibet through the memories and stories passed on by my grandmother, my parents, aunts and uncles. I feel a strong connection to a far away Land with a horrifically suppressed nation, and at the same time this far away Land is inside of me. It’s a feeling of powerlessness, mixed with a strong feeling of anger, and the consciousness to raise your voice and stand tall. Tibet is my home. Bhoe Gyalo!</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">dirty:  In what way does your Tibetan identity collide with your creative pursuits?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Yesh: I would like to turn up the volume on Tibetan women’s voices and their life stories.</h1>

<h1 class="left">dirty:  What does the idea of ‘home’ mean to you?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Yesh:  Home is where my heart is, where I feel free, where my family and friends are, where a home cooked meal is prepared with love, where care is in the air and dancing is around the corner.</h1>

<h1 class="left">dirty:  What’s a memory of your homeland you hold dearly?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Yesh: Tibet in my dreams.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">dirty:  How would you define your music?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Yesh: I find it quite challenging to describe or define my style of music within a specific genre or category. I'm drawn to experimentation and pushing boundaries, constantly evolving and reinventing myself. My music would probably be described as a fusion of various influences, combining elements of pop, soul, R&B and electronic. I strive to create a sound that is both accessible and innovative, engaging listeners on different levels and taking them on my journey of artistic exploration, self-expression and female empowerment.</h1>

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<h1 class="left">dirty:  There is a certain sense of community among people of the diaspora. What role does community play in your life?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Yesh:  Community is the only way of life I know. Growing up in a very big and strong Tibetan community since I was a baby has definitely affected me. Music, dancing and singing is a big part of living in diaspora, which gives me a sense of connection and solidarity. I am interested in how the meaning of music, performance and storytelling as identity-forming parts of a culture, interact with the role of women in the diaspora as storytellers (musicians, artists, movie makers) and how music and performance can emerge as a media of liberation.</h1>

<h1 class="left">In the multimedia music and dance performance ‘49 days’, which I created together with the collective Xenometok*, a fictitious alternative world is created with finely orchestrated elements of electronic music, soul voices, Tibetan drum dances and moving images, in which traditional narratives and customs are activated and reinterpreted. In the 60-minute performance, an ensemble of four protagonists leads the audience through the memories of three deceased Tibetan sisters. Separated from their mother and in a space detached from time, they unite their forces to fight, or dance their way out of oppression in turmoil. Our next show is in April 2024 in Brussels, at the Kaaitheater.</h1>

<h1 class="right">*Xenometok is a transdisciplinary collaboration between the artist Valentina Demicheli, the Tibet activist Paeldne Tamnyen and Yesh. They work thematically in the field of tension between re-appropriation, Asian foreign perception and self-perception. They celebrate the present, where communal experiences create a fiction of a parallel world.</h1>

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<h1 class="left">dirty: What do you wish for people to take away from your music?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Yesh: I wish my music becomes a kind of soundtrack for their own lives full of passion and energy. I wish they can take away something that makes them feel strong, alive, empowered, independent and ready to dance on the bumpy road of life. I wish my music transports the experiences of being-in-the-world as a female, and as a Tibetan woman, and strengthens our sense of reality and self.</h1>

<h1 class="right">dirty: How has your experience been, as a person of colour, breaking into the creative industries?</h1>

<h1 class="right">Yesh:  I’m still in the middle of breaking in! There is a lot of support within my community and I luckily find myself collaborating with like-minded artists. But of course there are downsides - like stereotyping, discrimination, challenging access to fundings, hard times to secure contracts - especially when your name is not yet a known one in the industry. It can be pretty stressful and it’s not helping spread one’s wings, to put it nicely.</h1>

<h1 class="left">dirty: Can you tell us a little about your distinct visual aesthetic? How did you go about envisioning it, and what creative influences made their mark on your work?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Yesh:  I am fascinated by visual storytelling. Be it in theatre, film, opera or when someone simply tells stories, and especially how someone tells stories, of course. Images are always essential to bring stories to life. I am currently working on my debut album, which is also about the life story of my mother and my family and how they flee from their homeland Tibet to Switzerland. I am interested in how narrated life experience can be translated into a world of music. For this I make use of strong images and combine theatricality, symbolism and cinematic elements to create music videos and stage shows.</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">dirty: You have a very defined style that lends itself to your persona. How did this come to be developed?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Yesh: That’s very nicely said. And sometimes it’s even the other way around. I mean the persona lends the style to me. In other words, I think there is a lot of decision making in the process of defining one’s style but then there are also important moments of letting go - letting things happen and improvising. Especially on stage when performing live - I like the idea that I can’t control everything and that I need to be in the very present moment to be able to sing and connect with the audience. I think this is what’s shaping me.</h1>

<h1 class="right">dirty: What’s a project you’ve worked on that made you most proud?</h1>

<h1 class="right">Yesh:  It’s in the making.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">dirty: What does your vision for the future look like, as an artist?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Yesh: From the perspective of my grandmother - who was a political prisoner for ten years - I am in the future right now. I am present and  I am free. I can do what I love and love what I do. I sing for the unheard voices, I flow river-deep and I climb mountain-high.</h1>

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<h1 class="full">Photographer: Kay Nambiar</h1>

<h1 class="full">Hair: Kazu Katahira</h1>

<h1 class="full">Styling: Anita Lau</h1>

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