Creativity, culture and belonging: Tenzin Choegyal

In this series of articles, explore the intersection of creativity, culture and belonging with Queenslanders who are making their mark on the world.

Tenzin Choegyal is the winner of the 'World Music' category at the 2026 Queensland Music Awards for his 2025 album, Snow Flower.

An incredibly accomplished musician, he’s produced nine independent albums and collaborated with the likes of Philip Glass, Patti Smith and Laurie Anderson. He credits Matt Corby as being instrumental in bringing his latest album to fruition and has performed for the Dalai Lama.

But his musical journey has been far from straightforward.

The beginnings of a new life

Tenzin’s family fled Tibet during the Cultural Revolution in the early 1970s, and after the death of his father, he was sent to the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamshala, northern India. The head of the Children’s Village was the sister of the Dalai Lama, Jetsun Pema.

It was there in the foothills of the Himalayas that he first began to experiment with making music.

But he says he didn’t really take on music as a career until he moved to Australia.

“Basically, I started my musical career in Queensland, in Brisbane, 30 years ago,” he says.

Tenzin performs in Tibetan, and his music is steeped in the traditions of his parents—the nomadic peoples of the Tibetan plateau. But he doesn’t classify his music as Tibetan.

“The music I write is Australian-born,” he says.

“But it’s very hard to comprehend for other people, because they’ll say, ‘ah it’s Tibetan music’.”

Inspired by the Australian landscape

He says his music is reflective of a modern Australia that is made up of many different cultures, while acknowledging that First Nations languages and music carry a longer and deeper tradition in Australia.

“To be Australian is a deep question, actually ... Especially when it comes to describing Australian music,” he says.

“For me, Australian music is what comes out of the living experience in the land that we call Australia, surrounded by the ocean, under the sky of Australia. And then everybody brings their own lineage.”

Whatever genre he’s put in, Tenzin says the best thing about making music is working with others to produce something greater than themselves.

“Collaboration is the one thing that I really love. There’s lots of listening that happens. Then out of the listening, magical moments come out,” he says.

“For me, my school of music is listening and then collaboration with my friends around the globe.”

As for winning the Queensland Music Award, he’s philosophical about that too.

Speaking while travelling by train to Nambour where he’s working on a new collaboration, he says people in the Tibetan diaspora are celebrating the award as a win for Tibetan culture.

“It’s kind of like celebrating our language and our culture that is under pressure at the moment,” he says.

“My Tibetan diaspora, the art family around the globe is happier [than I was], they were celebrating this win. For them it felt like they won.”

Celebrating culture

The Department of Women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and Multiculturalism has an unwavering commitment to create a future of equity, inclusion and opportunity.

Through the Celebrating Multicultural Queensland program, community organisations can apply for funding to host multicultural events that build an inclusive, harmonious and united Queensland.

To learn more about the Celebrating Multicultural Queensland program, subscribe to Multicultural Affairs Queensland’s latest news.

Read more from the 'Creativity, culture and belonging' series

Dami Im