Singing and Dancing in Tibet

'Celebrations' in Kartse

China Tibet Online reported that Tibetans celebrated the first day of Losar in Kartse (Garze) where the situation has been extremely tense for the past few weeks.
The article says:

Dressed in traditional Tibetan costumes, locals watched dancing and singing performances to celebrate Tibetan New Year in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

As a key part of the Khampa Tibetan area, Garze is known as the 'dancing and singing sea' and various cultural activities are essential for locals to celebrate the Losar festival.
Recently, dancing and singing performances with strong Tibetan flavor have taken place in Sichuan's Tibetan counties, such as Tardo and Rontrak. Original songs and Gorchom circle dance (a kind of traditional Tibetan dance) were quite popular among locals.
The Losar celebration will last till March 1 in Garze. The Garze song and dance troupe will put on happiness-themed theatrical performances along the way from Tardo to other Tibetan villages.
Apart from singing and dancing performances, Garze will organize traditional Tibetan sports events, such as horse races and stock-holding races. 

Phayul.com had however reported a few days earlier that Tibetans were 'forced' to celebrate Losar this year. Why?
Just because the Tibetan Kashag (Administration-in-Exile) has requested the Tibetans to refrain celebrating the Dragon-Water New Year while tragic events were taking place all over the Tibetan plateau.
The situation has become ridiculous: whenever Dharamsala suggest something, Beijing immediately order the Tibetans inside Tibet to do the opposite.
Is it the sign of a powerful Nation? 
A telling detail: Lt Gen Wang Jianping, an alternate Member of the 17th CPC, Central Committee and Commander of the People's Armed Police flew to Lhasa on the eve of the New Year.
General Wang is responsible for law and order allover China.
The website Chinese Leaders describes him thus:"Like his PAP predecessor Wu Shuangzhan, Wang has the experience of holding office in a military region. He had been commander of a division under a group army in the Shenyang Military Region and later served as commander of the PAP Tibet Division (a position at the rank of deputy army commander), PAP deputy chief of staff, and PAP chief of staff. In 1997 Wang Jianping was promoted to the police rank of PAP major general when Wu Shuangzhan was promoted to PAP lieutenant general. He was promoted to the police rank of PAP lieutenant general in 2007."
General Wand was accompanied by Jampa Phunsok, the former head of the TAR government and now Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region. 
More repression in sight.

Forced celebrations mark 'Losar' in Tibet
Phayul.com
February 22, 2012
Tibetans wait outside a detention centre in Lhasa where Tibetan pilgrims returning from India and Nepal have been arbitrarily detained and forced to undergo patriotic re-education.
Tibetans wait outside a detention centre in Lhasa where Tibetan pilgrims returning from India and Nepal have been arbitrarily detained and forced to undergo patriotic re-education.
DHARAMSHALA, February 22: Repeating tactics that were employed in 2009 and off late in other parts of Tibet, Chinese Communist Party officials in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital have issued stringent warnings against the popular call for a boycott of celebrations during ‘Losar’ Tibetan new year (February 22-24).
Tibetans in Tibet and the exile leadership have called for a moratorium on Losar celebrations following the continuing wave of self-immolation, which has witnessed 23 Tibetans torch their bodies demanding the return of the Dalai Lama from exile and freedom in Tibet.
Sources in exile earlier reported that government authorities in Lhasa had issued orders requiring Tibetan officials and the general public to prepare song and dance routines for Losar.
Selected performers who refused to take part in the mandatory show of celebrations were warned of severe consequences.
In another effort to coax Tibetans to celebrate Losar, government authorities have temporarily released few of the Tibetans who were arbitrarily detained upon their return from pilgrimage to India and Nepal.
Sources have told Phayul that the Tibetans undergoing patriotic re-education in secluded locations will have to serve detention again following Losar.
"The Chinese authorities in Lhasa have released some Tibetan detainees to celebrate Losar but they have been told that their detention will continue after the new year," a Tibetan from Lhasa told Phayul.
In 2009, following the pan-Tibet uprisings of 2008, Chinese government officials led a counter campaign of forced merriment against the popular call for a boycott of Losar celebrations.
The Communist Party in Tibet had given vouchers worth $120 each to 37,000 low-income families to shop for an extended week-long holiday.
Last month, Phayul had reported that Chinese government officials were giving bribes of gifts and money to Tibetans for Losar celebrations. Tibetan sources confirmed that bribes of 500 Yuan for each family and 200 Yuan for each individual were being issued.
“99% of Tibetans in Tibet will not celebrate Losar but few are afraid that if they don’t celebrate then it might become a political liability for them,” the same source said.
Another exiled Tibetan who has close contacts with Tibetans inside the besieged Ngaba region of eastern Tibet, which alone has seen 15 instances of self-immolations, had told Phayul that Tibetans were “determined to skip” the upcoming ‘Losar’ celebrations.
“Tibetans in Tibet are very much determined to skip the Tibetan New Year as we do to mark a black year when someone in the family passes away,” Kanyag Tsering, a monk at the exile base of Kirti monastery said.
Tibetans around the world are marking today, the first day of Losar, with solidarity hunger strikes and vigils.