"I, Ya ri a bsod, Am a Dog": The Life and Music of a Tibetan Mendicant Singer

The life and music of Ya ri A bsod, a Tibetan composer and singer who lived in the early twentieth century, is described. Ya ri A bsod wandered through Tibetan nomad areas where contemporary Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan provinces meet in China. Texts and transcribed melodies of Ya ri A bsod songs are presented. These songs are contextualized in terms of their contemporary transmission, and the historical and autobiographical circumstances of their composition.