Karma culture brothers is a song writer and composer, of tibetan origins, he lives in alaska.
The name “karma culture brothers” is plural but karma is a solo artist.
Karma is also a musician and producer, an eclectic artist, he works also with photography and videos.
his music is very varied, it spans many different genres, often it is conceived as messages of freedom and information to the people, at times it is funky and fun, other times very meditative, evocative and healing.
Karma, a passionate collector of traditional world instruments and experimental tools, composes using many different kinds of sounds: for example electronic music is layered with his voice, tibetan singing bowls, bamboo flute, jambe, and more.
The videos of his songs are conceived as artworks, created by himself or commissioned from others.
Karma was born a refugee. His parents were nomads from Kham in eastern tibet, they fled towards india during the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959. Karma was born in india and grew up in kathmandu, nepal. he was raised as a monk from the age of 7 to the age of 16, in the tibetan buddhist monastery in the Swayanbunath, the famous “Monkey Temple” of kathmandu. In the monastery he was chosen to play drum and dung-chen, a 15-foot-long horn played in pairs, during the daily ceremonies. After disrobing and leaving the monastery—a decision which was his choice—he continued to live in Kathmandu, where he explored the Newari, Nepalese, and Indian cultures and music.
In his twenties, in the 1990s, karma moved to alaska, where he developed a deep passion for its indigenous cultures. “Culture Brothers” was actually born as a duo, together with Carl Wassilie, Yup’ik, an Alaskan indigene. Karma kept the name “karma culture brothers” in honor of carl and to open the door to many collaborations with other artists.
in the early 2000s karma also lived for long stretches of time in the jungles of Kalalau, Kaua’i, Hawaii, where he learned about hawaiian culture and history. HE lived a form of subsistence life in close connection to nature and the elements, in those times he mastered the bamboo and wooden flute.
in 2006 in alaska he met his wife, the international visual artist paola pivi, from italy.
they were based in India between 2012 and 2016. initially they were in dharamshala for the research of paola about tibetan tulkus, then from 2013 to 2016 they shifted to chandigarh and delhi because they had to battle court cases in the indian courts to finalize the adoption of their beloved son against the vehement opposition from the Tibetan Children’s Village of Dharamshala. The court cases lasted for 4 years, with 135 hearings heading also to the supreme court of india, they were all won by the couple and marked a precedent for the right of abandoned tibetan children in india to be adopted into a family.
Karma published 6 albums, the last “circle” is a book and album about the songs composed in india during the court cases.