On May 10, 1996, three officers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Tsewang Samanla, Dorje Morup, and Tsewang Paljor, were part of a six-man expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest.  Delayed and facing a storm, the three decided to disregard orders and press on while the rest of the team turned back.  Around 18:00 the climbers radioed their expedition leader back at base camp to inform that they had reached the summit.  While credited with summiting, whether they actually reached the summit or not is to this date debated.

These two songs wouldn’t exist if not for the irony surrounding the perishment of one of the climbers, Tsewang Paljor.  The irony is that Paljor became famous not in life but in death and simply because of the fact that his lifeless, frozen body, which no person or entity cared to remove from the side of the trail for at least 19 years, ended up becoming a landmark and reference point to climbers, his humanity reduced to an almost comical nickname stemming from the mountaineering boots on his feet and their bright yellowish-green color.  A Google search today of the keywords “Tsewang” and “Paljor” brings up, as the first result, a Wikipedia article entitled not “Tsewang Paljor”, but “Green Boots”.

“Jefe de condestables Tsewang Paljor, parte 1: Ascenso y muerte” is my reflection on Paljor’s resolve to climb, then the climb itself, then the summiting (or the thinking they had summited), and finally the descent and the exhaustion, confusion, and acceptance of defeat that probably came with it and the probable realization of impending death that frozen night as he lay curled up on his side, donning his brightly-colored mountaineering apparel, under a crevasse at the side of the climbers’ trail at 28,000 feet.

“Jefe de condestables Tsewang Paljor, parte 2: Fiesta en Leh” is an imagination of a summer day that Tsewang could have enjoyed as a young adult in his hometown’s capital, Leh, with friends and perhaps one or two love interests at hand.  An experience he might have remembered about during those few final minutes of his life.  

About the song names:  That isn’t me trying to be the most righteous of the lot.  Like, “look, I even include his military rank before his name, while everyone else just calls him ‘Green Boots’.”  I’m not trying to be judgmental or pretentious.  In fact, up until the last few minutes the songs were going to be called “Helado en altura 1” and “Helado en altura 2”.  “Helado en altura” translates roughly to “Ice cream at high altitude”, and is a pun because in Spanish “Helado” can also mean a frozen person, animal or thing.  So, for the cover artwork, I literally searched for frozen corpses in snow-capped mountains.  Not necessarily with those keywords.  And happened on Green Boots.  It was like the third result.  But ultimately, I felt it would be in bad taste to be so literal and use the pic and do the pun and all that.  In a way, the song titles are an atonement for my previous intentions.  And a pair of songs to honor a man who found very little dignity in death.  Some may point out the old adage that there “is no dignity in death”.  I’d say as so much else in life, that it’s a matter of degree.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and above all listen.  I hope you “get” the songs, and above all, enjoy them.  (No pun intended with “above”.)

Note:  from the information I had access to on the World Wide Web, Paljor’s body has not been officially identified or removed to this day.  However, it was last reported seen in 2015.  Its current location and state is, to the best of my web knowledge, unknown.

Jefe de condestables Tsewang Paljor, parte 2: Fiesta en Leh

Cosmic Waves

Hope

Rise from the Depths

Story In The Clouds

NIght Window 3522

Soaring

Everybody Knows

Can't Finger It Out/Still It  Works

Jungle lion come in and sing !

Simpson meowing in this well 80s + rasta version of "Push It" is a song by the hip hop group Salt-N-Pepa. It was released as a single in 1988.

PUSH IT (RASTA EDITION) FEATURING SIMPSON

Palliate

Immerse yourself in the gentle melodies of "Daybreak Serenade," a peaceful acoustic track perfect for quiet mornings and reflective moments. Featuring warm fingerpicked guitar, subtle bass, and light percussion, this song evokes hope and tranquility. Ideal as No Copyright Music for content creators, it’s perfect for vlogs, travel videos, background music for cafes, study sessions, or any project needing a calm, inspiring soundtrack.


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Daybreak Serenade

Basqiuat

I have always loved music. I learnt piano as a child and have dabbled with guitar without ever learning it ... until now! I have been in choirs most of my life but have not really delved into making music until the last few years. After initially playing around with Garage Band, I moved on to Logic Pro and that's how nearly all of my music has been produced.

I use digital software, guitar and keyboards to produce my original music. I compose and edit using Logic Pro. Other people's vocals or collaborative vocals for any track really are very welcome! 

I love the interaction on Soundcloud and the comments from other musicians and composers are so helpful and supportive. Keep making music everyone!

If you like the artwork on many of these tracks, please visit www.summerlandsart.co.uk

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