Shenpenn's Bio

I was born in Darjeeling, India to Tibetan refugee parents, the first Khymsar son to be born in exile from Tibet. I was born under the sign of the Tiger, an auspicious start, for I have felt that throughout my life that I have the energy and the will of a tiger. I was also born at the crossroads of many cultures: Tibetan, Indian, and Western. My parents operated a small Tibetan restaurant frequented by locals and tourists alike. I was educated at Goethals Memorial School, an Irish Catholic School in Kurseong, Darjeeling, and grew up speaking Tibetan, English, Hindi, Nepali, Bengali and Urdu fluently. I fell in love with rock and heavy metal as a teenager when I heard Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall?" and Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" for the first time.

But such a diverse multicultural life for a Tibetan refugee in Darjeeling became complicated as I grew up and political problems exploded in Darjeeling. Once the summer capital for the British when they ruled India, Darjeeling has suffered from being shuffled about geopolitically: first by the British then by the independent Government of India. Frustrated by the communist government of West Bengal and its failure to modernize 'the Hills' of Darjeeling, the Gorkha people of Darjeeling began agitating for their own homeland, Gorkhaland in the 1980s. This agitation turned my idyllic childhood in Darjeeling into a claustrophobic adolescence where strikes would shut down the town for weeks on end and make everyone suspicious of each other. I lived amidst the legacy of Chinese Communist invasion of Tibet and British Colonial rule in India, but would never allow systematic forces of government and oppression turn me into a victim or someone who accepted the status quo.

As I grew up a frustrated teenager in Darjeeling, the only thing that kept me from getting in serious trouble was music. Since the first time I heard Pink Floyd and Def Leppard, I knew I wanted to become a rock musician. I was not alone in my aspiration to become a rock musician - Darjeeling was home to a lot of talented rock bands and musicians. When rock and roll was born in the West in the 1950s and 1960s, it also made its way to Darjeeling and inspired its own scene. Darjeeling musicians were all were self-taught, playing their hearts out on low quality instruments. Unlike the musicians in the West, Darjeeling bands did not have the same opportunities to record albums and tour, the furthest they could get was Kathmandu Nepal. Because of the lack of opportunity, many musicians turned to drinking, drugs and despair. I knew I did not want to go that route, so I decided to get out of Darjeeling and go to the West to follow my dream.

So fifteen years ago I left India for the U.S. I arrived first in Chicago and immediately lived the life of an immigrant just struggling to get by, taking jobs like cutting grass and working in food courts. When I saved enough money, I moved to New York City and applied for political asylum, but after thousands of dollars in effort, my appeal was denied and again was at a crossroads in life.

Rejected by my first home in the The States, I moved to Toronto and became a Canadian citizen. I returned to the white-collar world and financial comfort, but my dream to become a musician remained unfulfilled. Each day I went to work in an office where I was increasingly reminded of what my real calling in life was, what had brought me to the West in the first place: music and film. Then one day I had enough money, quit my job, said goodbye to the corporate world, and formed a heavy metal band, Shangrila. I was the first Tibetan to form a heavy metal band in the West. Shangrila toured North America for a few years, and I wrote and produced the album 'Balance the Darkside.' I found myself drawn to heavy metal because it is the most technical kind of heavy music, and as a self-taught guitarist, I appreciate the challenges and rewards this kind of music brings to the harmony of my hands and mind. I also gravitated toward heavy metal music because it is counter-cultural and non-conformist, the kind of music that reflects my life and principles. I took my songwriting a step further by not just critiquing political, social and cultural systems, I also wrote about liberation from the darkside, or at least finding balance in the midst of worldly darkness. Consequently, my songwriting spans a wide spectrum, from provocative songs titled 'What the Fuck?' to the first heavy metal song written for the Dalai Lama, 'Soul from the East' that includes over 4-minute guitar solo which I consider a musical prostration to His Holiness.

Having established my rock roots in Toronto, I moved to Vancouver in 2006, and am now a full-time independent musician, writer, filmmaker and political activist. I am currently working on the project of my life, a documentary with the working title "Journey of a Dream." In this film, I will tell my life story (a taste of which appears in this bio), and in doing so I will tell the story of Tibetan refugees in India, of Darjeeling musicians looking for a big break, of immigrants who come to the West, of people slaving away in the corporate world while their dreams wither away, and of the generation of kids who grew up in the 1980s and wonder today where the heart and soul of rock music went. Just like my music, though, this documentary is about not giving up on your dreams no matter what darkness society, history or politics has in store for you. I will begin filming the first part of this documentary in India and Nepal this fall 2008, then the second part in North America in 2009, and plans to debut "Journey of a Dream" in the 2010 film festivals.