High Peaks Pure Earth presents the English-subtitled music video to “It’s All A Game” by ANU, translated by Bhuchung D. Sonam.
As readers will know, ANU were responsible for the biggest hit to come out of Tibet for a long time, last summer’s modern classic, “Fly”. ANU are two Tibetans, Payag and Gonpa, from Nangchen in Kham with art and music backgrounds.
“It’s All A Game” (༼རྩེད་མོ་ཡིན་ཡ༽ translated as “Joke” by ANU themselves) preceded “Fly” and musically the styles of the two songs are very different. “It’s All A Game” came out on December 27, 2016. The song and video attracted attention for the unusual musical style and strong, creative, visuals and branding in the music video while the lyrics offer interesting social commentary.
The music video requires some fast subtitling in places so watching on a larger screen is advised along with multiple viewings. Finally thank you to our new Instagram Followers who voted for this song to be posted first as opposed to a more recent song by ANU called “1376”. We will post “1376” in the near future.
A huge thank you to Bhuchung D. Sonam for this translation!
*Scroll down for the full lyrics of “It’s All A Game” in English.*
“It’s All a Game”
By ANU
Translation by Bhuchung D. Sonam
Mother installs her son on a throne creating a label
Father strolls around the marketplace holding a rosary
Mother buys meat from the bazaar chanting mantras
Uncle Tashi gets high on chang talking about loyalty
Aunt Lhamo runs away with her phone shunning the world
A religious rite from Uncle costs 200 Yuan
It’s all a game
It’s better to sing with good intentions than
Recite mantras with a bad mind
The essence of Buddhism is being kind-hearted
With a good heart one will have an obstacle-free path
Now let’s have a look at today
The gold is rubbing off the iron chain on your neck
Oh, judging by the classy car, he must be very rich
If you are rich, you are your Uncle’s nephew
If you are not, you are your Uncle’s servant
A girl with wealth is treated like a daughter
A girl without is treated like a servant
If you have wealth, you become its servant
If you haven’t, you become someone else’s servant
The sweet-talker becomes a leader
The skilled-hands become servants
The sweet-talker pockets profit
The skilled-hands become drudgery
Drinking must lead to drunkenness
Consuming poison must lead to death
Now consume poison, drink poison!
Consume poison, drink poison!
You have downed, now get drunk
Your hands are clenched, now hit
Your knife is unsheathed, now stab
Someone is dead, now run
If you have power and patronage
Everything that you say becomes truth
If you have wealth and support
You must have a position
If you have money
You become Tibet’s singer
You can uphold our good culture by
Wearing stones and metals in your hair
Whoever performs a good service
Is endowed with wisdom and intellect
Livelihood … it’s a game
Spirit … it’s a game
Life … it’s a game
Dreams
Hope
Affection
Tomorrow
Yesterday
Era
Everything
Nothing
All thought
All memory
All speech
All touch
All understanding
All perception
All food
All drink
It’s all a game
If there is money, there is love
Without money, it’s a game
If there is money, there is livelihood
Without money, there is only situation
If there is money, there is love
Without money, it’s a game
If there is money, there is livelihood
Without money, there is only situation
Mother installs her son on a throne creating a label
Father strolls around the marketplace holding a rosary
Mother buys meat from the bazaar chanting mantras
Uncle Tashi gets high on chang talking about loyalty
Aunt Lhamo runs away with her phone shunning the world
A religious rite from Uncle costs 200 Yuan
It’s all a game
If you’ve enjoyed this post, please watch our other music videos from Tibet using this link: http://highpeakspureearth.com/category/music-from-tibet/
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