This week's Sprouts is an exploration of art & freedom in Tibet through music, poetry, and film.

Techung, a Tibetan singer/songwriter living in exile in the San Francisco Bay Area is regarded as one of the key keepers of the flame of traditional Tibetan musical traditions, yet he is also known for mixing traditional and modern musical forms.

Woeser is a Tibetan writer and poet living in Beijing who powerfully combines the art of written expression with political criticism, and who continues to defy the Chinese government’s attempts at censorship. She has been called “the poet who forgot to be afraid.”

A new documentary film, "Leaving Fear Behind", has landed the filmmakers in prison, but has provided Tibetans inside Tibet a rare opportunity to share their thoughts with the world. Lhakpa Kyizom gives us this report for The Tibet Connection’s mentoring project Tibet Youth Radio.

This edition of Sprouts is produced by Rebecca Novick of "The Tibet Connection" (www.thetibetconnection.org) on KPFK in Los Angeles, CA. Music includes songs from the albums “Yarlung: Tibetan Songs of Love & Freedom by Techung, “Dewa Chey” by Dechen Shak Dagsey, and “Songs of Inner Peace” by Nawang Khechog.

Also see: Tibetan Uprising, a look back at the Spring 2008 protests in Tibet.