On the evening of February 4th, a Tibetan music named “Fly” was played vividly during the preshow of the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

“Fly” is a song by the Tibetan rap duo ANU, meaning “teenagers” or “youth”. ANU was founded by millennials Gonpa and Payag from Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Growing up together in Nangchen County, Gonpa and Payag learned to play myriad instruments such as the Zhanian, mandolin, xianzi Tibetan fiddle, and local instruments such as the bull-horn fiddle. The two began song writing in high school.

During the writing of “Fly”, the two musicians incorporated Tibetan melodies and timbre into the song. They also added the African hand drum (djembe) in the beats while finishing the lyrics in the Tibetan language. After being uploaded on YouTube, “Fly” has been covered in six different languages. It is also used as the background music for dance performances by many creators. Payag believes that the popularity of the song is evidence that ethnic fusion music can transcend cultural boundaries and shine its own spotlight on the international stage.