Chaksampa is a non-profit, traditional Tibetan performing group, based in San Francisco, California.   

In Tibetan, Chaksampa which means Bridge-Builder, one of the many names attributed to a famous Tibetan saint known as Thangtong Gyalpo, who lived in the 14th century in Tibet.  He is considererd to be a patron saint of Tibetan medicine as well as the founding father of Ache Lhamo, Tibetan opera.  Legend has it that Thangtong Gyalpo recruited villagers and gathered support to built suspension bridges all over the wide himalayan rivers in Tibet to access pilgrimagea to the sacred Buddhist sites. 

The bridges we build now are those of cultural exchange, sharing the unique, but threatened, traditions of Tibet with audience and artists around the world.

A song Silenced in its home...  Since their invasion of Tibet, the Chinese have suppressed the rich traditions of Tibetan music, dance, and drama in an effort to assimilate this ancient culture.  But the art survives, barely, in refugee settlements in India, and now, in the San Francisco Bay Area.