Alan Dawa Dolma

Alan Dawa Dolma (born 25 July 1987), known mononymously as alan, is a Tibetan singer known for her distinctive technique, the "Tibetan wail".

She is a graduate of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Art in Beijing, majoring in vocal music and erhu, which she has played since childhood.

Alan was born on July 25, 1987, in Kangding, Sichuan province, to Atu, a local government official, and Lantai, a singer.

She is a native speaker of Khams Tibetan.

Her extended family includes many relatives; her father had ten siblings and her mother had eight.

As Tibetan culture traditionally makes no use of family names, she was born as simply Dawa Dolma, bestowed upon her by a Buddhist monk and meaning "heavenly maiden of the moon" in Tibetan.

She later adopted a family name for practical reasons, with "A-Lan" born from a portmanteau of her parents' given names, Atu and Lantai.

Alan was made to play the erhu at an early age as punishment for her tomboy behavior and to instill good behavior.

She spent little time with her parents in Kangding and often lived with her grandparents instead.

She and her mother later moved to the provincial capital, Chengdu, where her aunt lived.

Alan completed her secondary education there under the Sichuan Conservatory of Music.

In 2003, she was accepted to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Art in Beijing and double-majored in vocal music and erhu.

She described the environment there as strict, which allayed her parents' concerns however.

During her time in college, Alan released an album titled Shengsheng Zui Rulan (2005).

In 2005 she released a Chinese album, Shengsheng Zui Rulan.

In early 2006, she auditioned for the Japanese label Avex Trax.

Playing the erhu, she performed traditional Chinese music with a group of girls at the 2006 gala performance near Cairo, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Chinese–Egyptian diplomatic ties.

During this time, Alan performed as a singer throughout China and discovered pop music from acts such as Faye Wong, Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau.

In October 2006, selected to represent mainland China together with Vision Wei (with whom she later collaborated for the single "Jiayou! Ni You Me!"), Alan won second place at the 9th Asia New Singer Competition.

In April 2006, Alan distinguished herself from roughly 40,000 hopefuls when Avex Trax held auditions throughout Chinese cities that year.

In late 2007, Alan moved to Tokyo and made her singles debut with "Ashita e no Sanka".

After graduating with excellence a year later, she became Avex's first signed artist from China and moved to Tokyo, Japan in September 2007.

In November, her first Japanese single "Ashita e no Sanka" was released.

She received three months of formal training in the Japanese language but became fluent within two years by practicing on her own.

Avex hoped that she could help the label scale both Japanese and Chinese markets.

She recorded theme songs to the film Red Cliff (2008), bringing her wider exposure.

In May 2008, Alan released Shiawase no Kane/Ai Jiushi Shou and all profits from the songs were donated to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Sichuan earthquake in her home province.

A later Japanese single titled Gunjō no Tani was also dedicated to the people of Sichuan.

In June 2008, Alan sang the theme song "Natsukashii Mirai (Longing Future)" for NHK's Save the Future special TV programs which raised awareness of the environment nationwide.

Beginning with this song, which was themed on earth, Alan's next five Japanese singles each dealt with a traditional Buddhist element from the Japanese Godai or Tibetan Bön.

Chosen to sing the theme songs (Xin Zhan: Red Cliff and Chibi: Da Jiangdong Qu) of the two-episode Chinese blockbuster Red Cliff, Alan performed at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008.

The Japanese versions, "Red Cliff (Shin-Sen)" and "Kuon no Kawa", were recorded for the films' showings in Japan.

In 2009, her ninth single "Kuon no Kawa" and theme song to Part II of Red Cliff reached number three on the Oricon weekly charts, the highest placement by a singer from China.

She has since been active in Japan and China.

In April 2009 Alan's ninth single "Kuon no Kawa" [River of Eternity] reached No. 3, the highest chart placement ever for a Chinese artist in Japan.

Alan held her first Japan tour in January 2010, taking in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.

On 3 February 2010, Alan released a double A-side single, "Diamond/Over the Clouds".

"Diamond" was used as the second closing to the anime Inuyasha: The Final Act.

While "Over the Clouds" was used as the theme song for the PSP video game, God Eater.

On 23 July 2010 Alan performed with a symphonic orchestra at Shibuya Orchard Hall, performing 23 songs in multiple languages.