If Tibet were an independent country, it would be ranked 10th in land area. Surrounded by the Himalayas, much of it is a high plateau of dry grasslands that not suitable for agriculture and large population, but is perfect for nomadic herding. 
Tibet historically was a great military power in the middle ages and at one point in the 8th Century CE controlled a vast empire.
Map of Tibetan Empire
By Javierfv1212 - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14732068
Early Tibetan history was dominated by militarism. Subsequent conversion to Buddhism from the indigenous Bon religion, changed the dynamics, as monasteries became an important influence in the region. Tibet was successively ruled by kings, and then indirectly by the Mongols, Manchus, Chinese. The Dalai Lamas were the actual or titular rulers from 1660s until 1950 when the Chinese Communists took over.
Social Sectors in Traditional Tibet
Based on geographic and social factors, there were four sectors in Tibetan society: farming, nomad, urban, monastic, each with its own musical repertoires. Certain instruments and music/dance genres are viewed as iconic by Tibetans, both inside Chinese-controlled Tibetan areas, as well as in the Tibetan exile community.
Agrarian One of the most iconic song/dance genres is the circle dance song (gor shey), this is often accompanied by a fiddle similar to the Chinese erhu called the piwang. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOho1_5cpTY
The following video is a collection of contemporary performances of circle dance with electronic instruments mixed. You can see the prevalence of piwangs in the video imagery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzwLWB1y020
In this next one, there is no piwang; just singing and drumming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbpmRNVCP94.
Work songs are a common genre in agricultural areas throughout the world, and Tibet is no exception. It being a generally dry climate, many buildings are constructed out of rammed-earth walls and dried mud brick. The following video shows villagers singing in time to their stamping the floor of a Buddhist temple with wooden poles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1KSu9jQQuE
Nomadic Nomadic life on the plains and hills requires a life style light in material possessions. Musical instruments are portable (it is hard to carry a grand piano on horseback). One of the most iconic instruments coming out of the nomadic sector is the damnyan, a lute with 3 courses (sets) of double strings. The following is a song from the eastern region of Kham.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uENk5r6HVOI
Taking advantage of the mountainous terrain with it's echos. Nomadic singing has tight, rapid oscillation between notes to great a multi-toned effect.
This style is echoed in nomadic performance on the bamboo known as the ling bu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJzBHvjLcj0
Monastic Buddhism is not the original religion of Tibet. Bon, which is a mixture of shamanism and philosophies similar to Buddhism or Chinese Daoism was gradually replaced from the 7th Century onward, but is still practiced in the Tibetan world. For those who may have a vague idea of Buddhist philosophy, I will briefly quote from https://blog.buddhagroove.com/buddhism-101/
Buddhist philosophy accepts the inevitability of disease, death, and emotional pain in a human’s life. The cause of human suffering is attributed to the attachment to things that have shape and form. The antidote offered is simple – to cure suffering, free yourself from attachment. Practical ways to end suffering has been prescribed through eight pursuits – right speech, right action, right livelihood, right concentration, right view, right intention, right mindfulness, and right effort.
The Buddha presented his philosophy in the Four Noble Truths:
The ultimate aim is to achieve enlightenment, and thus escape the never-ending cycle birth, suffering, and death. Influenced by Tibetan shamanic practices involving trance states and visualization, an approach called tantra developed in Hinduism and Buddhism in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist practice, involving what are referred to as the Three Mysteries: mudra, mantra, and mandala, representing the body, speech, and mind of the practitioners.
Mudra-- are gestures and/or images that generate a given mental state. These can be images of Buddha figures and attendant deities, either two-dimensional or three-dimensional. The following are images representing the bodhisattva (enlightened being) called Chenrezig (Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit) who embodies compassion.
Chenrezig (Sanskrit-Avalokitesvara) The bodhisattva of compassion
Chenrezig (Sanskrit-Avalokitesvara) The bodhisattva of compassion
Mantra--is a short formula, repeated over and over to help keep the image and its attributes in mind. The most famous mantra is that connected with Chenrezig, "Om mani padme hum" (Om, the jewel in the lotus), which represents how wisdom is joined with compassion in order to help all sentient beings gain enlightenment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=633eH4yajHE
Mandala-represents a palace or temple within which the image resides, along with attendant figures. It is a 2-D representation of a 3-D structure. Lengthy visualization texts describe it and allow the meditator to construct the full image in their mind.
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Photo of a Chenrezig Sand Mandala created and exhibited at the House of Commons on the occasion of the visit of the Dalai Lamaon 21 May 2008.
Monastic music—Includes many styles of chanting liturgies, instrumental music for ceremonies and processions, as well as symbolic dancing. The following is a video of one the leading Buddhist lama (reincarnated monks), the 14th Dalai Lama, leading chanting of a short scripture call the "Wisdom Heart Sutra." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNU30CGO3yI
One of the most dramatic styles are overtone chants, especially from the Tantric Colleges, Gyudto, Gyudme, where the monks can produce two and three tones simultaneously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8MMqPOk7uU
Instrumental music is known as rolmo ensemble, and inlcludes Dung chen (long horn),
Conch shell trumpet, gya-ling (oboe), drums, cymbals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfUbS6JzHXU&t=83s
Tibetan monastic dance—Cham
Monastic dancing is meant to convey the meditational teachings, either through acting out parables from the teachings, or by by a three dimensional enactment of a mandala. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOg4b4CMHXE
Skeleton Dance illustrating the impermanence of existence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXySQRI14H0
Deer Mask Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzoftah2Y0Y
Black Hat dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X7uPrxfgdA
Urban genres: Besides performances of rural genres, the upper classes of Lhasa and Shigatse cultivated two related genres:
nangma and toeshey
According to musician Namgyal Lhamo:
The Nangma genre has its origins in Persia and came to Tibet through the Tibetan trade links with Kashmir, Persia and Turkistan in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The Persian word Naghma means melody. Many composers and performers came from the Tibetan Muslim minority in Lhasa. The Nangma genre mostly starts with a melodious instrumental introduction which is the same for most Nangma songs. The instruments I use are lute (dranyen) or (gyumang) or a combination. Traditionally more instruments were used: e.g. the flute and the small and large two-stringed fiddle. The tempo of nangma itself is close to Andante in Western music and the melodies are mostly refined and stately.
Toeshey is another genre of Tibetan classical songs closely related to Nangma. Toeshey has a different rythm and is mostly a bit faster than Nangma. This song also has its own rythmic instrumental introduction, from which everyone can recognize: now comes a Toeshey. This genre had a strong influence from the Toe area in Western Tibet. In the early twentieth century it became popular in Lhasa to mix Toepa folksongs with the Nangma genre and adapt them to the refined Lhasa dance style. Thus a new genre emerged: Toeshey. Toeshey songs often are performed as group dance song. The melodies are merry and the songs mostly end with a fast and lively tap-dance. The texts of both nangma and toeshey have many themes but often refer to religion as Buddhism is so deeply rooted in our culture. Many high lama’s – even today - write poems that then are put to music. Most famous is the Sixth Dalai Lama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JhXVf0__nM
Contemporary Tibet after the Chinese occupation
Tibet was "liberated" by the People's Republic of China in 1950. Many landowners were killed as part of anti-bourgeois campaigns. Most of the Buddhist monasteries were destroyed, and the monks killed as part of the anti-religious campaign waged throughout the PRC. In 1959 there was an uprising throughout much of Tibet. The rebellion was brutally put down with the loss of 87,000 lives. Subsequently, over 1/2 million people died due agricultural mismanagement during the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962), during which 55 million died overall in the PRC. During this time over 100,000 Tibetans fled with the Dalai Lama to India and neighboring countries.
Part of this purge of "reactionary" (ie. traditional) culture included the various performing arts. Later, the government sponsoreed state- folklore groups and conservatories to preserve and showcase ethnic arts. The emphasis was on Chinese-style, high, nasal vocal production, as opposed to the more open-throated, chesty singing indigenous to Tibet. Nevertheless these folklore schools and traveling troupes were the incubator much musical talent in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).
Collaborators vs. patriots -- There were and are those Tibetans who believed in the Communist Party or were opportunistic collaborators, Tibetan patriots disliked them, while at the same time liking their music--it was catchy. The most famous of these was the singer Tsetan Dolma (b. 1937), called by her critics Tsetan Tsoma (Tsetan the Whore).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhz99pBGLFk
New Tibetan Music--new singers came out of the conservatories, combining the Chinese vocal style with Tibetan-style melodies. One of the earliest notable example was Jampa Tsering (early 1960s-1997). His songs often contain symbolic language that expresses Tibetan patriotism without overt defiance, of which "Ri de Himalaya" (Himalayan Mountains) is most notable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMQuiMNoNgA
Outside in the diaspora, the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsal, Himachal Pradesh, in Northern India, continued traditional styles. Fusion of Wester pop music and traditional styles came out of this milieu. One such group was Rangzen Shonu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAPZDoU4apk
A style coming out Eastern Tibet in Amdo is a style based on traditional folk styles, but with symbolic lyrics. The most famous of is the song "Akhu Pema" (Uncle Lotus) by Palgon. It has been taken to represent a longing for the Dalai Lama's return, but the meaning is ambiguous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpxk6UNYCR0
"Uncle Pema"
By Palgon (original in Tibetan)
Oh mighty Eagle adorned with a conch-white stripe!
If you soar up heavenwards, you adorn the azure sky,
If you descend earthwards, you gladden the craggy mountains.
And, your absence makes the craggy ledges bereft of any life!
Oh Uncle Pema!
Duck with the golden rosary
If you fly out of the water, you adorn the meadows,
If you swim in the water, you gladden the water’s spirits
And, your absence makes the lake bereft of life and spirit!
Oh Uncle Pema!
Oh handsome Youth, adorned with conch-white teeth like a tiger!
If you go way, you are a credit to your fellow townsfolk, and
If you come this way, you are a star amongst your peers.
And, your absence makes my heart bereft of love and meaning!
Tibetan Rock n' Roll
The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso was a lay person who wrote love songs. His songs "White Crane" is beloved by Tibetan speaking people everywhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93rjhGKH5T0&pp=ygUhV2hpdGUgY3JhbmUgc2l4dGggZGFsYWkgbGFtYSBzb25n
This version by the girl band Ache Tsendep and the boy band Vajaara intersperses rapping that is just about getting together with his girlfriend, but the very fact of the traditional song and the trangressive nature of hip hop symbolizes resistance to Chinese rule-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U1xJI_ekn0
Similarly Acha Tsendep--"Tibetan Girl" asserts Tibetan identity--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p1AubKuEo0
As does, Zi Mig Gupa (Nine-eyed Zi Stone) Heavy Metal Band "Tashi Monlam" (The Auspicious Prayer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwoJoLOXgEo
Show videos of nangma bars,
Circle Dance in Disco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN2ilnN9RQE&t=0s&index=9&list=PLJk9VXX7_rcl4JCQI8LEULLH3PM9HK9RE
Tibetan Hip-hop
Traditional Music of Ladakh: An Introduction to Songs of Palace, Village and Plain
The former Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh is the northern-most territory of India. Along with Baltistan in north-eastern Pakistan, it is the western-most part of the Tibetan cultural continuum. Historically Ladakh was a buffer state between Buddhist Tibet and aggressive neighboring Muslim powers, and was a nexus of caravan trade—the “Crossroads of High Asia,” to quote historian Janet Rizvi—connecting Persia, Afghanistan, Turkestan, India, Kashmir, Tibet, and China. Although Tibetan in language and having a large Tibetan Buddhist population (the other part Shiite Muslim), it developed many hybrid aspects in its culture, including cuisine, clothing, sports, and music.
Over one hundred years ago the German missionary and ethnologist August Hermann Francke noted that “the Ladakhi music and art of dancing is so entirely different from Tibetan music and dancing that non-Tibetan influences must be suspected” (Francke 1904: 366). These influences are materially evident in the prominence of the double-reed/kettle drum ensemble of the surna and daman for prestige events, supplanting Tibetan style instruments like the kopong/dramnyan (lute) or piwang (fiddle). These newer instruments are known to have been introduced from Baltistan in the late 16th Century. As opposed to Tibetan melodies that tend towards various types of purely ahemitonic pentatonic scales, Ladakhi melodic style often employs pentatonic scales mixed with descending heptatonic scales, most likely derived from Kashmiri and Indian melodic models.
Like in Tibet, there are four main sectors of society with their associated musics: nomadic, rural agrarian, urban, and monastic. There are interactions and overlap between genres, as well as influences from Central and Western Asia and Kashmir.
Nomadic music -- like in Tibet, one of the archetypal genres is a song-dance form called zhabro (roughly translated as foot stamping). The nomads of the Changthang Plateau adjacent to Tibet play the 3-course lute, similar to the Tibetan damnyan, called the kopongs. In this video, All India Radio staff artist Tsering Chorol (daughter of famous singer Morup Namgyal) plays and sings a zhabro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is8-4MTylgs
Rural music -- Rural musics include many genres. Weddings songs are sung both by knowledgeable specialists, but are traditionally known by many. Here is a dramatization of the groom's party coming to the bride's home to fetch her. After much drinking of tea and chang (barley beer), they sing and song praising the beer and the occasion, and exit with the bride, who wears a turquoise-laden headdress called a perak, and a gold amulet on her forehead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ueEZYAJVY
Other genres include songs for festivals known as stendel lu (songs of auspicious signs). In this video, The singers are accompanied by a frame drum called daf, a Ladakhi fiddle called piwang (similar to the Tibetan piwang), bamboo flute (lingbu), and synthesizer. The song celebrates being surrounded by fortunate signs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbbu0e7FiIM
dgung gnam bzhengs pa skar tshogs su mang byung (2x)
‘bur du mtho ba de nyi ma dang zla ba
mdangs su gsal ba de nyi ma dang zla ba
dga’ ba’i rten ‘brel dang po de dang zungs shig
zag med rten ‘brel dang po zungs shig.
In higher relief are all the constellations in the sky
There shine brightly sun and moon
Let us be mindful of the joyous, first auspicious omen.
Let us be mindful of the stainless first auspicious omen.
gling bzhi bzhengs pa mi tshogs su mang byung (2x)
‘bur du mtho ba de rgyalpo dang bla ma
mdangs su gsal ba de sengge dang stag tshang
dga’ ba’i rten’ brel gnyis pa de dang zungs shig
zag med rten ‘brel gnyis pa de dang zungs shig.
In the four continents, many assemblies of men arise (2x)
There in higher relief, king and lama
There shines brightly the lion and tiger nest[1]
Let us be mindful of the second auspicious omen.
Let us be mindful of the stainless second auspicious omen.
skyes pa’i pha yul la ni tshe dbang gi bum pa
gle chen dpal mkhar ni tshe dbang gi bum pa
‘bras dkar dbol bo spungs pa dang ‘dra byung
dga’ ba’ rten ‘brel gsum pa de dang zungs shig
‘o ma’i rdzing bu ‘khyil gsum pa de dang zungs shig
zags med rten ‘brel gsum pa de dang zungs shig.
In the homeland of happiness, the vessel of long life empowerment
In Leh’s noble castle, the vessel of long-life empowerment
It is like white rice piled high
Let us be mindful of the third, surrounded as by a lake of milk
Let us be mindful of the stainless third auspicious omen.
[1] King Jamyang Namgyal invited the famous Tibetan lama Stag-tsan-ras-pa (Tib. Stag = tiger, tsan=nest) to come to Ladakh, but it was not until the reign of his son, Sengge (Lion) Namgyal (ruled 1616-1642), that he actually came. Under the tutelage of the tiger lama, the lion king founded a number of important monasteries devoted to the Drukpa Kargyu sect, including Hanle, and Hemis.
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However, since the seventeenth century, a more prestigious ensemble has become more popular, overshadowing the quieter string and flute ensemble. Coming from Baltistan to the west, the ubiquitous double-reed and kettledrum ensemble (surna and daman) became associated with the royal court in Leh, and with prestigious outdoor events. Here is music accompanying an archery festival (basically an excuse for a party with food, drink, and dancing, This is in the old royal capital of Basgo, where you see the old castle and Buddhist temples on the hill. This is also an urban genre (lots of overlap) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-btV_siZfM
There is a small ethnic minority in Ladakh and across the Pakistani border in Baltistan called the Dards or Brokpa. They are either Buddhist or Shiite Muslim (like the rest of Ladakh) and speak an Indo-Iranian language called Shina. Here is a dance in the village of Dha near the Pakistani border, accompanied by an ensemble of surna, daman, and a barrel drum called dringjang.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TYdatbAEKA
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Urban genres
Highly literary songs praising important rulers, monasteries, villages, etc were generally sung during the Losar New Year in the Palace in Leh
Here is one that praises the village/town of Basgo and its resistance to Tibetan/Mongolian invasion during a war in the 1680s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Is03zCuWY8. The instrumental group is lead by pharmacist, scholar, and cultural activist Tsering Sonam Lagachirpon, who has been working tirelessly for nearly 30 years to preserve and revive Ladakhi traditional music.
Dancing to such songs is both a rural and urban tradition. Here is a dance at an archery festival with staff of the radio and television stations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmusqlv1GAM
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Monastic music and dance
Monastic performing arts are nearly identical with those in Tibet. The one difference is that either simultaneous with, or alternating with the Tibetan-style rolmo ensemble, there is sometimes a ceremonial/processional genre called lha rnga (drum of the gods) played on surna and daman. Here is a chams dance at Phey Monastery in 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJcck5si_9M
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Popular music in Ladakh
Popular music has had an interesting history in the region. Mass media did not come to the region until the opening of All India Radio, Leh in 1974. Meanwhile, social activists, both Buddhist and Muslim, set up travelling theater troupes to promote reform agendas: promoting education, and discouraging alcoholism and polyandry. These composers of lu soma (new song) included scholars Tashi Rabgias and Mohammed Shafi Reili, as well singer/teacher Morup Namgyal. The follow is a song composed and performed by Mohammed Shafi Reili, called "Autumn Song," accompanied by kopong, drinjang, and a cheap Japanese instrument called taisho koto, or Indian banjo. (Don't forget to turn on close captions for the translation).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtKTjpZnxCY&list=PL6F2F07A4A7986769&index=121&t=0s
As the radio station was set up, the central office in New Delhi sent in a shipment of Indian instruments, in a sort of one-size-fits all policy. The Ladakhi music production staff under Morup Namgyal were quick to adapt to the new resources. Mixing Indian instruments, rhythms, and styles with Himalayan elements and Ladakhi lyrics, these new lu soma flourished in the 1990s and beyond. Here is a famous song "Lung po, ju ju" (Please, oh wind), composed by Tsering Angchuk Ralam in 1991, with lyrics by Tsering Angdus Saspol Kalon, sung by Morup Namgyal-le assisted by his daughter Tsering Chorol on voice and damnyan.. Angchuk Ralam is playing flute, but I'm not sure who the other musicians are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljd6XRv1sts
Here is the Wylie transcription of the Tibetan text and my translation
gnam zla dpyid di dpyid zla gsum po skya sir
rlung po’i dbang zhig rgyu ‘dug
rlung po ‘ju ‘ju thal rtsub ma lung
nga yi nye mo’i zhal gdong nogs ‘dug.
The three months of spring are delightful
But the powerful wind blows the dust around
Therefore, please, oh wind, don’t be harsh
To my beloved’s lips.
gnam zla dbyang ri dbyar zla gsum po
nyi ma lags mo’i nyi zer tshan te
srin nag ‘ju ‘ju nyi zer ‘gog gang
nga yin nye mo’i zhal gdong tshig ‘dug.
In the mountains, the three months of summer
Are sunny, and the sunlight is hot
Please, oh black clouds, block the sun’s rays
So they are gentle on my beloved’s lips
gnam zla ston ne grang gro snyoms mo
mgyogs pa ma skyod gor gor rig bzhugs
ri dang rlung gi me tog kun la
nga yin ye mo’i glu dbyang len nyin
In autumn, it is cool and the wheat is ripe
It does not go around, but stays
Into the flowers of mountain and air
Take my beloved’s melody in the day.
gnam zla dgun ne dgun zla gsum po
kha ba babs te gnam zla grang mo
nyi ma ‘ju ‘ju nyi zer stsal lang
nga yin nye mo’i ser mo skyod ‘dug.
In the three months of winter
The weather has snowfall and is cold
Please, oh sun, begin to bestow sun beams
So my beloved becomes golden.
Ladakh popular music has become more influenced by Bollywood and Nepali styles, with slick production values. The most famous of the younger generation of popular singer/songwriters is Tundup Dorjay, known as Dorjay Stakmo. Here is song from a Ladakhi movie.
youtube.com/watch?v=aBqhHlSVyXQ
In the 2000s, more variety was introduced with the influence of various rock genres as well reggae. The following is pop piece by the rock group Checkmates, "Namlang la sharway" (In the dawn sky). The first verse translates as follows.
In the dawn sky there many stars
The constellations are my beloved
You are my beloved
You are my dear
The constellations are my beloved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDrsD_RgfyI