Lhasa is a name of at least two acts:

1) The performing name of Lhas… Read Full Bio ↴Lhasa is a name of at least two acts:

1) The performing name of Lhasa de Sela (1972-2010), who was a Canadian singer of Mexican and Jewish descent.

Born in Big Indian, New York, she grew up in the United States and Mexico, and moved to Canada when she was twenty years old. After the success of her 1998 album La llorona, which mixes everything from traditional Mexican music to klezmer to alternative rock, she moved to France. Her album The Living Road was released in 2003. In 2005 she won the "Americas" category in the Awards for World Music. She released her third and last album, Lhasa in 2009.

Lhasa de Sela died of breast cancer in Montréal, Québec, on the 1st January 2010.

2) A Tokyo, Japan screamo / sludge band, aka Lhasa (Jap). Their only release is a split CD with Daitro and Raein entitled "The Harsh Words As the Sun" (Oct 2004, Oto / Satire records).

La Frontera
Lhasa Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Hoy vuelvo a la frontera
Otra vez he de atravesar
Es el viento que me manda
Que me empuja a la frontera
Y que borra el camino
Que detrás desaparece

Me arrastro bajo el cielo

Y las nubes del invierno
Es el viento que las manda
Y no hay nadie que las pare
A veces combater despiadado
A veces baile
Y a veces...nada

Hoy cruzo la frontera
Bajo el cielo
Bajo el cielo
Es el viento que me manda
Bajo el cielo de acero

Soy el punto negro que anda
A las orillas de la suerte

Overall Meaning

The song "La Frontera" by Lhasa is about returning once again to the border and having to cross it. The singer feels that she has no choice in the matter as the wind pushes her towards it. The wind also erases the path behind her, emphasizing the transitory nature of her journey. She describes herself as crawling under the winter clouds, which are also at the mercy of the wind, unstoppable and uncontrollable.

The feeling of being pushed by the wind, which is a metaphor for fate or destiny, is one of the major themes of the song. The singer describes the wind as both a ruthless opponent and a dance partner, representing the unpredictable nature of the future. However, there are also moments of stillness, where she simply feels like there is "nothing" happening.

The last verse talks about how she crosses the border under the unsettling "steel sky". She sees herself as a "black dot" on the edge of destiny, at the mercy of forces beyond her control. The song can be interpreted as a reflection on the fragility of human life and the constant uncertainty of the future.

Line by Line Meaning

Hoy vuelvo a la frontera
Today I return to the border

Otra vez he de atravesar
Once again I must cross

Es el viento que me manda
It's the wind that commands me

Que me empuja a la frontera
That pushes me to the border

Y que borra el camino
And erases the path

Que detrás desaparece
That disappears behind me

Me arrastro bajo el cielo
I crawl beneath the sky

Y las nubes del invierno
And the winter clouds

Es el viento que las manda
It's the wind that commands them

Y no hay nadie que las pare
And there's no one to stop them

A veces combater despiadado
Sometimes ruthless combat