Chöying Drolma, a Tibetan Buddhist nun born in Nepal, mixes music and activism with inspirational results.

Her first album, “Chö,” with guitarist Steve Tibbetts, created a complex sonic environment built around the ancient practice of visualization.

Her latest album, “Selwa” (the duo’s first on the Six Degrees label), takes a bolder approach.  No vague New Age background music, this—the album offers a listening experience that is dark and challenging but ultimately rewarding.

On “Selwa” (the word means “clear” or “awake”), Drolma’s low and strong, somewhat nasal, traditional Tibetan vibrato complements Tibbetts’s moody but direct guitar work, which is set off by complex rhythm arrangements that keep the whole thing interesting.

Most of the album is sung in Tibetan, with two beautiful tracks in Sanskrit (“Vakritunda” and “Gayatri”) lending a soft, meditative air.

Much of the album was recorded in Boudhanath, a Tibetan enclave in Nepal, where Drolma would record her vocal tracks to a simple drone accompaniment, the other instruments to be added later.

From her childhood, Drolma has stood out among her spiritual sisters.  A longtime supporter of women’s and human rights, she is also the founder of the Arya Tara school, which educated nuns in secular subjects such as math, English and medicine.  Money she raises from her albums and world tours goes to support the school.