RITES FROM THE ROOF OF THE WORLD

Festival ORIENT presents in co-operation with MUBA:

Mon, December 12th, 2022 at 7 pm
Hall of Tallinn School of Music and Ballet MUBA (address: Pärnu mnt 59, Tallinn)

RITES FROM THE ROOF OF THE WORLD

LOBSANG CHONZOR

• singer (prayers, folk songs, traditional Tibetan “opera” ache lhamo)

• multiinstrumentalist (dung-chen horn, dranyen-lute, lingbu-flute, damaru-drum)

• dancer (Buddhist cham masked dance)

Already in his early childhood, Lobsang was introduced by his father first into the world of Tibetan dance and thereafter song and music, despite their being forced to live in exile. As an adult Lobsang Chonzor decided to dedicate his life to making his homeland flesh and blood again through Living Art. Having completed the studies, he became a teacher of dance and music as well as joined the Snow Lion Cultural Troupe, taking them up to a professional level. He was tutored by the best masters of the Tibetan Opera Association. During 2000–2007, Lobsang and Snow Lions toured extensively in India, Bhutan, Russia, Great Britain, France and many other European countries. His powerful and luminous voice draws inspiration directly from the purest and most authentic source of Tibetan tradition which he presents with ease to the 21st century audience. His artistic achievement is crowned by Prix des Musique d’Ici that he and his trio Kyab Yul-Sa were awarded in 2021. Though living in exile, he was lucky to grow up in a small town in North-East India where the Tibetan population was remarkably numerous and active in keeping their heritage and tradition as well as education in the form of a refugee school.

See Lobsang Chonzor on YouTube

Programme:
ZHANAG NGA CHAM / Black Hat dance (based on an IX century legend about Langdarma, the 42nd king of Tibetan Yarlung dynasty, who was a harsh and anti-Buddhist monarch)
SHA CHAM / Deer dance (sacred deer represents one of messengers of the protective deities; dancer is a living symbol of miraculous power that destroys negative forces)
NANGMA AMA LEY HO (a song by His Holiness the 6th Dalai-Lama Tsangyang Gyatso, XVII century)
NAMTHAR / Holy Biography (fragment from Tibetan traditional “opera”)
TOESHAY DRADUL NYENKYONG (song from Western part of Tibet)
CHOD LU (song of Tibetan nomads and shepherds)
KONGSHAY PHALAY TSETSUL (dance song from Kongpo region of Tibet)

Intermission

LHAMO GHUR (prayer for the joy of the world and living beings; from the “opera” entitled Nangsa Obum)
SHAR CHOK POTALA (song and dance from Ngari prefecture of West-Tibet, in honour of His Holiness the Dalai-Lama and his Potala palace)
PHODRANG MARPO (= ‘red palace’; song accompanied by the dranyen-lute, expresses the wish to see Potala, the residence of His Holiness the Dalai-Lama; folk tune from Ngari prefecture)
GANGKAR THIKSIL (gangkar = ‘white peak”; Hommage à His Holiness the Dalai-Lama)
DRANYEN SHABDRO (popular in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet; accompanied by dranyen-lute; requires great skill from the artist)
TASHI SHOLPA (dance of good luck and good fortune, originated from an ancient dance drama or “opera” type called ache lhamo)
NGONPA DHON (ngonpa = ‘hunter’; ritual dance of hunters; not hunters of animals, but hunters of evil spirits)

Comments by Peeter Vähi

Special thanks: Nangma Productions, Altan-Art, Ministry of Culture of Estonia,  Cultural Endowment of Estonia