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ARTSCAPE

Introduction:
Lhamo is the classical theatre of Tibet which is basically a ritual, ceremonial and episodic masked folk dance. It is deeply rooted in the Buddhism which was flourished in ancient India. However, the Lhamo is popularly believed to be originated from one of the greatest ever Tibetan yogi, saint, scholar, teacher and reformer Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo in the fourteenth century. Yet many historians, scholars and artists after an intensive study on this popular theory have yielded no definite evidences proving its relationship with the saint. However, no other history comes so close to the lhamo tradition like Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo’s history does. Therefore, Thangthong Gyalpo is popularly considered as the father of Lhamo, the Tibetan opera tradition.
According to historians, Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo was believed to be born to a pastoral family in 1361 at the Lhatse province in the central Tibet. Thangthong Gyalpo is known for his construction of Chaksampa (iron bridges) throughout Tibet. He was a social reformer who had had actually lead Tibet to modernity. The acclaimed saint and a benevolent teacher traveled to every nook and corner of Tibet by preaching Buddhism and were looking for sponsors to build the chain of iron bridges throughout Tibet. Some of the weathered and rustic chaksam are still to be seen in Tibet.
Among his workforce for constructing iron bridges, there were believed to be seven beautiful sisters who were gifted in the arts of song and dance. So Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo composed lyrics basically in praise of gods and goddess, and verse from Buddhist scriptures. Therefore, these ladies were trained to perform folk dances and songs. Thus they wandered in the central Tibet by performing the composed folk songs and dances to collect funds for the project. The performances of these ladies were accompanied by rhymed sounds of drum and cymbals. So when the pedestrians saw the beautiful ladies performing folk dances and songs, they exclaimed with astonishment, “the goddess (lhamo) themselves were dancing”. Henceforth, the opera tradition of Tibetan is believed to be known as lhamo.

A Conversation with Sonam Phunstok, the Lhamo Teacher, TIPA

Tibetoday: Please tell us briefly about yourself.
Sonam: I was born at Lagyen (Phu), a small and remote village in Gangtok consisting of scores of Tibetan families most of whom fled Tibet before 1950 to escape from the repercussions of Chinese occupation. Due to its remoteness, Tibetans in the village were deprived of basic amenities like schools, hospitals, electricity, and roadways and so on. Hence, life had been very hard for the people in that village. Above all, its remoteness and isolation had left the people virtually unaware of the developments in neighbouring towns and villages.
Later, in the year 1976 and 1977, a team of representatives of the Tibetan government in exile based in Dharmsala visited our village and selected 14 children to be admitted to Tibetan schools in Dharamsala. And I was one among them. We were taken to Dharamsala, the residence of HH the Dalai Lama of Tibet and the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. We had to wait for more than a week before our next destination was decided. The officials had a hard time finding admissions for us, as in early 1970s there were not many Tibetan schools in India. Incidentally, during that period, the office received news informing that the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, TIPA was looking for few Tibetan children to train as professional artists. Therefore, three among the 14 children were selected and as destiny would have it, I was one among them. Ironically, my parents never said a word to me about becoming a professional Tibetan Artist during our parting; instead they assumed that I would be admitted to a regular school. Now, I realize that it has been my fate to become a Tibetan Artist. I have been with TIPA since then and it’s already been 30 years now. TIPA has become my home.

Tibetoday: When did you graduate from TIPA?
Sonam: After attaining my master’s degree in Tibetan Performing Arts way back in 1989, I started working as a folk dance teacher to Tipa’s junior artists for ten years. Besides that, I had shouldered the responsibility of teaching folk dances and songs to students of diploma courses that TIPA offers to outsiders who had keen interest in Tibetan performing arts. The course varies in its duration from one year short term course, to a two years diploma course and a three years advanced diploma course also.

Tibetoday: Are you trained as a specialist in Lhamo, the Tibetan Opera?
Sonam: Every aritst or students in TIPA have to rigorously get trained in all the fields of training provided by the institution. There is no specialized subject as such at the moment. However, it is an undenying fact that each artist gradually develops his or her own special inclination and talent in a particular field. Therefore, based on each artist’s talent and capability, our teachers used to guide respective artist emphasizing more on the particular field of subject that one is having the penchant and the talent for. And my teacher, therefore, recommended the Lhamo for me and asked me to give special emphasis and attention so that I could be the next-in-line substitute Lhamo teacher since our lhamo teacher was already aging. However, I don’t think that I was appointed as a Lhamo teacher because of my exceptional talent in Lhamo but mainly because the institute was facing a shortage in human resources, at that time, when many of the senior artists happened to leave the institution. So, during that period of void, I was fortunate enough to avail the opportunity to step into the shoes of our senior Lhamo teacher. I felt the responsibility was too huge but when I saw that my senior Lhamo teacher had an enormous hope and faith in me, I couldn’t deny his request. Thus, I have been shouldering the responsibility of the Lhamo teacher for over eight years now.

Tibetoday: Please tell us how the Lhamo tradition in the Tibetan culture came into being?
Sonam: Quite frankly, we Tibetans have no problem in getting the records of Tibetan Buddhist texts since our former Buddhist scholars and masters had recorded all the philosophies in writing but it is not the case in Lhamo or the Tibetan performing art in general. I personally think, most of our Tibetan artists in ancient Tibet seemed illiterate. It is clearly evident from the fact that the present artists like us in exile could hardly find a book written on various legends and epics of the Lhamo except for the story of Drupchen Thangtong Gyalpo. So, books and references on Tibetan art, particularly the Lhamo, are not available to find out the origin of each epic and legend. Lets look into the Kumolung Kha lineage of Tibetan Lhamo tradition that i am holding at present. When i tried to learn deeper into this tradition and how this lineage got passed and propagated for generations, it was a sad revelation that we don’t have any recorded histories of great masters and artists of this linege beyond my teacher and his teacher. This is something really frustating - such a profound and beautiful art has literally no record. So it has become quite difficult for the Tibetan artist at present to find any reliable source to have a deeper understanding about famous artists who came and promoted Tibetan performing arts during various periods in the history of Tibet. The histories of Tibetan Lhamo and other forms of performing art have been passed from teachers to pupils orally for many generations. For example, we don’t have any written record about the life and the works of our great teacher Norbu Tsering of TIPA except the ones written by some artists of TIPA after coming into exile. Therefore, it is sad that the works of many Tibetan artists who had actually devoted their whole life in promoting and preserving this profoud tradition were not recorded and have gone unheard.

The general belief among Tibetans about the origin of Lhamo tradition is that it was invented in the 14th century by the great yogi, the scholar and the ascetic saint, Drupchen Thangtong Gyalpo. However, i personally can’t say with a firm conviction that the Tibetan opera has its origin from Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo since there is no reliable and specific records in history that mentions the saint’s involvment in inventing, promoting, and preserving Lhamo.During one occasion, HH the Dalai Lama himself told to a gathering that although it has become well known to all tibetans that the Lhamo tradition was first started by Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo but when His Holiness refered to many buddhist sriptures and texts, he hasn’t found a convincing record explaining the saint having had actually invented this special tradition of Tibet. Yet there are incidences proving Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo’s connection with Lhamo. For example, we come across number of lyrics written in praise of the great yogi and the saint Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo in many of the stories of Lhamo particularly when we sing opening offering songs of each epics and stories.

But there are no written records after Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo and nothing to prove that the great yogi had actually composed and written the popular Lhamo epics like Tsongpon Norsang, Sug Kyi Nyima, Drowa Sangmo and other stories of the Lhamo. I personally put lot of effort to discover the orginal composers of all these epics of Tibetan Lhamo and even asked my teachers. But so far i haven’t found any recorded histories proving these facts and even my teachers don’t know the real composer. I consider all these stories as epics particularly Tsongpon Norsang. However, there are people who say that Tsongpon Norsang’s story actually happened in Toe Ngari, the north eastern region of Tibet. Besides, there are some who claim that the story took place somewhere in Manali. Yet there are no convincing evidences.

However, the popular Lhamo stories like Acha Nangsa and Jetsun Milarepa are the only two stories which had actually occured in Tibet and possess reliable written records and evidences. The actual places, where these two stories occurred can be seen in Tibet at present.

Tibetoday: How many different traditions of Lhamo are existent in Tibet? Which tradition does TIPA follow?
Sonam: There are twelve different Lhamo traditions practised in various parts of Tibet. Among which Kumo-lung-pa, Gyang-khara, Chungpa and Shang-pa are the four major traditions. These major lhamo traditions were performed annually at Norbulingkha during independent Tibet, the winter residence of HH the Dalai Lama, among which Kumo-lung-pa has been the most popular tradition due to its comical touch and liveliness. The Lhamo tradition which TIPA performs every year is Kumo-lung-pa. I personally find Kumo-lungpa as the best lhamo tradition. And i can say without a doubt that the Lhamo tradition which TIPA follows belongs to Kumo-lungpa only.

Kumo-lung is basically a small village near Lhasa and the Lhamo tradition, Kumo-lung-pa preformed by this village became very popular in Tibet. Later Kumo-lung-pa was recognized as the Lhamo tradition of the whole of Lhasa. The other reason why this particular tradition of Lhamo becomes very successful and popular in Tibet was that Kumo-lungpa enjoyed the privilege to select the best talents with the authorization letter they get from the heads of Lhasa. Above all, Kumo-lungpa enjoys more freedom of innovations and creativity in altering the dialogues to make it more comical and interesting. Hence, this particular tradition happened to relate more with the audience and provide more messages to people than the rest.

Tibetoday: How do you teach and train students at TIPA in the art of the Lhamo? Do you see any change in the teaching methods employed now and then?
Sonam: When i was a student my teachers used to follow the same method that they had been practising in Tibet, which is through oral transmission. There were neither digital records of lhamo songs nor the written notations of tunes of Namthar. So, the art of Lhamo was passed orally to the students. After telling us the stories first, our teacher used to sing a line and then we had to imitate the same melody. That’s how i was trained in Lhamo. But there has been improvement in the teaching methods as the Lhamo tradition passed on to the younger generation. I utilize the modern technologies to make my teaching more efficient and livelier. First i would tell the stories and then introduce the characters by describing the typical characteristics and the features that each character carries. Then by playing the role of each characters and practicing their dialogues, the students get more involved in the class.

Before i start teaching Namthar, i explain to them the different tunes that different namthars have. So, by introducing the different tunes (dring-kho), it becomes much easier for the students to learn Namthar. But when we were students, we just imitated the tune sang by our teacher without knowing much about the variations in each namthar. Besides, i record my own namthar and give them to the students for listening. I also provide the recorded namthars of my teacher to students. In this way, the students take more interest in learning Lhamo.

Tibetoday: Do you think Lhamo tradition has undergone any change when we compare the present Lhamo tradition in exile to the Lhamo tradition in ancient Tibet?
Sonam: I definitely think it must have undergone certain changes during all these years. Lhamo as a tradition, particularly the Kumo-lungpa enjoys certain freedom to change the dialogues to make it more interesting and relevant to the time and situation. In addition, Kumo-lungpa in early Tibet used to play the role of media by conveying important messages to people and portraying the situations of each village when they perform at other places in Tibet. Similarly, we also used to add relevant social issues of the time in Lhamo even in exile. For example, we portrayed the social disease of moving to the west in recent times.

However, the overall standard of the Lhamo has actually improved when we compare our present state of Lhamo to the Lhamo traditions in early Tibet. For instance, in the olden days the life stories of Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo were never performed in Tibet even though there was written records about the great yogi. Yet after coming into exile, we have started performing Lhamo on the life story of Drupchen Thangthong Gyalpo and the great Yogi, Jetsun Mila Repa and so on.

Tibetoday: What is your personal observation on the younger generation’s affinity towards the Lhamo tradition?
Sonam: Youngsters being born and brought up outside Tibet, their daily life is influenced more by the western pop music, hindi songs, and fashionable clothes. So it has become very difficult to attract youngsters to our Lhamo tradition, which is very conventional. We can’t definitely force tibetan youth to give interest to Lhamo tradition since its up to one’s choice. Even in TIPA, i am sure more than 75% of the students prefer Tibetan Folk dances, songs and modern Tibetan pop songs than Lhamo. There are few reasons; firstly one needs to devote a lot of time and energy to learn one whole story. One must have good acting, good looks and should know the whole story by heart and all the dialouges thoroughly. Only then does one become a good lhamo actor or character. Unlike the folk dances and songs which last only for 5 or 6 minutes, each story of lhamo last for atleast 8 hours, which makes people bored. Therefore, most students shy away from Lhamo.

Secondly, my personal view is that since invitations to perform in the west hardly requests for Lhamo as it takes whole day to complete one story, many might prefer folk songs and dances because of the opportunities that one gets of performing abroad. Lhamo is performed only once a year during Shoton and this has been my disappointing experience being a Lhamo teacher at TIPA.

Tibetoday: What kind of future do you see for the Lhamo in the changing Tibetan society?
Sonam: I am confident that the Lhamo traditions will never dissappear completely in exile but there is an impending danger of the dwindling mass involvement as the elder generation passes away. Besides, I am also worried about the possible decrease in people’s involvment in the annual Shoton festival. This has been the major problem that our Tibetan community faces today. The younger generation has never been responsive and adaptive to our traditions like Lhamo in particular. It is because of this reason we have decided to hold shoton at different venues every year so that more number of youngsters get to see it. This is our effort to influence our youngsters.

Having taught Lhamo for so long, sometimes i wish to have an opportunity to recreate the style of presenting Lhamo so as to rekindle the interest among people, particularly among youth. For example, i have an idea of presenting Lhamo like a play where not many people need to stand and sing for the whole day. The story will be conveyed in a colloquial language but Namthars will be sung whenever it is needed since Namthar is an important part of the Lhamo. In this way, i think we will be able to rekindle the dying interest among people towards Lhamo.

Above all, H.H the Dalai Lama recently suggested us of forming an organization called ‘Tibetan Association of Achi Lhamo’ comprising one representative each from every troupe participating in the annual extravaganza, shoton. The association will work for the preservation and the promotion of Lhamo in and outside Tibetan communities. His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself had provided the seed fund to lay the foundations of the association.

Tibetoday: What do you think is the reason for many senior artists leaving TIPA during the last few years?
Sonam: To be honest, every corner of the Tibetan community and the government in exile has been consistently underscoring the importance and the significance of TIPA, but in reality nobody cares to look after the problems which the staff and the artists in TIPA have been facing. All the artists who left TIPA say that they were compelled to leave the institution due to the meagre income they earn. One reason which i think why the problems of the staff and senior artists of TIPA are neglected is because of the system of appointing director directly by the Tibetan government in exile on term basis. Many directors have come and gone but no one has actually put an effort to look into the reasons why many senior artists in TIPA have been frequently leaving the institution.

PM Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, during his one visit to TIPA, came to know about the low salary of TIPA staffs. He even voiced his concern about the same, yet there hasn’t been any response and implementation in this regard so far. One thing that i really feel sad and disappointed about is that whenever TIPA is supposed to go on a foreign tour, representatives from the Tibetan government in exile come and give high profile speeches to artists, emphasizing the significance of being Tibetan ambassadors. Ironically, none of them visit even once in a year when such tours are not available. Such is the kind of indifference and the callousness we see from the administrator’s side. And it is because of all these reasons, many senior artists are leaving. This has become a well-known fact in our Tibetan community. More than 26 senior artists have left TIPA during the last few years. I had conveyed the message I got from ex-TIPA artists who are mostly based in U.S. to the director recently. They are complaining about the negligence of the administration for the betterment of artists.

Tibetoday: Nowadays we have a Lhasa channel telecasted from Tibet showing various Tibetan performing arts particularly Lhamo. Do you watch any specific program?
Sonam: I watch the programme called Dri-shon-lhamo, in which many senior Tibetan artists in Tibet are often interviewed. Besides it shows their life stories and their achievements. I watch the interviews of the skilled artists like Sonam Dhargyal in particular from whom there are lots to learn. There are certain programs where some good traditional folk dances are shown which I think is really needed for us.

Tibetoday: Do you have any particular dream yet to fulfill?
Sonam: It will be my dream comes true if i could participate and perform Lhamo at the Norbulingkha palace in Lhasa like my teacher used when he was in Tibet. I give the same answer whenever I am asked this question during my foreign tours. Then, I would be a satisfied man and wouldn’t mind even if I don’t have to perform Lhamo at all in future