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Themusic of Tibet (Chinese:藏族音乐) reflectsthe cultural heritage of the trans-Himalayan region centered inTibet, but also known wherever ethnicTibetan groups are found inNepal,Bhutan,India and further abroad. Thereligious music of Tibet reflects the profound influence ofTibetan Buddhism on the culture.
Thenew-age 'singing bowl' music marketed in the West as 'Tibetan music' is of 1970s US origin.
Western research into the history of Tibetan music has often focused more on religious than secular musics.[1] It has been suggested that Tibetan religious music may have been strongly influenced byWest-Asian musics, including thoseof pre-Muslim Persia (and perhaps evenof Byzantium).[2] It has also been suggested thatthe landscape – and in particular theresonances of caves, with their naturalpercussive sounding stones - exerted a formative influence on theovertone singing found in TibetanBuddhist chant (and plausibly also in prehistoricshamanic invocations), which is produced by artful moulding of theoral cavity.[3] The assiduous adoption and evolution ofIndian Buddhist traditions and culture in Tibet between the 12th and mid-20th centuries – in a period when Buddhismhad disappeared from most of the Indian subcontinent - allowed the Tibetans to perpetuate musical practices from India that would otherwise have been lost, and to develop them in distinctive ways.[2] Although Tibetan religious music can appear quite separate from themajor traditions that emerged in Indian music, some of the musical instruments actually descend from Indian monastic andtantric Buddhist contexts, including, for example, thedril-bu hand-bell, the characteristic hour-glass drums calleddamaru, and the thighbone trumpet (kangling), as usedin the practice of chöd.[4]
The Lama Mani tradition — the telling of Buddhist parables through song — dates back to the 12th century. The songs were performed by wandering storytellers, who travelled from village to village, drawing on their own often humble origins to relate to people from all backgrounds. Vividly illustrated Buddhist thangka paintings depicted the narrative and helped the audience understand what was essentially a teaching.
Tibetan "street songs" were a traditional form of expression particularly popular as a means of political and other commentary in a country that was previously without newspapers or other means of mass communication. They provided political and social commentary and satire and are a good example of abardic tradition, akin to that in medieval Europe or, more recently, the rolecalypsos played in theWest Indies. As song lyrics in Tibet usually contained stanzas of 4 lines of 6 syllables each, the lyrics could be easily adapted to almost any melody.[5]
Secular Tibetan music has been promoted by organizations like theDalai Lama'sTibetan Institute of Performing Arts. This organization specialized in thelhamo, an operatic style, before branching out into other styles, includingdance music liketoeshey andnangma. Nangma is especially popular in thekaraoke bars of the urban center of Tibet,Lhasa. Another form of popular music is the classicalgar style, which is performed at rituals and ceremonies. Lu are a type of traditionala cappella folk songs that feature glottal vibrations and high pitches.[6] There are also epic bards who sing of Tibet's national heroGesar.
Tibetans have a very strong[vague] popular-music culture, and are also well represented in Chinese popular culture. Tibetan singers are particularly known for their strong vocal abilities, which many attribute to the high altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau.Tseten Dolma (才旦卓玛) rose to fame in the 1960s for her music-and-dance suite "The East is Red".Kelsang Metok (格桑梅朵) is a popular singer who combines the vocal traditions of Tibet with elements ofChinese,Indian andWesternpop.Purba Rgyal (Pubajia or蒲巴甲) was the 2006 winner ofJiayou! Haona'r (Chinese:加油！好男儿), a Chinese reality talent show. In 2006, he starred inSherwood Hu'sPrince of the Himalayas, an adaptation ofShakespeare'sHamlet, set in ancient Tibet and featuring an all-Tibetan cast.
In the multi-ethnic provinces ofQinghai andSichuan, whose Tibetan inhabitants are regarded as part of the "Amdo" cultural tradition, there is a very strong local scene, mostly exposed through videos on local buses. Amdo stars are among others Sherten (short for Sherab Tendzin)[7][user-generated source] andYadong, who both have reached outside the borders of China with their music.
The first fusion with Western music wasTibetan Bells, a 1972 release byNancy Hennings andHenry Wolff. The soundtrack toKundun, byPhilip Glass, has helped to popularize Tibetan music.
Foreign styles of popular music have also had a major impact within theTibetan diaspora, where Indianghazal andfilmi are very popular andAmerican rock has produced the India-basedRangzen Shonu. Within Tibet itself, among rock groups the bilingualVajara (天杵;Tiān Chǔ) sextants are the oldest and most famous act.[8] Since the relaxation of some laws in the 1980s,Tibetan pop, popularised by the likes ofYadong (Tibet),Dadon (now living in the US),Jampa Tsering (Tibet), 3-member groupAJIA, 4-member groupGao Yuan Hong, five-member groupGao Yuan Feng, are well known. Gaoyuan Hong in particular has introduced elements of Tibetan languagerapping into their singles.Alan Dawa Dolma is the first and currently only artist of Tibetan ethnicity to be active in both Chinese and Japanese music industry.
Although it is sometimes stated that 'Tibetan singing bowls' date back to a pre-Buddhist,shamanicBon-Po tradition, the manufacture and use of bowls specifically for the purpose of 'singing' (as opposed to standing bells/bowls that are intended to be struck) is believed to be a modern and non-Tibetan phenomenon.[9] The historical records and accounts of the music of Tibet are silent about singing bowls. Such bowls are not mentioned byPerceval Landon (a visitor in 1903–1904) in his notes on Tibetan music, nor by any other visitor.[9]
Wolff and Hennings' seminal recordingTibetan Bells was followed by the development of a unique style of American singing bowl music often marketed as 'Tibetan music'.[10] This has remained very popular in the US with many recordings being marketed asWorld music orNew-age music since the introduction of those terms in the 1980s.[11] 'Tibetan singing bowls' have as a result become a prominent visual and musical symbol of Tibet,[10] to the extent that the most prevalent modern representation of Tibet within the US is that of bowls played by Americans.[12]
Media related toMusic of Tibet at Wikimedia Commons
