Tibetan group takes traditional songs on a road trip（伝統歌曲「ナンマ」を歌うチベット人グループが自費で演奏旅行へ

「昔はナンマの曲がたくさんあった、とお年寄りたちは言っていました。300から400あったそうです。しかし、1959年の「中国のチベット侵略」以降、ゆっくり失われつつあります。そして現代の音楽に興味を持つ若い世代とのジェネレーションギャップ・・・今はもう30曲しか残されていません。」

boston.com　2006年4月23日
By Tsering Yangzom, Globe Correspondent

As the sun's rays hit the yellow daffodils outside Swedenborg Chapel, about 90 people strolled into the Gothic Revival stone chapel through a side door last Saturday evening. They came to see Nangma -- a four-member Tibetan band determined not to let classical Tibetan songs become extinct.
"This band came together because we are all traditional Tibetan musicians. I had the opportunity to learn the traditional songs from a few great teachers. I feel it's my responsibility to introduce what I know," said Kelsang Chukie Tethong, its lead vocalist. She spent 11 years training at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, India. ''My focus is to have pure, genuine, and Tibetan songs."

The word Nangma refers to a classical form of Tibetan music that some say gained popularity during the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama in the 1600s. One popular notion is that Nangma was brought to Tibet by Muslims from the Kashmir region of India. The word Naghma in Urdu, the language of Muslim Pakistan, means song. Other authorities believe the genre is about 150 years old.

Sonam Tashi, who is from Canada and plays the dranyen, or six-stringed lute, and piwang, a two-stringed instrument, said, ''The elders say there was a time when there were lots of Nangma songs, like 300 to 400. But slowly, since 1959," the year of China's invasion of Tibet, ''and the generation gap with younger generation's interest in modern songs . . . approximately 30 are left."

Tethong wore a traditional dress from Central Tibet -- a long, wrapped silk dress in royal blue embroidered with gold-colored designs representing two of the eight auspicious symbols for good luck -- contrasted with a bright orange shirt. She started the evening performance with a customary prayer for the Dalai Lama's long life. She was accompanied by fellow institute graduates Chondhen from India on dranyen; Sonam Paljor on gyumang, or dulcimer; guest artist Jamyang Choeden, from Chicago, on dranyen and mandolin, and Tashi.

The band performed for three hours, presenting 22 songs, including songs from the Kham and Amdo regions of Eastern Tibet. Gyurmey Chosang, 70, of Arlington, speaking in Tibetan, described the songs as ''authentic."

''I used to listen to these songs when I was a kid in Tibet," he said. He pointed out the one that the Sixth Dalai Lama composed, ''White Crane." Translated from Tibetan, the words are, ''White Crane! Lend me your wings! I will not fly far. From Lithang, I shall return." Chosang was 24 when he escaped from Tibet in 1959. He immigrated to the United States a year ago.

The day after their performance, the musicians gathered in the chapel's basement to provide a free workshop for 16 people. It is the band's first North American tour, and it has no sponsor. Tethong paid all expenses for each of her colleagues -- visa fees, plane tickets, and even artist fees -- from her own pocket, using income from Pema Thang, a guest house that she runs in Dharamsala.

Ticket sales from concerts in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Cambridge have hardly made up for a quarter of the expense. The group was to perform yesterday in New York City, followed by concerts in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Toronto before heading home.

''My family may think I'm crazy. People have different interests, like climbing Mount Everest," Tethong said. ''But for me, it's my music. My soul is in my music. It's worth it even if I lose money."