Tibetan music
Tibetan music is in the tradition of religion and everyday culture of Tibet related music , so as of Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region , the neighboring countries of Nepal , Bhutan and Northern India is produced and Tibetans in exile overseas. Traditional Tibetan music can basically be divided into sung folk music and the cult music belonging to the temple service of the lamas .
Folk music
The folk songs are often sung in anhemitonic (semitone-free) pentatonic scales and, like the shepherds' songs, are partly free rhythm. The shepherds like to perform love songs as an improvised dialogue between male and female voices. In western Tibet, the alternating song glu-gar is known for dance songs . Glu is the general term for songs: chang-glu are drinking songs, chos-glu religious songs, glu-gsags are political criticism and marriage songs are called bag-ston glu . In Tibet, marriage is seen as a social event and not a religious ritual. In the lavish traditional wedding ceremony, the groom has to answer riddles ( nyo-pa'i glu ) before he can enter the bride's house. As well as ritual songs with cosmogonic content, with which dances are accompanied, these represent alternating chants between young men and women. Work songs ( t'ong-skad ) sung during fieldwork and other joint activities are performed by two singers or by a lead singer with choir accompaniment short melody phrases repeated uniformly. In western Tibet and Ladakh , the singers hold the keynote as drone until the beginning of the next melody phrase.
The central theme of the long epic chants without instrumental accompaniment is the legendary Tibetan King Gesar . The older version of the national epic, presumably composed in Eastern Tibet, did not yet know a Buddha ; in the younger version, created in the 8th century, followers of the old Tibetan Bon religion are fighting against the spreading Buddhism . Gesar becomes a hero whose task it is to save the Tibetans, who are surrounded by enemies on all sides. The song cycles, which are also handed down in Mongolia, are sung by men and occasionally women in private at celebrations. Special Gesar bards (Tib . : sgrung-pa ), the keepers of the song tradition , perform at magical-ritual events and put themselves into a trance when they speak . Again, the process is advanced in the form of question and answer. The bard becomes a medium through which the gods and heroes of the epic speak; he arrives at them on his mount, which is indicated by short melodies called rta (“horse”). The narrative itself is conveyed at a rapid pace in prose form. The Tibetan tradition of Gesar chants is maintained in the provinces of Qinghai , Sichuan and Yunnan as well as in Ladakh (India) and Baltistan (Pakistan) in addition to the Tibet Autonomous Region .
Folk musical instruments include a three-, four- or six-stringed violin with a horse or dragon head and a long neck ( sgra-snyan or k'o-pong ), which is played by wandering begging musicians, the dulcimer rgyud-mang , various beaked flutes ( gling -bu ) made of bamboo and in Eastern Tibet bamboo harpsichords ( k'a-pi ). The two centuries-old dance music styles Nangma and Toeshey are also performed with these instruments . Small instrumental ensembles in the cities consist of the sgra-snyan , the spit violin pi-wang , the zither yang-ch'in and the flute glin-bu.
Tibetan opera
Ache lhamo
Ache lhamo (Tib .: a lce lha mo , where lhamo is translated as "female deity") is an operetta-like , now secular folk theater with masked costumes, which originally conveyed the contents of Tibetan Buddhism, the Bon faith and the history of Tibet in an entertaining way should. It was founded by the Tibetan saint Thangtong Gyalpo (around 1385–1464) in the first half of the 15th century. He had numerous iron chain suspension bridges built over rivers and collected donations through theatrical performances, which were popular with the audience, as seven pretty girls performed in them as singers. The origin of the ache lhamo is said to lie with Buddhist storytellers ( lama mani ) and go back at least to the 12th century. The lama mani pointed at cloth pictures with sticks while they recited popular stories from the jatakas , the instructive tales from the life of the Buddha. Even today, wandering lama mani set up temporary altar stages outdoors, on the back wall of which they hang large scroll paintings ( thangkas ). Thangtong Gyalpo is credited with dividing the stories into different roles and thereby dramatizing them. The same religious themes are part of the tradition of wandering pelvic singers ( ma-ṇi-pa ) who also handle thangkas. Scroll storytellers are an old Indian tradition that is still practiced by the Patua in West Bengal , among others . Today's forms of representation in Tibetan opera go back to the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatsho (1617–1682). In his time, opera freed itself from religious cult and became an independent means of expression.
The ache lhamo performances begin with the symbolic purification of the performance location , followed by the ritual to appease the earth until the singing girls step onto the stage, after which a narrator (shung shangken) explains the further course of the action. The main characters - including the hunters ( ongpa, ngon-pas ), old men (king, gyallu ) and heavenly deities ( lhamo ) - sing in a quick, recitative style (Tib .: rnam-thar ), the other participants repeat the verses in Chorus or summarize them in a chorus, creating an echo effect. The melodies can express certain emotional states; some melodies represent anger, others joy, and still others belong to the voice of a narrator. The actors are accompanied by drums and cymbals that beat wilder when a villain enters the scene. The usual progression of the action is rhythmized with regular drum or cymbal beats. The blows accentuate the dancers' movements, which culminate in a series of rotations around their own axis along a cross line. The characters are partially masked, otherwise they reveal themselves through pantomime and certain hand movements.
Many performances feature a woman who disappears on a flight into the sky. This is represented by a male actor who jumps from a chair and waves a white cloth. Possibly the scene is based on the symbolic representation of a shaman's flight into the world beyond. A similar figure in the southern Thai dance drama manora depicts a bird woman who is captured by a clown but who later escapes into her heavenly spirit realm. The basic structure is both a female dancing medium, whose trance is directed by a male shaman who at the same time entertains the audience as a clown.
Namthar
Another very popular style of Tibetan opera is called namthar ( rnam-thar, "legend"), also "Amdo opera", after the Amdo cultural region . Namthar was developed in the 18th century at Labrang Monastery in Gansu Province . Initially namthar was influenced by the songs and dances in the Tibetan temples and by motifs of the ache lhamo . From there the story of the hunter Kongpo Dorje was adopted, which contains songs and folk dances in addition to the legends about Milarepa . In 1944, during the term of the fifth Jamyang , an opera was written at Labrang Monastery about the life of the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century. First, the monks of the monastery performed the opera, where it became popular with the assembled believers.
Namthar later spread to the Gansu, Qinghai and northern Sichuan areas . There is no musical order defined as a suite , the folk songs and dances are built in according to the requirements of the plot. 10 to 20 well-known melodies that are more or less rhythmically structured and differ in their emotional content are used. The accompanying orchestra consists of the bamboo flute shiao , the dulcimer yang chin , the quill fiddle biwang and several drums and cymbals. As in folk music, the songs and instrumentals are predominantly pentatonic, only a few unusual melodies are based on a hexatonic scale.
Cult music
The Tibetan cult music is an indispensable part of the complicated daily rituals ( cho-ga ) in the temples and monasteries, which the monks have taught the monastery students over many years. Music is an integral part of any ceremony, the aim of which is always to gain insight into a deeper, absolute reality.
The Buddhist scholar Sakya Pandita (1182–1251) wrote the only comprehensive treatise to date on the theoretical concept of Tibetan cult music. The textbook with the title rol-mo'i bstan-bcos comprises around 400 verses, in which three chapters describe text recitations, compositional principles and the performance practice of chants and monastic rituals. Two other works by a scholar called Candragomi, who was born around 1375, describe the performance of the rituals and the playing of the percussion instruments used. There is a 17th century commentary by Kunga Sonam on the texts of the two authors.
As a memory aid, Tibetan religious music is the only one in Central Asia to have a notation for liturgical chant in the form of neumes ( dByangs-yig, other spelling yang-yig ). This font records the melody movement in lines, certain symbols stand for volume, tempo and the use of musical instruments. Red and black numbers mark drum and cymbal beats. The lyrics are written in lower case, but the Tibetan language is usually performed from memory. In vocal cult music, a distinction is made between solo recitation and deep choir voices, which can be used with two or three monks with one or with a larger number of participants with a few notes within a third or fourth . The singing can be free rhythmic or structured by drums ( nga ) and pair cymbals . The notes in the lowest bass register are conceived as an expression of intellectual depth and timelessness.
The musical sequence of the different rituals consists of singing in a simple ( syllabic ) melody form ( rta ) or text recitation ( zal-'don ) and frequent interruptions through instrumental interludes. The lecture will be led by the singing master ( dbu-mdzad ). He starts singing individual syllables that serve as an introduction to the monks with their unison singing. Groups of instrumentalists are positioned at various points in the temple hall, often without striving for a balanced interplay, creating a solemn and sometimes chaotic overall sound. When playing the individual instruments, it is not the musical result that counts, but the religious or magical symbolism that their use involves. Every musical instrument represents a certain mantra or sounds in the human body and may only be used for contact with the corresponding deities. In a typical performance, the members of the instrumental ensemble usually sit in two rows at right angles in front of the central altar according to their hierarchy in the convent's assembly hall. The spiritual leader takes a seat near the altar.
The polyphonic chants of the monks of the Tantra College of Gyütö , which belongs to a monastery of the Gelug order, are a special style of singing in the 1970s . According to tradition, the singing goes back to the monk Tsongkhapa in the 15th century, whose teaching tradition has been maintained in the monastery founded in Tibet in 1474 ever since. In 1959 the monks fled into exile in India, and after having changed location several times, the headquarters are near Dharamsala in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh . During the ceremony recorded in 1972 for an American record production, which lasted a total of seven hours, 40 monks performed the text in an overtone singing style in which a two octave and a third higher tone sounded over a constant bass tone.
In the classification of Tibetan musical instruments , the musical instruments used in the cult are divided into three groups: "struck", "blown" and "curved" instruments. The (beaten) idiophones , which consist entirely of metal, include large paired cymbals ( rol-mo ) made of brass, which are held horizontally on a leather strap and struck vertically in pairs. They have a slightly curved edge and produce a dark, long-lasting tone. Rol-mo are used as a clock in rhythmic chants and in the orchestra.
Flat basins, also used in pairs in a vertical playing position, are called sil-sngan (sil-snyan). The stemmed handbell dril-bu ( skt. Ghanta ) made of bronze with an iron clapper embodies the feminine principle and the “comprehensive wisdom” (skt. Prajna , Tib . Shes-rab ) and “emptiness” (skt. Shunyata , tib. stong-pa ). The handle of the bell is its male counterpart, the thunderbolt vajra (T. rdo-rje tse-dgu ).
The small hand cymbals ting-shag are plate-shaped cymbals connected in pairs by a leather strip, which are struck in meditation and private sacrifices, but not used in cult music.
There are two membranophones , the small, double-headed hourglass drum ḍamaru , which is made of wood, bronze or human brain shells. It is struck by clay balls on short strings and is one of the curved instruments. The game of the ḍamarus made of skulls ( chang-te'u ) is only allowed in Tibet to important spiritual teachers and high-ranking monks. The rnga is a large fur drum covered on both sides . It is hung horizontally in a wooden frame and played with one or two wooden sticks. Other specimens are held with a wooden handle and called a stem drum ( chos-rnga ). The latter is a doubt that time frame drum , which with the shamans in eastern Nepal for healing rituals used dhyangro is used. The rattling drum rnga-chung is struck by the monk in a constant rhythm during the recitation in order to summon a deity and to get her attention. Skull drums and those covered with the skin of an unnaturally dead person ( thod-rnga ) are traditionally prescribed for the invocation of the wild, terrifying deities. A single-headed frame drum without a stem is called Bon po'i rNga ("Drum of Bon po"). It is used as a shaman's drum in Bon rituals.
Bone instruments for the fearsome gods differ from all other instruments in that their use is generally reserved for monks of higher ranks. They can also be found under the wind instruments . Among the wind instruments Tibetan dung heard the bone trumpet rKang-dung (also rKang-gling ). from a human thigh bone. Like all wind instruments in an orchestra, it is played in pairs and is used in the Bdud kyi gcod-yul ritual, a fear-inducing sacrificial ritual which, according to the wisdom of Prajnaparamita, is supposed to give insight into the world as an illusion. Often the monks alternatively use elaborately decorated specimens made of copper and silver, which are called dbang dung .
The Tibetan snail horn dung-kar consists of a snail shell, the tip of which has been sawn off and provided with a metal mouthpiece. This makes it so easy to produce a piercing sound that the instrument is left to the monastery students who sit in the back rows or at the bottom of the row by the large drums.
The other wind instruments are natural metal trumpets of various lengths , the largest of which is the dung-chen , which is up to 4.5 meters long . It is composed of three conical straight tubes made of a copper alloy and ends in a bell .
The body of the double reed instrument rGya-gling , which belongs to the Asiatic Kurbay type and is similar to the Chinese oboe suona , is made of wood and has about seven finger holes. The bell and the mouthpiece made of brass or copper are attached. The drums and wind instruments are not only played for the temple rituals, but also for funeral rites, the dramatic 'cham mask dances at the Tibetan New Year festival and other rites that drive away the demons. The 'cham dances are intended to familiarize the audience with the horror of seeing the gods and demons in the state between death and reincarnation and to drive out evil spirits. They used to be performed at the end of several weeks of mandala rituals ( dkhyil-chog ). The dancers take on the personality of the presented deity with their disguise through masks and by carrying the divine attributes Vajra (thunderbolt), Ghanta (bell) and Ḍamaru (hourglass drum) in their hands.
Tibetan music after 1959
After the Tibet uprising , combined with the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in India in 1959, and the Chinese Cultural Revolution , the practice of monastery rituals in Tibet was severely restricted. Traditional music, which has since been practiced by Tibetan communities in exile, which have acted as preservers of tradition, has, in addition to its centuries-old religious significance, the new political task of strengthening the national self-confidence of the Tibetans and demonstrating their cultural independence in relation to the Chinese occupation of their homeland, which is perceived as such. Music as part of Tibetan culture is tied into the political debate about the “liberation of Tibet”. The first cultural institution set up by the Dalai Lama in exile in India in 1959 was the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), which soon became the leading medium for “real” Tibetan culture through worldwide concert tours by Tibetan musicians and which claimed authenticity. In return, the Chinese government prepared Tibetan music groups for concerts and recordings. Tibetan culture had become a central aspect in the opinion-forming process in the dispute with the People's Republic of China, especially for financial supporters from the United States, whereby religious music was in the foreground for the reception of Tibetan music in the West and folk music for the Chinese government.
Another problematic aspect of the Western view of sacred Tibetan music is its detachment from the magical-cultic context and instead its appropriation for an international, New Age- oriented music, which, for example, presents singing bowls as a Tibetan musical instrument. The collaboration between Tibetan and Western musicians is marketed as world music that has no history and can no longer be geographically located .
Within Tibet, the sung poetry ( mgur ) of secular music, which has been passed down orally from ancient times, takes on a role as collective memory. Since the lyrics of these songs used to reach the broad mass of the illiterate population, news and new ideas could be spread widely. Even under the changed social conditions, songs form a democratic means of communication, whereby the once Buddhist content of the mgur song genre was transformed into more political texts. The tradition of the mgur, to process the collective suffering and stories of heroism in songs, seems particularly suitable for an actualization within today's Tibetan society. Some Tibetan songs have hidden political meanings.
literature
- Wolfgang main meat: Tibet, Bhutan, Ladakh. In: Ludwig Finscher (ed.): The music in history and the present , subject part 9, 1998, Sp. 572-598
- Mao Jizeng: The Traditional Music of Tibet. In: Robert C. Provine, Yosihiko Tokumaru, J. Lawrence Witzleben (Eds.): The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Routledge, New York / London 2002, pp. 471-484
- Gerald Roche, Rinchen Khar: Tibet and Tibetans . In: SAGE Encyclopaedia of Music and Culture. (Draft version, August 25, 2015)
- Alex Smejkal: Cult and Everyday Life in Tibet. Lower Saxony State Museum, Hanover 1990, pp. 56–65
- Iván Vándor : The Music of Tibetan Buddhism. (International Institute for Comparative Music Studies Berlin) Heinrichshofen's Verlag, Wilhelmshaven 1978
Web links
- Lobsang Ph. Lhalungpa: Tibetan Music: Sacred and Secular. In: Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1969 (PDF; 58 kB)
Individual evidence
- ^ Ernst Emsheimer : Tibet. In: Friedrich Blume (Ed.): The music in past and present. 1st edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1966, column 387f
- ↑ Yang Enhong: A Comparative Study of the Singing Styles of Mongolian and Tibetan Geser / Gesar. Oral Tradition Volume 13, Number 2, Institute of Ethnic Literature 1998, p. 427
- ^ Four veteran artists to tour US. musictibet.com
- ↑ Wolfgang Hauptfleisch, MGG, Sp. 590
- ↑ Ache Lhamo. Asia Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO, Tokyo
- ↑ Lama mani (bhuchea). Youtube video
- ↑ Kathy Foley, M. Joshua Karter, Dacidan Duoji, Xiaozhaxi Ciren: Tibetan Opera Music and Dance from Lhasa: An Interview with Dacidan Duoji and Xiaozhaxi Ciren. In: TDR (1988–) , Vol. 32, No. 3, Herbst 1988, pp. 131-140, here pp. 131-133
- ↑ Tian Liantao: booklet accompanying the CD: Achelhamo. Celestial female. Parts from Tibetan Opera. ( Anthology of music in China, 5 ) Pan Records Ethnic Series, PAN 2046CD, 1996
- ↑ Jizeng, Garland, p. 473
- ^ Ricardo Canzio: New light on Sakya Pandita's Treatise on Music and its commentary by Kunga Sonam.
- ^ Tibetan Buddhism. Tantras of Gyütö. Recorded at Gyütö Tantric College, Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh, by Davin Lewiston. Nonesuch Explorer Series 1973. The producer Lewiston had a great influence on the development of the Tibetan world music scene
- ^ Cymbals (Rol Mo), Tibet, c. 1700. Beede Gallery, University of South Dakota, 2007
- ↑ Hand Bell (Dril bu), Tibet, 20th century. Beede Gallery, University of South Dakota, 2007
- ^ Ter Ellingson-Waugh: Musical Flight in Tibet. In: Asian Music, Vol. 5, No. 2. University of Texas Press, 1974, pp. 3-44, here p. 17f
- ↑ thighbone Trumpet (rKang extension), Tibet, 19th century. Beede Gallery, University of South Dakota, 2007
- ↑ Brass Horn (Dbang Dung), Tibet, 19th century. Beede Gallery, University of South Dakota, 2007
- ↑ Alex Smejkal, p. 57 f
- ^ Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts
- ↑ Darinda J. Congdon: "Tibet Chic": Myth, Marketing, Spirituality and Politics in Musical Representations of Tibet in the United States. University of Pittsburgh 2007, pp. 104–111 (PDF file; 4.1 MB)
- ^ Sonia McPherson: Genre to Remember: Tibetan popular poetry & song as remembrance. Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta