Chanting from the Potala Palace ▎Masters of the Holy City (I)
Garpon La
Garpon Pema Thondup (1982)
Garpon Pema Thondup (1917–1998) was the last music master of the Potala Palace court dance and music troupe in the twentieth century (གར་དཔོན། "Garpon" also known as "Kha r dpon"). The people of Lhasa addressed this master artist with the honorific title "Garpon La" (གར་དཔོན་ལགས།). From his smile, we can also feel his humility and composure. Living in an era of change, Garpon La also had a rather legendary life.
From Dance Child to Music Master
The official hat of the Garpon music master
In 1917, Pema Thondup was born in the Palang area of Shigatse, Tibet. In 1926, he was selected as a dance child. Twelve years later, in 1938, the local government was to begin the selection process for a new group of dance children.
Dance children performing Gar (Photographed by Chen Zonglie in 1957)
That year, the 21-year-old Pema Thondup was not only skilled in performance but could also play the instruments used in eight types of Gar music and dance. As a retired dance child with high artistic achievement in the troupe, he was granted the title of Shödrung (attendant to officials) and appointed as a teacher for the court dance troupe, instructing the newly enrolled dance children.
Musician playing the Surna (1956, Source: CCTV)
Compared with the selection of dance children, the selection of music masters was stricter. In 1949, the process for selecting new music masters proceeded as scheduled, with the host being the Drönyer Chemmo (Chief Chamberlain of the court) Phala Thubten Wöiden. The Chief Chamberlain was responsible for conveying information between the court and the local government, and also had the authority to decide who could enter the palace. Therefore, he held extremely high prestige in the local government at that time.
Phala, the Chief Chamberlain (1956, Source: CCTV)
After Pema Thondup skillfully chanted all the Gar song lyrics and played the related instruments before the Chief Chamberlain, the Chief Chamberlain, recognizing his high level of artistic performance and administrative skills, bestowed upon the 32-year-old Pema Thondup the position of court music master.
Reviving the Elegant Music
In 1959, the court dance troupe was dissolved due to circumstances. Its dance members were successively assigned to the Lhagang Qu Power Station in eastern Lhasa and to the northern Tibet region to engage in borax mining exploration work. In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, some members of the elegant music and dance troupe became government department employees, while others returned to their hometowns to farm or lived in seclusion. By this time, performances of Gar music and dance had ceased for nearly two decades.
The Potala Palace (1974, included in *TIBET TODAY*)
In 1982, inspired and encouraged by various individuals, Pema Thondup and ten former members of the court dance troupe began salvaging Gar art at the Tibet Autonomous Region Mass Art Museum. Together, they compiled nearly four hundred classical music scores and published a collection of fifty-eight Gar song scores titled *Cloud of Offering Music and Dance*.
Garpon Pema Thondup and Drummer Tagyal (Included in *Cloud of Offering Music and Dance* in the 1980s)
At the same time, troupe members recruited twelve youngsters in the Chik region on the south bank of the Lhasa River, teaching them Gar music and dance as well as Toe she and Nangma in their spare time. For every performance by this group of dance children, Lhasa residents rushed to attend, and it could be described as standing room only.
Instrumental Music Performance (Included in *Cloud of Offering Music and Dance* in the 1980s)
In the mid-1980s, Pema Thondup and fellow court dance troupe member Tashi Tsering were hired by the College of Art at Tibet University. Together with many renowned musicians, they spared no effort in salvaging Tibet's classical song and dance arts. One of the most outstanding and significant contributions of these early revivalists of ancient music was the transcription of traditional Gongche notation and other ancient scores into internationally used numbered musical notation.
Garpon performing Gar at the Great Prayer Festival (Photographed by Zhang Ying in 1987)
During his travels abroad, Garpon also discovered a precious ancient music score titled *A Feast Pleasing to the Eyes, Ears, and Mind*, compiled by Desi Sangye Gyatso, in the Kashmir region. After decoding and organizing it, he formally published it.
Cover of *A Feast Pleasing to the Eyes, Ears, and Mind* (Published by Tibet People's Publishing House)
In 1987, Pema Thondup and the Tibet Song and Dance Troupe were invited to the United Kingdom to perform the Gar instrumental piece *"Golden Wheel, Holy Land Lhasa"* at the London International Arts Festival. This marked the first time Gar was performed on an international stage, generating immense repercussions both in China and abroad.
Garpon and members of the Tibet Song and Dance Troupe at the Summer Palace (1987)
དཔལ་གྱི་ཆོས་འཁོར་ལྷ་ས།།
Glorious Dharma Wheel Lhasa
དེ་ནི་རྡོ་རྗེ་གདན་མཆོག།
This is the Supreme Vajra Seat
ནོར་བུ་དགོས་འདོད་ཀུན་འབྱུང་།།
A Wish-Fulfilling Jewel
རོལ་ཆའི་གླུ་༼དཔལ་གྱི་ཆོས་འཁོར་ལྷ་ས།༽
Instrumental Piece "Glorious Dharma Wheel Lhasa"
In addition, they also produced and released music albums of some famous ancient tunes, allowing the melodious sounds of classical music like Garlu, Toe she, and Nangma to once again echo under the skies of the holy city of Lhasa. The most famous among these was *Tibetan Classical Music*, released in 1992.
Cover of the album *Tibetan Classical Music* (Published by Tibet Audio-Visual Publishing House)
Seventy-five-year-old Garpon Pema Thondup
sang nine pieces of Gar elegant music on this album.
The melodious songs from ancient times, preserved forever by modern magnetic tape and light,
grant us the privilege of hearing the chanting from the Potala Palace.
Recent photo of Garpon (1980s)
Timeless Ancient Music
ལམ་དུ་འགྲོ་བའི་ས་གཞི་ནི་ཆུ་སྐྱེས་པདྨས་ཁེངས་འདུག །
The ground along the path is filled with lotuses.
གང་དུ་སྡོད་པའི་གནས་ལམ་ནི་ལྷ་ཡི་ཁང་བཟང་ན་འདུག །
The place where I dwell is a beautiful celestial palace.
ལྷ་ཡུལ་ལ་མཆོད་པ་འབུལ་བར་འགྲོ།
I go to offer to the divine lands.
ཝ་ཡེ་ལམ་ལ་ངོ་ཞིག་གསལ་བྱུང་།
A face appears on the path.
རོལ་ཆའི་གླུ་༼ལམ་འགྲོ།༽
Instrumental Piece "Journey"
Dancer Performing a Salute (Included in *Cloud of Offering Music and Dance* in the 1980s)
གནས་རི་བོ་གྲུ་འཛིན་གྱི་རྩེ་མོ་ལ།
At the summit of the holy mountain, Mount Potala,
གསེར་ཟངས་ཀྱི་རྒྱ་ཕིབས་དང་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ཚོ་འཕགས་འདུག།
I behold the sacred golden roofs and victorious banners.
ནམ་མཁའ་ཡི་བར་སྣང་གི་མཚམས་ཡར་ནས།
From the expanse of the sky above,
ལྷ་ཡི་ལ་མེ་ཏོག་གི་ཆར་པ་ཞིག་བབས་འདུག
the gods send down a rain of flowers.
ཕོ་གར་༼གནས་རི་བོ་གྲུ་འཛིན།༽
Male Dance "The Holy Mountain Potala"
The Potala Palace
"Mount Potala" is an alternate name for the Potala Palace
(Photographed by the author in 2021)
ཁ་ཆེའི་ཡུལ་ནས་འཁྱོངས་པའི་གུར་ཀུམ་གྱི་ཤབ་དར།
Saffron-colored silk brocade brought from the land of Kashmir,
མཚན་ལྡན་བླ་མ་མཇལ་བའི་མཇལ་དར་ལ་འབུལ་ལོ།
Offered as a ceremonial scarf to the venerable Lama.
རྒྱ་མཚོའི་གཏིང་ནས་ཐོན་པའི་ནོར་བུ་མེ་ཤེལ་ཆུ་ཤེལ།
Jewels of fire-crystal and water-crystal brought from the depths of the ocean,
གསོལ་དཔོན་ཆེན་མོ་མཇལ་བའི་མཇལ་དར་ལ་འབུལ་ལོ།
Offered as a ceremonial scarf to the Great Master of Provisions.
ལ་དྭགས་གཞུང་ནས་ཐོན་པའི་མེ་མདའ་གསེར་ཚགས་དངུལ་ཚགས།
Gold and silver-inlaid muskets produced in the land of Ladakh,
མི་དབང་ཆེན་པོ་མཇལ་བའི་མཇལ་དར་ལ་འབུལ་ལོ།
Offered as a ceremonial scarf to the Great Lord.
སངས་རྒྱས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་མཇལ་བའི་མཇལ་དར་ལ་འབུལ་ལོ།
Also offered as a ceremonial scarf to Sangye Gyatso.
མོ་གར་༼ཁ་ཆེ་མཆོད།༽
Female Dance "Offering from Kashmir"
Ladakhi women in traditional attire (IG: Kuranishi)
གསེར་གྱི་རི་བོ་མཐོནཔོ།
Lofty Golden Mountain
གཡུ་ཡི་སྤང་གཤོང་མཛེས་པ།
Beautiful Turquoise Meadow
དྲེད་མོ་ལུས་སེམས་བདེ་བའི།
Where the brown bear dwells content
དགའ་སྐྱིད་སྙན་པའི་གླུ་དང་བཅས་ཏེ།
With joyful, pleasing songs
སྤང་དང་ནགས་ཀྱི་མཚམས་ལ།
At the edge of meadow and forest
སྐྱིད་པའི་གར་ཞིག་རྩེད་འདུག
Performs a blissful, sacred dance
དཔལ་འབྱོར་སྙན་གྲགས་འཛོམས་པ་ཡི།
Possessing splendor and renown
བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཀུན་འཛོམས་བཀྲ་ལ་ཤིས་པ།
Endowed with all happiness, splendor, and auspiciousness
རོལ་ཆའི་གླུ་༼གསེར་གྱི་རི་བོ་མཐོན་པོ།༽
Instrumental Piece "Lofty Golden Mountain"
Lush Forest
ཞི་བདེ་ཁྱུང་འཛོམས་རྩེ་མོ་ནས།
Atop the Peak of the Peaceful Garuda Peak,
ལྷ་བསང་ཤིག་བརྒྱབ་ཡོད།
I offer sang smoke to the gods.
ཕེབས་རྔའི་གླུ་༼ཞི་བདེ་ཁྱུང་འཛོམས།༽
Processional Drum Music "Peaceful Garuda Peak"
Garuda, the King of Birds, Remover of Impurities
19th century, Rubin Museum of Art
ཟངས་དཀར་བྱམས་པ་གླིང་ལ།
In Zangskar, the Eastern Continent of Maitreya,
བྱིན་རླབས་ཀྱི་ཕུང་པོ།
A great mass of blessings,
འཕགས་པའི་དགེ་འདུན་མ་ལུས་པར།
All the noble Sangha present,
བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མ་ཤར་བྱུང་།
The sun of the teachings has risen.
ཕེབས་རྔའི་གླུ་༼ཟངས་དཀར་ཤར།༽
Processional Drum Music "Eastern Zangskar"
Zangskar
ཀུན་ལེགས་ནོར་བུའི་འཁྲི་ཤིང་གི་རྩེ་ན།
Atop the Tree of All-Excellent Jewels,
གཡུ་བྱ་ཡི་འཕུར་ལྡིང་གཡོ་ལ།
A turquoise bird soars and sways.
འདབ་གཤོག་གི་རོལ་རྩེད་འཁྱོངས་ཟེར་འཁྱོངས།
It rides the wind on playful wings, as if dancing.
མཚོ་གསལ་ལ་དྭངས་པ་ནེའུ་ཚལ་གྱི་མཚོར།
In a meadow of fresh grass, beside a clear lake,
ངང་པ་འཇོལ་མོས་གཤོག་རྩེད་ཅིག་རྩེད་ཀྱི་འདུག
Wild geese and thrushes sport and flutter their wings.
ཤིང་གསེབ་ནས་བུ་མོས་གསུང་སྙན་ཞིག་འགྱུར་ཏོ།
From the heart of the forest, a maiden's sweet song arises.
ལྷོ་འཛམ་གླིང་ལ་ཆུ་ཕྲན་དང་ཆུ་མིག་མང་སྟེ།
Jambudvipa has many streams and springs.
གཙང་སྟོད་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མཚན་སྙན།
The one renowned in Ü-Tsang,
དཔོན་སྡེ་པ་གཙང་པ།
The Lord, the Tsangpa Desi,
རོལ་ཆའི་གླུ་༼ཀུན་ལེགས་ནོར་བུ།༽
Instrumental Piece "The Tree of All-Excellent Jewels"
The Western Paradise of Sukhāvatī and the Wish-Fulfilling Tree
18th century, Private Collection
བཀྲ་ཤིས་གངས་དཀར་གྱི་རྩེ་ན།
Atop the Auspicious Snow Mountain Peak,
སྨན་རྩེའི་དར་ལྕོག་ཞིག་བཙུགས་ཡོད།
I have raised a prayer flag of the supreme medicine.
ཕ་རོལ་ལྕང་གསེབ་རླུང་པོ་བྱུང་ཀྱང་།
Though winds blow from the distant forests beyond,
ང་མ་འགྱུར་གཏན་པོར་བཞུགས།
I remain steadfast and unmoving here.
གངས་དཀར་མཐོན་པའི་ཉི་མ་ལ།
The sun shining upon the high Snow Mountains,
ཉི་མ་ཚ་གྲང་ཞིག་ཆེ་བྱུང་།
The sun's warmth and cold are great and varied.
གཞན་ཡང་བུ་ཚ་ང་མི་འདྲ་ལ།
Though I, a youth, am different from others,
ཙན་དན་དཀར་པོའི་ལྗོན་ཤིང་ཡལ་འདབ་རྒྱས་པའི་དུས་སུ།
At the time when the white sandalwood tree's leaves spread wide,
བུ་ཚ་ངའི་བསམ་དོན་ཞིག་འགྲུབ་སོང་།
All this youth's wishes were fulfilled.
ཕེབས་རྔའི་གླུ་༼བཀྲ་ཤིས་གངས་དཀར་རྩེ།༽
Processional Drum Music "Auspicious Snow Mountain Peak"
Snow Mountain Peak