Hear the Celestial Melodies from the Streets of Lhasa ▎Maestros of the Holy City (III)

Born in the early 20th century north of Lhasa in the Phenpo Lhündrub (ཕན་པོ་ལྷུན་གྲུབ།) region, the street singer A ney la (ཨ་ནན་ལགས།) resided in Lhasa city with her niece, Döndrub Drolma (དོན་གྲུབ་སྒྲོལ་མ།), the two depending on each other. A song by her, titled སྟོད་གཞས་༼མཚོ་སྣ་འབྲས་གཞོང་།༽ Stod Gzhas (Mtsho-sna 'Bras-gzhong) Street Singer, contains these words:

Ane Lha, a Tibetan opera singer, performed at various weddings and celebrations. On those occasions, members of the Lhasa Nangma Gyütö would also play music to heighten the festivity. Among the Gyütö at that time was Tsering Dorje (ཚེ་རིང་རྡོ་རྗེ།), a musician who came from the Dakpo (དྭགས་པོ།) region in the southeast. Meanwhile, Döndrub Drolma ran a small shop selling tobacco and dried fruits on North Barkhor Street, near the Dechen Rabten (བདེ་ཆེན་རབ་བརྟན།) residence.

The elderly Mr. Tashi Tsering, an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage who had studied under Tsering Dorje, once recalled: "My teacher, Mr. Tsering Dorje, was cared for year-round by Aja Ane Lha." That bond began when Tsering Dorje, blind like the celebrated Nangma Gyütö leader Achok Namgyal, met Ane Lha at a ceremony; they became master and disciple. His first wife had left him due to life's pressures. Tsering Dorje taught Ane Lha Nangma and Toe she, and she in turn received him into her home and took care of his daily needs.

His instruction in Toe she and Nangma came from the teacher, and over the extended period they spent together, romantic feelings developed between the two, marked by deep tenderness. In public, they preserved the appearance of a master and disciple, yet in private, their terms of endearment for one another were 'Old Lady' (Lhasa slang written as "རྨོ་མདོག།") and 'Fat Big Brother' (Lhasa slang written as "འབོག་ལྭོ།")…" Following 1959, the jurisdiction over Lhasa's urban area fell to the Chengguan District.

Four amateur song and dance groups were set up at that time, each following the area's directions. The Eastern District Dance Troupe included Tashi Tsering, his teacher Tsering Dorje, Ane Lha, and Qüxü·Yeshe Drolma (see below for details). For her singing skill, Ane Lha was given the title "Folk Artist." In 1962, she and Yeshe Drolma recorded valuable audio at the Tibet Broadcasting Station, materials that rank among the earliest compiled sources of Toe she and Nangma music in China.

In Lhasa, on South Barkhor Street, Yeshe Drolma (ཆུ་ཤུལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྒྲོལ་མ།) from Qushui ran a tavern alongside her husband, who was nicknamed "Gentleman" (སྐུ་ཞབས།). She was born in the early 20th century in the Qüxü region, located west of Lhasa, and the couple's household was relatively prosperous. In her role as tavern keeper, Yeshe Drolma was adept not only at producing high-quality wine but also at playing the Dramyin with considerable skill. Notably, prior to the 20th century, the Lhasa area had seen virtually no well-known female musicians.

Although she never belonged to the Nangma Gyütö, Yeshe Drolma gained renown as a celebrated folk instrumentalist in Lhasa thanks to her outstanding mastery of singing and playing the Dramyin. Her tale became widely known throughout the city. As a street song once put it: ཆུ་ཤུལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྒྲོལ་མ། Chushur Yeshe Drolma, ཊམ་ཀ་ག་ཚོད་བཏང་ཀ། How much is the wine today? ང་རང་ཉོ་ཀི་མེད་དེ། I myself have no need to drink, ཉོ་མཁན་འདུག་གས་བལྟ་ཆོག But I can help you find customers.

During the 1960s, Yeshe Drolma became a member of the Eastern District Dance Troupe and received the title of "Folk Artist." Subsequently, she and Ane Lha ranked among the most celebrated duos performing Toe she and Nangma in the Lhasa area from the 1960s through the 1980s. Notably, Ane Lha was regarded as a legend in Lhasa for her ability to execute the entire fast-paced Toe she dance despite a leg affliction.

In today's world, where singing styles are increasingly homogenized, the precious vocal materials left by Ane Lha and Yeshe Drolma can give us valuable artistic inspiration. Unlike the professional Nangma Gyütö, their manner of singing drew heavily on Lhasa folk techniques and had a street-inspired quality. With delicate, agile melodies that were very pleasant to hear, and lyrics mixing refined and popular tastes, their work stands as an excellent model of street music.

Sounds of the Streets: After nearly two years of collecting and compiling, we are able to present to you all the precious voices of two renowned artists. Hidden within their songs are the myriad lives and scenes of the holy city's streets. They urge us to innovate boldly upon the foundation of tradition,

At the place called Chökyi Chösa, my thoughts return to it—a jade hairpin graces that blessed ground. The meadows bloom with flowers of varied hues, bringing to mind Yamdrok Samding with deep longing. Stod Gzhas (Sönam Pangyen) is remembered. O sacred white rooster of Samye, refrain from sounding your early dawn cry.

The sacred white rooster of Samye is said to be the manifestation of the great deity Pekar at Samye Monastery. According to legend, a fire suddenly broke out at the monastery one night, and the deity, taking the form of a white rooster, crowed to rouse the monks so they could put out the flames. As for the song Stod Gzhas (Ngazhi Gugupa), it recalls how my childhood sweetheart and I became absorbed in our heartfelt conversation, losing ourselves in tender words.

The new lock's key, please lend it to me. ཆིབས་རྭ་གསར་པའི་ནང་གི་ཆིབས་དཔོན་ཚོ། Horse keepers in the new stable, སྒོ་ལྕགས་གསར་པའི་ལྡེ་མིག་གཡར་རོགས་གནང་། Do not lend the key to anyone else, horse keepers. ལྡེ་མིག་གཞན་ལ་མ་གཡར་ཆིབས་དཔོན་ཚོ། Lending it to others will lead to arguments. ལྡེ་མིག་གཞན་ལ་གཡར་ན་ཁ་མཆུའི་རྒྱུ། Since that time, the white rooster has served as Samye Monastery's guardian deity, and its likeness is displayed within the monastery's halls.

For the horse, a sum of two thousand five hundred was given, and the fifty-stringed jingle bell, purchased for fifty, is to be hung as a favor. The excellent horse, Samdrub, is fit to be saddled this year. Our young master has reached the age of fifteen. Stod Gzhas (New Stable) is the title. The newly square field is not a ground where purple bamboo springs forth.

Do you not see? A tender bamboo shoot is less lovely than Norbu Drolkar. Norbu Drolkar, the cherished daughter of her mother. Stod Gzhas (The New Square Field). Black peas were what I used to nourish it, that fine, divine swan-horse. Journeying on that excellent horse, I reached the holy city at last.

The sweet rain descended, fell and fell, upon the holy city of Lhasa. The hues of the hats worn by the city’s young men and maidens have all faded away. Stod Gzhas (The Divine Swan-Horse)