The Voice of Vagabond Artist Tsang ▎Renowned Luminaries of the Holy City (V)

The Tsang (གཙང་།) region is famous for its music and dance. Its style resembles the whistling of mountain winds and the neighing of a fine horse—clear, expansive, and brimming with life. When I departed from my homeland, no one came to mind. After making my way across one or two mountain passes, I began to yearn for my compassionate parents. Stod Gzhas (Wandering in Ü-Tsang) Wandering artist

Within his musical treatise "Treatise on Music" (རོལ་མོའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།), Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen stated that across this world, melodic expression varies with place and time, as seen in the great diversity of its forms: སྤྱིར་ནི་

From the desolate valleys of Kashmir to the city of Lhasa, and from the grasslands of Amdo to the dense forests of Sikkim, the footprints of these artists can be found throughout the Himalayas. For various reasons, many singers from Tsang left their homeland and wandered in strange lands, living hard lives while spreading the music of Tsang over many years. We might call them "Gypsy-like artists." ཁམས་པ་རྣམས་ནི་བརྗིད་ཅིང་གྱོང་། The Khampas are majestic and fierce.

Pema (པད་མ།) was born in the early 20th century in the Kongpo region (ཀོང་པོ།) of eastern Tibet, and during his youth he performed as a street artist in Lhasa. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, Chungbu Trid and Pema (ཆུང་བུ་ཁྲིད་དང་པད་མ།), a couple, together with the musician Nyima Lags (ཉི་མ་ལགས།), brought the distinctive artistic style of Tsang into major art ensembles, leaving an indelible mark on the history of Tibetan song and dance.

Subsequently, Pema Lags was taught by Sakya Lags (ས་སྐྱ་ལགས།), a musician of the Nangma Gytuk, in Stod Gzhas and Nangma dance, along with instruments like the Dramyin and flute. Basang Dondrup, the last court musician, once recalled: "On the fourth day of the sixth month of midsummer (དྲུག་པ་ཚེས་བཞི།, the day the Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma), the people of Lhasa would go to the northern hills for a pilgrimage. After descending, they would have picnics in the gardens. At such times, Pema Lags would sing and play his lute in the groves.

Nyima Lags was an accomplished player of musical instruments, and his family operated the largest tavern in Shigatse at that time. As a young man, he ran away with his lover to Sikkim and earned his living as a street performer in Darjeeling and other places. Later he returned to his hometown and became a resident performer at the family tavern. "His melodious voice was beloved by all." A few years later, Pema left Lhasa, traveled to the Tsang region, and in Shigatse met Chungbu Trid.

Career Change – 1956: These artists endured the struggles of leaving home and wandering during the first half of their lives. Then, in 1956, the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region was formed, and at its founding gala, Chungbu Trid, together with her husband Pema and daughter Tseden, performed Stod Gzhas on behalf of various art ensembles from the Tsang region. Pema played the yangqin, Chungbu Trid handled lead vocals, and their young daughter Tseden danced next to them. That year marked a turning point in their lives.

Following the great success of this family performance, the Chungbu Trid family was later invited to Beijing, where the husband-and-wife pair served as instructors of traditional Tibetan song and dance in the Music Department at Minzu University of China. From the 1960s to the 1980s, Chungbu Trid, her husband Pema, and Nyima Lags devoted extended periods to teaching and performing with the Tibet Autonomous Region Tibetan Opera Troupe and the Song and Dance Ensemble.

Chungbu Trid brought the traditional vocal techniques of Tsang into the Stod Gzhas and Nangma of Lhasa, shifting their gentle, melodic character into something more spirited and upbeat. The new approach he introduced marked a distinct departure in Lhasa's musical landscape and later exerted considerable influence on the revival of traditional folk music during the 1980s. གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་ལ་ག་རེ་ཡོད་རེད། What is there in Shigatse? གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་ལ་གཙང་མོ་ཡོད་རེད། In Shigatse, there are fair maidens.

Upon the maidens' headdresses, pearls gleam one by one. Should you ask where I am from, no full telling was ever shared. If a full telling must be made, it is from the heart of Lhasa that I hail. Atop Jatsang Götsang mountain, so calm, ho! Stod Gzhas: "Siji Bijii

Stod Gzhas: "Jatsang Götsang" བྲག་སྟོད་དཀར་པོ་མ་གསུངས་། The white house on the cliff is not to be mentioned; rather, speak of the master's meditation retreat, where the morning sun brings warmth and the spring water carries a sweet taste. Ascending, ever ascending, རྒོད་ཕྲུག་ཀླུ་བདུད་རྡོད་རྗེ། the young eagle, Ludü Dorje, so serene, ho! སིམ་སིམ་མ་ལས་ཧོ། takes his seat upon a golden throne. གསེར་ཁྲིའི་སྟེང་དུ་བཞུགས་ཡོད།

At the summit of the Nyenang Thong La pass, the song "Drak Tö Karpo" was heard. There, the stallion let fall warm tears, and the rider, overcome with emotion, felt inclined to slacken the horse's reins. Before that, the practitioner had completed three years of retreat, during which his uncut hair stretched down to his waist. After yet another three years, his hair had grown long enough to trail along the ground.

The gathering serves as an ornament to the meadow, according to the lyrics of "Nyenang Thong La," a Stod Gzhas set in a valley within the Nyalam (Nyenang) region. The white flower is what adorns the meadow; the meadow should be left undisturbed, and the bees will arrive of their own accord. As for the Nangma "Dzompa Nam Sum," it refers to a lakeside meadow. During the 1970s and 1980s, Pema and Chungbu Trid passed away in succession.

Tseden, their daughter, has lived in Lhasa for many years. Even after retiring, she still performs Stod Gzhas and Nangma in the public eye. Tseden (2007)