BS: Chinese/Tibetan dancing and singin'

Subject: Chinese/Tibetan dancing and singin'
From: wa banzhou
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 04:05 PM

Last year I was in the Chinese village of Song Pan, up the mountain about nine hours from Chengdu. It's not in Tibet, but definitely on the road, and has a very strong Tibetan feeling. I met some wonderful local folks from the Happy Trails Horse Trek company, and they shared some tea, and songs and dances that I didn't see/hear anywhere else in China. So I left them the lyrics to "Happy Trails"(Roy Rogers/Dale Evans), which we all sang together! Does anyone know more about the music of this region?

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese/Tibetan dancing and singin'
From: SINSULL
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 05:46 PM

I took a trip by jeep from Lhasa to Gyatsu and the driver entertained us with Tibetan folk songs and lullabyes. Try as we might, it was impossible to learn the melodies - strange patterns. Several women played Jews Harps but I did not see any other instruments. Money and lack of wood is, I suspect, the reason. There are numerous recordings of Tibetan Chants available on LP and CD. Ebay occasionally carries them.
John Denver had been in Lhasa the week before. It was a riot to here "Colorado, Rocky Mountain High" in the middle of the Himalayas. But "Oh, Susannah" was the universal favorite. They found the contradictions in the verses hysterical.
Wonderful, beautiful people who have suffered terribly over the years. There were NO children over the age of 8 when I was there except for a crippled boy prostrating himself at a temple. The Cultural Revolution had done its work.

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese/Tibetan dancing and singin'
From: wa banzhou
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 06:15 PM

Well, the influence of John Denver on Chinese music has not yet been categorized, but it's safe to say that he is the most revered American "folk" musician anywhere and everywhere I was in China, except in Song Pan, where they had their own thing goin' on.

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese/Tibetan dancing and singin'
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 06:51 PM

Would love to hear more, from both of you, about your times spent there, as I find it of particular interest.

There are some good CDs of Tibetan folk music available on this page at Snow Lion Publications: Click Here.

There are also some links to music listed at this Buddhist Studies Virtual Library site: Clickie.

Here are a few other places to check out:

Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts;

Religious and Non-Religious Forms of Tibetan Dance;

Descriptions of Tibetan Folk dances from China Vista.

Thanks for starting this thread!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese/Tibetan dancing and singin'
From: masato sakurai
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 06:37 PM

42 Tibetan music CDs (via Yahoo shopping music search)

~Masato

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese/Tibetan dancing and singin'
From: wa banzhou
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 12:06 PM

I've heard lots of Tibetan sacred music, but the stuff my friends were singing and dancing to didn't sound like that at all. They were singing songs with a rythym that i couldn't get and then all the Chinese Tibetans got up and did this sprightly dance to the songs-I couldn't get that either, but they were very gracious and laughing about it. In general, their hearts seemed a bit lighter than many of my Han Chinese friends, though life at 2500 meters is not easy. My friend Emma(Tibetan/Chinese)said that she learned English from songs on the radio. Wa Ban Zhou