Sacred Songs and Dance at Early Music Now’s Tibetan Concert

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Photo Credit: Brian Morehead

The earliest music ever heard on an Early Music Now concert came around on Saturday evening with Tibetan chants dating back more than 2,000 years. Nine representatives of the Drepung Loseling monks from South India—reestablished there in exile after the 1959 Chinese invasion of Tibet—presented “The Mystical Arts of Tibet: Sacred Music/Sacred Dance for World Healing” at the Tripoli Shrine Center to a large and curious audience.

This was as much a cultural exchange as it was a concert. The monks, or lamas, appeared before a backdrop of the Potala Palace, the historical Tibetan residence of the Dalai Lama, and a photo of the current Dalai Lama. The lamas wore a tall headdress while mostly dressed in garments of yellow, red and orange. Drums, cymbals and a few other handheld instruments accompanied chants and dances. The booming low blast of a long horn was startling and hair-raising.

The lamas are renowned for multiphonic chanting called zokkay, which is founded in one long, low note that produces overtones, resulting in one singer able to make a chord. Other times, the chants were more melodic, sounding like modal folksongs. The tunes which most delighted my ears were the gentle “Melody to Sever the Ego Syndrome” and the finale, “Auspicious Song for World Healing,” which progressed to a dramatic high note sung in unison.

Various sacred dances were performed in elaborate and colorful costumes: “Dance of the Black Hat Masters,” symbolizing the transcendence of ego-identification; “The Snow Lion Dance,” with two lamas in a white and green lion suit with a smiling open mouth; “Dance of the Skeleton Lords,” about the transitory nature of life; and the “Dance of the Celestial Travelers,” representing the five elements and five wisdoms. (There were only four, since one monk could not obtain his travel visa.)

The lamas are not professional performers, but rather tour to make a contribution to world peace and then return to their lives in the monastery. They certainly conjured an air of humility and reverence in this fascinating program. I only wish it had been in a more acoustically friendly room and without amplification.