Tibet: Music Of The Sacred Temples

Description

Being a mountain country Tibet employs echo generating instruments for its temple music, possibly from the days of its Shamanistic roots. The instruments are not used for accompanying the voice but for intercepting the voice, as if to give it a rest while allowing time to meditate upon the sacred words. This also has another aspect: While the voice chants the great texts, the instruments echo them for the world to hear.

Dung-chen: A conical trumpet from Tibet, usually made of red copper and decorated with gold and silver. In length the conical tube of the Dung-chen varies from one and a half to two meters and when played, it has to be supported or rested on the earth. Some of the Dung-chens used by Tibetans in India are made in telescopic form for the convenience of transportation. It is an excellent instrument for generating echoes.

Gyaling: A double reed instrument resembling the Indian Shahnai. The Gyaling is used in temple music for providing melodic phrases during the instrumental interception of the voice.

Rkan-dun: Made of human thigh-bones, the bone-pipe Rkan-dun is played by certain sects such as the Drugpa-ka-gyu during their temple ceremonies.

Nga: A wheel-shaped double-headed drum, the Nga is played with a curved wooden stick. Although both heads of the Nga are covered with yak-skin, only one of the heads is played at a time.

Daru: Similar to the Indian Damaru, the Daru is an hour-glass shaped drum, played with a couple of knotted strings tied to its narrow waist.

Rolmo: A pair of large cymbals made of brass.

Singyen: A pair of finger cymbals made of bronze.

Tilpo: A hand bell made of brass or bronze.

Temple Ceremonies

1. A pair of Dung-chens accompanied by a pair of large cymbals called Rolmo to announce the temple ceremony in the morning. Recorded in the Dharamshala, October 1979.

2. Lama cchopa: Morning ceremony in praise of Buddha and his ideals in the Tibetan temple of the Mahayana Buddhists in Sarnath. Buddha is known to have delivered his first sermon in Sarnath 2500 years ago. Including those of Tibet a number of Buddhist sects formed all over the world have built temples and shrines in Sarnath as an expression of reverence to Buddha. Recitation of the sacred texts is alternating in the music played on the Gyaling, a conch-shell trumpet, the Nga, the Singyen, the Tilpo and the Daru. Recorded in Sarnath, August 1962.

3. Reading of the sacred texts by the :Lamas of the main Tibetan temple in Dharamshala, the seat of the Dalai Lama in India. Taken in turn by different monks the reading continues round the clock and lasts for several months. This is an annual event. Recorded in Dharamshala, October 1979.

4. Annual ceremony to commemorate the birthday of the Indian monk Padmasambhava who, invited by the ruler of the country, introduced Buddhism to Tibet. Celebrated by the Drugpa-ka-gyu sect who came to India from Eastern Tibet, the recitations of the sacred words are alternated with instrumental music played on a pair of Dung-chens, a couple of Rkan-duns, the Gyaling, the Nga and the Rolmo. It was recorded in the Drugpa-ka-gyu temple at Tashijong in the Midwest Himalayas on 30 October 1979 (Extract 1: 16 mins.)

5. Annual ceremony to commemorate the birthday of Padmasambhava, as above (Extract 2: 5:05 mins.)

6. Annual ceremony to commemorate the birthday of Padmasambhava as above (Extract 3: 7:05 mins.)

7. Tucho Dawe Duchi: Although these texts are meant for recitation at any hour of the day and night, this particular recording, representing the afternoon ceremony, comes from the Tibetan monastic temple of the Red Hat Sect in Rumtek. The Tibetan Lamas of the Red Hat Sect living in the monastery of Rumtek are sustained by the King of Bhutan. As usual the recitation is intercepted by instrumental music provided by a pair of Gyalings, a Nga, a Daru, the Singyen and a Tilpo. Recorded in Rumtek (Sikim) in the Eastern Himalayas in April 1975, this is a short extract from a nearly two-hour long ceremony.

8. Fire ceremony, Jensey, of the Gelugpa (Yellow Sect) in memory of the dead. Conducted by the chief Lama of Kalimpong in the Easter Himalayas, offerings of rice, grains, cooked butter, a special type of grass and pieces of paper bearing the names of the deceased ones were given over to an altar of blazing fire. During the Fire ceremony, a funeral procession came to the Chief Lama for his blessing before cremation. The chanting consists mainly of reciting the names of the deceased. The instrumental interludes are provided by the Gyaling, a Nga, a Rolmo and a Tilpo. Recorded in the Ghoom monastery near Darjeeling in West Bengal in the Eastern Himalayas on 11 Nov. 1979.

Deben Bhattacharya (1921–2001) came from an old Bengali Brahmin family, settled in Benares for the last 130 years. He won international recognition as an expert on ethnic folk music, dance and poetry. From 1955 onwards he produced documentary films, records, books, radio programmes and live concerts related to many aspects of his research. From 1967 to 1974 he produced educational films and concerts for schools and universities in Sweden under the sponsorship of the 'Rikskonserter' - the Swedish state music educational institute.

Deben Bhattacharya produced more than 20 films and 130 LPs of the musical cultures of thirty countries of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He is also responsible for many translations, several sensitive books of poetry and frequent contributions to periodicals. His works were published simultaneously in England, the USA and India. Much of his work was carried out under the auspices of UNESCO.

His film productions made in Sri Lankha, Nepal, India, Turkey and China have been shown on television in Britain, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, France and other countries in Europe and Asia.

Bhattacharya's musical albums (LPs and CDs) were released by labels in Holland, Great Britain, USA, France, the Czech Republic, India and Japan.
When not on his frequent location trips he lived in Paris and Calcutta. Deben Bhattacharya died in 2001 in Paris.