Filming Musicians in Lhasa
Project members Paul Brown and Travis McCauley
recording at the Norbulinka, Lhasa

Preserving Living Traditions
Tibetan Folk Music Project

Hosting Institutions: University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of Virginia
Project Director: John Flower

Project Description
Project Participants
Notes On Method
How To Access The Collection
Genre Description
Region Description
Artists Introduction
Tibetans' Reflections

Project Description

The Preserving Living Traditions project focuses on the digital documentation and public presentation of Tibetan folk music. The project, under the direction of John Flower (UNC Charlotte), is a collaboration between the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library at the University of Virginia, and the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique, France (CNRS). The goals of the project are,

  1. to create a platform for ongoing efforts to document and study Tibetan folk music, by providing hands-on training, advanced equipment, and comparative experiences to Tibetan researchers through a cultural exchange program in the Appalachian region of the US.
  2. to explore different regional traditions and genres of Tibetan folk music, their historical roots in local communities, and emerging trends in contemporary folk music.
  3. to give web access to recordings of Tibetan folk music in "thick" format: songs and interviews presented in audio and video, with Tibetan transcriptions, English translations, and information on the recording and performance contexts.

The initial field research and cultural exchange dimensions of the project were carried out from June, 2000 to April, 2001. Funding for these activities was provided by a grant from the United Stated Information Service. In the first phase of the project, during the summer of 2000, a group of scholars and technicians traveled to Tibet, to work with the Academy of Social Science in Lhasa on the recording of Tibetan folk music, and to study the social context in which that music exists. Members of the group made recordings in Lhasa, Basum, Shigatse, and Ngari (see Regional Traditions, below).

In phase two of the project, the three scholars from the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences who worked with us in summer 2000 came to the US to take part in a study tour of the Appalachian region, during October and November 2000. Tenzin, Konchok Jiatso, and Tsering Gyelbo participated in the Old Time Week at the Augusta Heritage Center (Elkins, West Virginia), attended and gave a presentation at the American Folklore Society annual meeting, and took part in a number of workshops and site visits on Appalachian music and its community coordinated through the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University. As part of their study tour, the group gave presentations of their research to students at area colleges and universities and to audiences from the broader community. The three visiting Tibetan scholars also wrote a brief reflection on their experiences during the study tour, included at the end of this introduction.

In the final phase of the project, the Tibetan visitors stayed at the University of Virginia for five months of intensive training in digital archiving, learning computer skills and how to log, edit, and process audio and video data. In addition, the Tibetan scholars collaborated with American colleagues to begin the work of putting the audio and video materials documented in Tibet into a web-accessible archive of Tibetan folk music.

Project Participants

During the project's research over the summer of 2000, three scholars with the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences-Tsering Gyalbo, Konchok Jiatso, and Tenzin-worked with a team of researchers consisting of Paul Brown (folklorist and independent producer, working at National Public Radio), John Flower (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Frances Garret (University of Virginia), David Germano (University of Virginia), Pamela Leonard (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Travis McCauley (University of Virginia), and Nicholas Tournadre (CNRS, France). The whole team did fieldwork together in Lhasa and Basum. John Flower and Tenzin did additional work in Penam, and Germano, McCauley, Tournadre, Konchok Jiatso, and Tsering Gyalbo carried out the fieldwork research in Ngari.

In the second phase of the project-the workshops and study tour in the Appalachian region of the US-many of the workshop arrangements were made by Mary Greene (Appalachian State University). Special visits and programs were made possible by the hospitality of Mrs. Bessie Eldreth, Mr. Rick Ward and Mr. Clint Cornett of Watauga County, North Carolina. Gerry Milnes and Margo Blevin of the Augusta Heritage Center at Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia were also generous in hosting the visiting Tibetans, and Daniel Knicely and Tara Lindhart of Loudon County, Virginia, served as hosts and musical guides. Many others participated in the study tour and thanks go out to all of them for their service. (The Tibetans' reflections on their experience on the study tour can be found at the end of this introduction).

Phase three of the project-the training in digital archiving-was implemented by the staff at the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library, under the guidance of David Germano, and with support from John Flower. Kirk Moore and Travis McCauley did much of the work during this final phase of the project.

Some Notes on Method

The research in Tibet was carried out inductively; that is, we did not try to record representative samples of different genres of folk music, but rather worked from the music found in specific communities, working in places where we had some local connections, and interviewing the performers about their particular experiences and understandings of the music's meaning and natural context. The issue of context was important because the time limitations of our fieldwork meant that much of what we recorded was out of its natural performative context (e.g. songs performed during New Year celebrations were out of place in the summer). The genres with which we categorized the songs are thus primarily descriptive rather than analytical, but they are in keeping with the musicians' own flexible understanding. Moreover, the syncretic nature of the music itself tended to defy rigid classification. The very term "folk music" is, of course, problematic in that it is an imposed category from a modern perspective, a nostalgic invention of "the folk" dating from the late 19th century in the West, and from at least the 1920s in China. We use the term "folk music", faute de mieux, in its connotation as community-based music transmitted face-to-face, as opposed to music learned from fixed written scores or from popular recordings (a relatively recent phenomenon in Tibet). More discussion of the conditions of fieldwork can be found in the essays on Basum and Penam.

How To Access Project Recordings in the Digital Archive of Tibetan Folk Music

The project's work can be found in the Thematic Collections of the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library. The archive includes a database of 253 song recordings in audio format, along with selected video of song performances, contextual information, interviews, transcripts, translations, and interpretive essays. More materials are being added on an ongoing basis. Users of the archive may access the data in a number of ways:

  1. The menu at the top of this page accesses Music by Region, a link to two hypertext introductory essays (for Basum and Penam), and Music by Genre, a linked list of different forms of music identified by the musicians themselves. (See explanation below).
  2. The user may also go directly to the Tibetan Music Collection Database from the Search Field Recordings prompt. From the Database search page, Display All Records generates a complete listing of songs in the database, ordered by filename. For users already familiar with the Database, specific songs can be searched by filename or title.
  3. The Database can also be searched by the categories of Genre, Song Region, Artists, Instrument, and Vocals, each of which is described below.

Genres of Tibetan Folk Music

The songs in the Database are grouped by Genres, understood not as rigid classifications, but as descriptive markers used by the musicians to identify the different kinds of music they performed. This inductive method of categorizing the music leads to significant variation in the degree of specificity suggested by each Genre. "Classical songs" (nang ma), "Narrative songs" (rnam thar), "Drinking songs" (chang gzhas), or "Ceremonial songs" (gzhas chen), for example, refer to quite specific, distinct, and well-defined forms and musical traditions, while "Fast songs" ('khrug gzhas) and especially "Folk songs" (glu or dmangs gzhas) are much broader, less precise categories. The Genre categories generated by the project include:

Drinking songs (chang gzhas) sung during the ritual offering of Tibetan barley beer (chang) to guests.

“West” songs (stod gzhas) historically originating from the Western regions of Tibet, usually accompanied by the Tibetan lute (dramnyen).

Fast songs ('khrug gzhas), a descriptive category, usually applied to dramnyen songs.

Ceremonial songs (gzhas chen), sung on many festive occasions, often with dance, historically associated with performances for the aristocracy.

Folk songs (dmangs gzhas), a loose category suggesting the influence of modern Western and Chinese "folk invention" where older songs are signified "folk" in a nostalgia emanating from the modern context. Probably derived from the Chinese "min ge."

Folk songs (glu) an indigenous category with more specific reference than dmangs gzhas.

Dancing songs (zhabs bro) typically performed at New Year celebrations and other festivals, with intricate dance steps often taking the form of group circular movement.

Pastoral songs (glu gzhas), distinctive, highly ornamented solo singing associated with herding animals, with sustained passages that could carry long distances on the grasslands. Sometimes referred to as "nomad style" (brog lugs).

Classical songs (nang ma), technically not "folk" music in that it uses written scores, nang ma is performed by ensembles of dramnyen (lute), pe wang (fiddle), yangqin (dulcimer, from China), gling (bells), and bamboo flute, with singing from fixed texts. Nang ma is a synthesis of folk music from Western Tibet ('stod gzhas) and more structured classical forms. Historically performed for the Tibetan aristocracy and the Dalai Lama, nang ma persists today in state-sponsored troupes and in nightclub performances, usually as the opening act for an evening of Karaoke and disco music.

Narrative songs (rnam thar) are “arias” from folk operas, usually with historical or religious themes. Dramnyen-dance songs (sgre snyan zhabs bro), another descriptive category of song.

New Year songs (lo gsar gzhas), specifically identified by informants as performed at New Year celebrations.

Work songs (las gzhas), a general category covering songs associated with a wide variety of work activities.

Wedding songs refers to both songs specifically sung at weddings, and to a chant (in the Penam region) ritually performed at weddings that describes the proper way to set up a household.

General songs, a self-explanatory category, probably concocted by a musician weary of our attempts to classify everything he played!

The Genres categories, while not a rigorous classification, allow the user of the Database to understand the musical self-identification of the performers, and to compare examples of these Genres for regional variations.

Regional Traditions

The songs in the Database represent some of the major cultural regions in Tibet, as well as more specific sub-regions and localities. Users can search the Database by any place name, from the regional to the village level. These places include (in descending order of specificity, region, sub-region, town or village):

As the schematic above suggests, some regions were covered more thoroughly by our fieldwork: Basum and Penam are introduced in essays that describe the performance and fieldwork contexts of the recordings, and the Database has rich material from the Ngari region. Other regions (Amdo, Lhatse) are represented by performers from those regions who were recorded in Lhasa. A full discussion of each region's musical traditions is beyond the scope of this introduction, but a brief description of some of the characteristics of each will aid the user in searching the database by place:

Amdo is represented in the Database by 13 songs performed by Nyima Donma (nyi ma sgron ma), a woman from Amdo who performs regularly in a nang ma nightclub in Lhasa. She accompanies her singing with the mandolin, an instrument of Western origin that has become a standard of popular Amdo music.

Kongpo folk music in the Database is represented by recordings made in the sub-region of Basum. The music of this region is vocal, with no instrumental accompaniment, and quite melodic compared to that of other regions (e.g. Ngari) of Tibet. Dance is an important component of the music, and self-organized community song-and-dance groups were recorded in Duma and Tsogo-that latter a particularly important musical location because of its role in the ritual circumambulation of Basum lake during local festivals.

The U-Tsang region is characterized by a strong tradition of singing with instrumental accompaniment on the lute (dramnyen) and fiddle (pe wang). Dramnyen players often dance while they play and sing, with interesting syncopated percussive effects. The Database holds recordings of dramnyen soloists and groups from Shigatse and Lhatse, as well as a remarkable pe wang player from Lhatse named Drado. These performers write their own songs in addition to playing traditional tunes. The traditional music of Penam is primarily vocal (described more fully in this essay).

The Ngari region, in the far West of Tibet, is particularly interesting because of the ancient, pre-Buddhist musical traditions that are still extant there, and because of the distinctive singing style characterized by long, slow chant-like passages sliding through minor intervals. The group singing and dancing represented in the Database was recorded during fieldwork in Purang and Ruthok.

There is a tremendous variety of folk music in Tibet, and each place has very local and distinctive traditions. The recordings in the Database therefore should be viewed as a sampling, and not as an exhaustive representation of these regional traditions

Instruments and Artists

The Music Collection Database can also be searched by entering a specific Instrument name in the search field; the user can type-in dramnyen (lute), pe wang (fiddle), gling (bells), dulcimer, or flute for examples of songs containing those instruments.

All the Database recordings of specific Artists can also be accessed by entering the performer's name in the appropriate search field (users can copy and paste from the list below, although more than one artist may have the same or similar name). Some of the more fully represented artists are,

Nyima Donma (nyi ma sgron ma), singer and mandolinist from Amdo, is a musically trained professional singing songs from her native place of Amdo in a Lhasa nightclub.

Drado, singer and pe wang player from Lhatse, writes his own songs about his native place. He was busking in Lhasa (and, from appearances, quite poor) when we met him in the summer of 2000. His singing and playing are particularly powerful.

Dorje, older singer and dramnyen player from Lhasa. Dorje is a regular performer in Lhasa nangma, and father of a family of musicians who work in state-sponsored performance troupes. He toured China as an "official" musician for several years in the early 1960s.

Nyima Tsering, a dramnyen player and singer from Lhatse, with singer/dancers Pumo Dakyi, Pumo Dawa, Pumo Migmar. Nyima Tsering is an office worker in Lhasa, and plays music as an amateur, but the group's performances are well rehearsed. The singing and dance steps of the three women add a strong syncopation to the music.

Dawa Ngodup, Dawa Tsering, Lhakpa Tsering, Pema Dondup, and Tenzin (referred to collectively as the "Sokhang Quintet" in the essay on Penam), a band of musicians playing dramnyen, flute, and bells. The members of the group are farmers from Penam who busk in Lhasa during the slack agricultural season in the summer. Although the musical traditions of their native village of Sokhang are purely vocal, they taught themselves how to play their instruments, and have developed a pan-Tibetan repertoire, including songs from other regions of Tibet, to augment their traditional local songs set to instrumental accompaniment.

Molhakyi (mo lha skyid), an 81-year-old blind singer from Sokhang village in Penam, musical mentor to the Sokhang Quintet and important bearer of local song traditions. Diki (bde skyid), Yangchen Tsomo (dbyangs can mtsho mo), Lhache, Xiaomi, a group of women singer/dancers from the village of Duma in Basum. The group represents three generations of local singers, led by the oldest member and leader, Diki.

Tsering Nyima (tshe ring nyi ma), Phakya Lhamo (phag skyag lha mo), Dzomkyi ('dzoms skyid), Tsechu (tshe bcu), a group of singer/dancers from Tsogo, the village that serves as the ritual and musical center of the Basum sub-region. Tsering Nyima is the male leader of the group, and a featured performer during New Year celebrations.

John Flower
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Reflections on Participation in the U.S. Study Tour
of the Preserving Living Traditions Project

by Tenzin, Konchok Jiatso, and Tsering Gyalbo
(translated by John Flower, with Tsering Gyalbo).

  1. West Virginia activities at Augusta Heritage Center
  2. Columbus Ohio: American Folklore Society annual meeting
  3. Appalachian Studies Center, Appalachian State university

West Virginia activities at Augusta Heritage Center

Before arriving in the US, the only impression we had of America was from the movies and television. It seemed to us that America was a very developed country, very modern, that had no "tradition" and that did not respect or emphasize traditional things, only modern things. After our arrival in West Virginia, we discovered that America has a very rich tradition of traditional music, and that Americans emphasize the preservation of their traditional culture very much.

Not only does the tradition still exist, it is being actively developed, which was very surprising to us. We also discovered that there was a whole set of materials and a whole method of preserving traditional folk music. And this was not just done by old people, but was also done by young people, by people of all ages. We learned how the institution of the Augusta Heritage Center included all different kinds of people, all different ages (from very old to very young) in their folk music activities.

We had no idea about American traditional folk music before we came. At Augusta we saw many different kinds of musical instruments, and many kinds of music we had never seen before. We learned the history of the folk music: how it came from many different European countries and also from Africa. We saw how American folk music is "pluralistic" and how it results from the mixture of many different national musical traditions.

We were also surprised to see that these efforts to preserve traditional folk culture were not being done by the government, but were spontaneous efforts of volunteers. This is a new approach that was very different from what we are used to, where the government organizes different groups into an official system. At Augusta we discovered that even though the institutions were not governmental, they still were very well organized into a system of non-governmental organizations and groups of volunteers. These were efforts to preserve traditional culture that were not done for the sake of pleasing the leadership or as fulfilling a duty, but rather was for people who were preserving the traditional folk music for their own enjoyment, spontaneously but still organized. They were doing this for themselves, not for anyone else.

Another interesting phenomenon was that the best musicians at Augusta (for example Melvin Wines, 94), despite the fact that they were "folk" musicians, were very respected by the people in a spontaneous way, and also recognized by the government as artists. In China, folk musicians are not usually looked up to in this way by the people, unless they are held up by the government and recognized as being important people. The other interesting thing was that the musicians considered themselves equal with all the people at Augusta, they were not holding themselves above people, as often happens in China, where the best musicians would be separated from others, holding themselves above others. Often in China there is a lot of sloganeering about the preservation of traditional culture, and about the respect that should be shown to folk musicians, but there is no corresponding action.

We also noticed that there was a lot of interaction between generations: old people playing music with and teaching young people. Here the job of "preserving" music is different than in China: it does not mean just collecting and studying traditional music, but actually performing the music and sharing it with people in performance. Even during the lectures that we attended at Augusta about the history of the music, there were musical performances in the middle of the lectures: in many ways, it showed us how active and "alive" the study of traditional folk music is in the US. So one thing that is very different from our experience is the encouragement of performing traditions, not just objectively studying them. A good method used by the Augusta center is to give scholarships to young people who want to study traditional music, and to encourage the study between young people and old people through a master-apprentice relationship. When we return to Tibet, we hope to be able to put into practice this kind of active research method, of the same kind we observed in Augusta.

The connection between traditional music and the economy by selling cds and other folk arts was interesting; we would never consider this a possibility in Tibet, where it would only be famous musicians, never folk musicians who could sell their products. This is a great idea with real applicability in Tibet, where our folk traditions are strong, but are not considered valuable. Here we saw an example of how ordinary people can proudly get some economic benefit from their traditional culture. The idea that older pepole can also use recordings to pass on their cultural tradition is very interesting; at Augusta this seemed to be a very natural thing: a normal way to pass on a tradition. In Tibet it is quite different, when an old person dies, their knowledge of traditional culture and music simply dies with them.

American Folklore Society meeting

One thing we noticed was the difference between the atmosphere of this meeting and the meetings we are used to: it didn't matter if the person presenting was young or old, or if the audience was big or small, everyone presented their papers with enthusiasm and were greeted warmly and with respect, no matter the topic or size of the audience. The spirit of the meeting was also one of mutual respect, and each person contributed according to their ability.

Another big difference is that this kind of meeting, were it held in China, would have some important officials in attendance, whereas this meeting was not official, but of the people. Also this meeting was very free: you could see what you wanted to, and it was all on the one hand very casual, but on the other very well organized. It was also very impressively international.

Another difference was that Chinese academic meetings tend to emphasize food and banquets, which is very wasteful. Whereas the method of the meeting, with its published book of presentations scheduled, was a very good use of money. Also, the display of books and information about various organizations was very good, an effective use of money and very valuable for scholars.

The meeting was a good opportunity to meet with Western scholars doing research on Asia and China, and to compare our own research with other research done by other scholars (e.g. the "oni" protecting spirit in Japan is quite similar to Tibet). We don't have the chance to see things about other Asian countries in Tibet so this was a particularly good chance for us. Also we made good contacts that might be helpful for us in our future research.

We also noted that there was a great deal of interest in Tibet, but that it seemed that Americans' impressions of Tibet are mostly about Buddhism and monasteries, whereas what we offered in our presentation was a different, ground-level view of Tibetan culture. So our contribution to the meeting, through our presentation, was to present a relatively rich and varied view of Tibet as a place (not just one place or one cultural tradition, but a whole variety from different parts of Tibet-- different clothing, customs, musical traditions-- this is different from the view common in the US). We wanted to present a folk perspective versus a solely religious perspective.

Appalachian Study tour and site visits in Boone, NC.

We were impressed by the care given to the women who had immigrated from Mexico to the US: they were trained in the social customs, laws, language, and cultural background (through the folk music of the area) to help them with their adjustment. We thought it was interesting that it was not only the "big" things, but even the little things that were thought of in helping them adjust. We noted that this was another example of voluntary, non-governmental activity. It was through traditional music and folk culture that we were able to all get together and have meaningful exchange in a very relaxed and comfortable manner (it was very effective).

From our own presentation to the campus community we noticed a couple of interesting things: first, it seems that Americans' impression of Tibet and Tibetan music comes primarily, even exclusively, from the Buddhist religious tradition. We were able to show them the folk side of Tibetan culture that they had never encountered before. Second, we were able to draw on our own experiences and cultural background to present them with a "realistic" picture of Tibet, not just one that comes from performance on a stage. We note that this was our biggest audience, and that there were quite a few young people in attendance, and that there were Han Chinese in attendance. For the Americans, it was a chance to see the non-religious side of folk culture; for the Han, it was a chance to see the spontaneous and natural setting of folk music, not just on the stage and in performance as they are used to (as noted by one of the audience). It was also a chance to address a misconception that the only place Tibetan culture still exists is in Dharmasala, where we could show them that it still exists in Tibet-- this was an important thing to do.

Cove Creek and Doc Watson museum:

It was very impressive to see the story of Doc Watson: it doesn't matter that he was blind, and that he came from a poor background; in America it is possible for someone with talent to become famous and important, even to the point of being recognized by the US president as an important cultural contributor! Unthinkable in China.. It was also impressive to see how the museum was created through voluntary local contributions (another example of how strong voluntary, spontaneous, "civil society" is in America). This again shows the respect shown to traditional culture: it is really valued very highly, and how important voluntary organizations are to the preservation of traditional culture (here it is the example of older people coming together into their community center and coming together to encourage the local music).

Folk artists in China are the victims of a prejudice that sees them as having a very low social status; but in the US, folk artists are respected, and seen as valuable contributors to the national cultural heritage, even to the point of having a museum dedicated to him.

Appalachian studies center: museum and archivists:

It seems that it doesn't matter which side of the Pacific one is on, there are similarities between folk cultures, and between the work of people studying folk cultures and archiving the material. For example, we learned about the beliefs and cultural practices of American Indians and noted the similarity of some beliefs (e.g. the belief that the world is on the back of a turtle, etc.). We also noted a difference: in Chinese museums there is an emphasis on ethnic solidarity, whereas here the unique cultural value of American Indian artifacts and cultural practices is emphasized, solely on its own value, and not for any political purpose.

Also, the efficiency of the work done at the museum and at the archives was very impressive. Although the staff was quite small, they were able to do a lot of work, through the computerized equipment, and they were able to do their work without a lot of meetings. Also everyone was familiar with the overall system, and did not waste time or money; it was very efficient. The museum and archives placed more emphasis on realism and portraying things as they are, good or bad. An interesting aspect of the exhibitions was the way they put together physical objects with a historical narrative, e.g. the railroads and the impact they had on the area and on the development of the region, as well as the influence of the Blue Ridge parkway on local life and historical development. Also the influence of tourist development on what had previously been a rather poor area was very interesting.

Visits to the countryside:

It was very interesting and valuable to have the opportunity to go down to the grassroots of America, and especially to be able to visit in the homes of ordinary people. We learned that there wasn't the kind of difference in lifestyle and living standard between city and countryside as there is in Tibet and China; it was much more equalized than we had expected. But there is also a similarity between the countryside in both China and America: people are very warm and friendly and hospitable; we were surprised and encouraged to see that this tradition still persists in America (and we note that the seriousness and speed of city life is the same in both places). The importance of personal relationships and of mutual assistance and of religious centers of community-- all these things still exist and are still preserved. In other words, you can't tell the difference between city and country people by their material possessions, but there are still differences in cultural attitudes. It is also interesting to see the value that people in the US countryside place on their traditional culture: even though their standard of living is so high, they still value old things.

It was fascinating to see that the countryside here in the US can have its own path of modernization: preserving the old while still modernizing, it doesn't have to be along the lines of becoming like a city. So in Tibet, it is widely thought that, for example, nomads need to get rid of their black tents and then they can modernize, but maybe that is not necessarily so; maybe they can keep their nomadic traditions, on the outside, and still modernize from the inside. It seems that this is what has happened in the American countryside. We also note that maybe all forms of modernization are not appropriate for Tibet: the example of the inappropriateness of cars, and the destruction of the environment that often comes from blind modernization. It seems that the American countryside has been modernized, but that neither the environment nor the relations between people have been damaged, this is really a wonderful thing.

It was interesting to see how central the church was in the life of the community, and how there was a similarity between the importance of church in the US and temples/monasteries in Tibet, but there is also a difference: one does not see in Tibet the kind of common enjoyment that one sees in American churches: there is no "fear" or blind worship, but rather people come together in equality.

In American churches, it seems that there are no specialized personnel, but it is people who come together, after their work, voluntarily, to keep the church, religious and musical traditions alive. It is also interesting to see the similarity between the church and the Tibetan monastery in terms of mutual assistance and helping people with welfare programs, although it seems to be more "real" and evident through the American churches.

As for the visits with Bessie Eldredth and Rick Ward, the obvious point is that they are both preserving traditional folk music: one an older person who has young people make special trips to come see her, the other a young person. Both display a perseverance in their efforts to preserve the cultural tradition (despite the fact that, for Rick, it is not for money that he is doing it, and, for Bessie, that it is not easy for an older person to be so active in preservation efforts). Many people now don't think the traditional music is that important, but they both think it is valuable, and they both are willing to sacrifice to make possible the continuance of the tradition-- this is a very valuable contribution.

Bessie Eldreth is living proof that old traditions can still live on, in the way people come to consult her, and to learn from her, and the PhD thesis about her. In the beauty of her music, which lies in the way it reflects the way she grew up and lives, people get a special feeling.