Music of the Basum (brag gsum) region

Please note that this document is under development; not all links function at this point (2 August 2001).

The archive's collection of song recordings from the Basum region includes examples from most of the villages surrounding the lake. Precise geographical information and an introduction to local cultural practices can be found in the Digital Gazetteer. Audio recordings of the songs can be accessed by region and by genre directly through the archive, or through the links in the introductory essay below. The purpose of the essay is to: 1) briefly outline the different song genres we encountered in Basum; 2) provide some information on the general performative contexts of the songs; and 3) describe the background of the recording sessions themselves.

1. Song genres

All the songs we encountered in Basum were sung without instrumental accompaniment, and the majority included some kind of dance, from the stationary rhythmic shuffle of ceremonial songs (gzhas chen), to elaborate circle dances (linked video clips noted below). Most of the song genres were not exclusive to the region, although the terms used to describe the songs were sometimes pronounced in the local "Ba ke" language, and the content of the songs frequently referred to the local landscape and cultural life.

According to local informants, the most common song genres are Ceremonial songs (gzhas chen) and Drinking songs (chang gzhas). Ceremonial songs in Basum conform to the song genre in and around Lhasa. There in traditional times these songs were typically sung to the aristocracy by special dance troupes, especially during wedding ceremonies, and also sometimes sung to the Dalai Lama. In Basum ceremonial songs are now mostly sung during the Losar festival, perhaps more as general entertainment during the agricultural slack season than as a specific part of the New Year celebration. The ceremonial songs recorded in Basum include both call and response and ensemble singing. The songs have a typical structure, beginning with a slow introduction, followed by dance steps (with performers stepping forward and tapping their right foot three times) and a faster tempo. Each stanza concludes with the dance steps, and the songs end with an outward reaching of the arms, palms of hands held upward, suggesting gift-giving or deference. The archive contains examples of the ceremonial song genre from several villages, including Tsogo, Chipa, one from a male duo, and one from a female duo and Duma. One from Duma is specifically about Basum. According to villagers in Gyara and Duma, ceremonial songs are performed on the first and fifteenth days of Losar; some are specifically associated with the ritual raising of the big prayer flag at Tsogo, including one example from Duma. While in Basum the ceremonial song genre continues to be a relevant musical form, one that is apparently being transmitted to younger generations, its tranformation remains unclear: What precisely was its context in traditional times, and how has that context changed? How do ceremonial songs in Basum compare in form and content to similar songs in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet? These and other questions remain to be answered.

Drinking songs (chang gzhas) accompany the presentation and serving of chang (Tibetan barley beer). Sung mostly by women (but also, on occasion, by men) drinking songs are most frequently performed at Losar and other festival days. Local villagers say that there is no specific rule for when drinking songs should be performed, only that they should be sung when chang is served. By the same logic, in the archive's examples chang was always served when drinking songs were sung. While the drinking songs of Basum were apparently a fixed repertoire, the atmosphere surrounding them was warm, hospitable, and spontaneous; these songs were not directed at an audience, but given to a specific individual. The archive includes examples from Tsogo, Chipa, and Duma. (These songs can also be compared to examples from Penang (pad snang), near Shigatse in the U-Tsang region). Some informants identified a similar dedicatory practice of singing "proverbs" (gtam dpe). We encountered the singing of gtam dpe in Mukpa.

Another important song genre in Basum is Dancing songs (pronounced "Bo" or "Bo Yi" in Basum; perhaps the local pronunciation of zhabs bro "dancing" or zhabs bro gzhas "dancing song" in U-Tsang). Dancing songs are typically call and response between men and women, accompanied by dance steps specific to the song (see video clip). According to local villagers, there is no limit to the number of participants in dancing songs, but men always call, women respond, and they are performed exclusively during the Losar festival (according to one informant from Chipa (brjed pa), dancing songs are performed only on days 3 and 5 of Losar and the dancing goes on all night long). The archive contains examples of "Bo" dancing songs from Tsogo (mtsho 'go) where they are specialists in the genre and from Chipa and Duma. Note that most informants specify Tsogo as the center of dancing song performances, although some said that it still exists in other places (e.g. the village of Lo) but only relatively rarely. According to informants during a group interview in Gyara (rgya ra), however, they have their own form of "Bo" that is unique to their village. The Gyara festival on the tenth day of the fourth month also involves circumambulation of the lake, with ritual fumigation, the raising of a new prayer flag, and an offering of tsampa (barley flour) to Dorje Yudron, the female god/protector spirit (yul lha) of Gyara.

"Geng" is another dance form specifically associated with Losar and the circumambulation of Basum lake. The archive has no examples of this genre, and we could find no one able to perform the dance during our fieldwork. According to various descriptions given by local villagers, Geng is a dance involving at least 12 people: a minimum of nine male dancers, two women serving chang to the dancers, one man in the center of the dancing, holding a thangka (religious painting). The dancing is accompanied by drums and non-verbal vocalizing, and it is performed on day fifteen of Losar. According to a different group of informants during an interview in Gyara, there are three female participants. The Gyara group also said that there is a rest period for the "Geng" dancers, during which another dance/song is performed by Tsogo villagers. In this performance, a man on horseback circles around the town courtyard, flanked by two men, all of them singing a song which recounts the process of wool being made into yarn, then woven into cloth, and finally made into the traditional chuba clothing worn by local people. These singers are then paid for their song by a local benefactor – in traditional times, one of the local elite; today, a representative of the local government. (For a different account of this performance, see "context" below).

In interviews, we were told that "Geng" is the most active and complicated of the Losar festival dances in Basum, and that it is not widespread. When asked why "Geng" was not performed in their village, the Gyara group responded that there were only three places where it is performed, because the dance is related to the protector spirits of those places, especially Tsogo. It is unclear from these interviews whether "Geng" is unique to Basum or simply the local pronunciation of a dance common to other regions of Tibet.

While most of the genres described above are primarily associated with festivals and leisure, Basum (as other regions of Tibet) also has a tradition of Work songs (las gzhas). Villagers listed five kinds of work songs, for the activities of : planting, grass cutting, harvesting, threshing, and shingling of houses (house building). The archive includes examples of grass cutting and grain threshing songs from Chipa, and from Mukpa. Work songs from Duma include planting and housebuilding songs. Some singers identified both "old" and "new" work songs, suggesting that this genre continues to evolve and maintain relevance to work activities. Other informants said that work songs are less common today, and often supplanted by recorded music. Again, comparison with work songs from other regions of Tibet would be an important direction of further research.

The last of the song genres specifically identified by the Basum villagers we interviewed is Folksongs (dmangs gzhas), a catch-all, generic term derived from the Chinese neologism "min ge." These "folksongs" have no specific lyrics; the words are made up to fit the circumstance. They are always quite spontaneous, usually quite short, and used to express emotions such as friendship, appreciation/respect, and, occasionally, negative feelings in a teasing way. Most often "folksongs" are sung by young men to express their affection for young women, who respond with a smile, or with a "cold face." The archive has examples from Mukpa and Duma, including one song that conveys the humorous flirtation of this genre.

2. Context

An anomaly in the context of music in Basum is that their songs are sung in standard Tibetan, or in Kongpo dialect, rather than in their local Ba ke language, although there is some evidence that some of the words in some of their songs are Ba ke. That anomaly aside, there seems to be at least a thread of thematic continuity in what could be called a Basum musical culture (i.e. songs about Basum), a thread that is interwoven with songs that are more broadly "Tibetan." There is also significant local variation within Basum, as some people identify songs that are specific to villages, rather than to the whole region.

In terms of when and where the songs are performed, it seems that the majority are identified with the Losar holiday, either because of ritual association (see the "Bo" and "Geng" genres above), or, more generally, because more songs are performed during the free time of the festival season (see the ceremonial and drinking song genres, above). Singing also occurs during other holidays: the circumambulation of the lake on the tenth day of the fourth month, and on other festival days (in the ninth month, and on the 4th and 10th days of the sixth month).

The Losar celebration is a particularly rich context for music in Basum. As described by a local teacher from Tsogo, when these celebrations are centered in his village (apparently they are held in alternate years at the island temple in Basum lake and in Tsogo) as many as 500 to 1,000 people attend. Immediate preparations for the prayer flag raising and attendant ceremonies on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month begin two days before, on the thirteenth. On the fifteenth, the festivities begin with singing and dancing the teacher referred to as glu dbyang. A lama is invited to read scripture and ritually prepare the offering, 'tshog, held aloft as part of the glu dbyang. In addition to singing and dancing there is also a shooting competition and all the villagers are dressed in their finest clothes. The next part of the festival the teacher described is the seating of the participants in a large circle, according to age and status, and the serving of chang by the women to the men. Then the celebrants sing an antiphonal "history song" (rgyus gzhas), alternating male and female. According to the teacher, this rgyus gzhas and another song that is part of the Losar celebration, rgyas chang, are only remembered by the older members of the community; young people are not able to sing them. At this point the women retire, and the men sing a competitive debate song in pairs, 'gus gzhas (also 'gus glu in other parts of Tibet). A short period of rest follows, during which people change clothes in preparation for the "geng" dance.

The teacher (and other informants) described the "geng" dance as the most energetic and skilled dance that is performed in the region. The dancers are served chang by three women, chosen for their beauty and dressed in the finest clothes, and a handsome man from the village is chosen to stand in the center of the dancers, wearing an elaborate costume and headdress (referred to as a "saksha" or "mongol hat"). The teacher said that "geng" used to be a masked dance with dancers wearing tall hats, but that today they simply paint their faces to represent the masks. As to the origins of "geng" the teacher believed that it was created by a lama who dreamed of dancing figures, and then made up the dance based on his dream.

Along with the "geng" dance, another performance occurs, given by the gang skyod thob pa, a figure described as someone who keeps order during the "geng" dance. During a break in the "geng" the gang skyod thob pa, accompanied by two "servants," entertains the crowd by singing a satirical song poking fun at some influential figure in the audience (a local leader, lama, or wealthy business person). The victim of the gang skyod thob pa's satire must then pay him a small gift (20-30 yuan) as penalty. The teacher pointed out that the gang skyod thob pa had to be a man of learning, and that he must craft humorous lyrics appropriate to the victim and entertaining to the audience.

When the "geng" is finished, a new musical activity (the contents of which are unclear, perhaps "history songs" ) takes place at dusk, for which the women must all wear white, and the men wear clothing trimmed with fox fur. After two hours of singing, the participants sing and dance "Bo" all night until daybreak, when the celebration ends.

While the festival context of folk music in Basum seems to be the most consistent continuity between traditional times and the present, with evidence that young people still perform and participate in the old songs and dances (especially in ritual centers such as Tsogo), there are also indications that other social contexts for music have been radically changed. The ceremonial songs, once performed at the weddings of local elite families, are probably the most 'deracinated', although this surmise has to be verified by understanding more about their traditional and modern performance contexts. Perhaps one measure of the vitality and relevance of traditional music in Basum is the way local villagers have used old forms to create new songs. The four women from Duma, for example, sing a Bo dedicated to the memory of a beloved local lama who tragically drowned in the lake in 1999. The members of this group range in age – 65, 45, 35, and 22 years old – suggesting that both traditional songs and newly created traditional music are being transmitted to younger generations. More generally, young people are less interested in the old songs, and are learning fewer of them, as they are more attracted to pan-Tibetan popular music, now available through cassette tapes.

Island Temple on Basum Lake

Perhaps one reason some of the song traditions in Basum are not being taken up by more young people is that the structures of their transmission are relatively loose. Informants from Tsogo in their 30s and early 40s say that in their village there are families who have a longstanding performance tradition, and music is passed on within the family. Others from different villages say that their transmission of songs is less formal – the result of singing ability and personal interest in the music, rather than any family tradition. In fact, the way most songs are passed on is through inter-generational socializing in villages with a very small population – contrasted with peer socializing in larger populations, which tends to promote popular rather than traditional music. The availability of cassette tapes has also worked against the transmission of old song traditions: for example, work songs that once accompanied house building are being replaced by taped music among some young people. There is also evidence that commercial music popular elsewhere in Tibet is also popular in Basum.

Still, the connection between traditional music and the local landscape is important in Basum. This connection is clearest in the highest profile ritual activity: the circumambulation of the lake, and the centrality of Tsogo and its musical traditions in that ritual activity. Future research into the musical culture of Basum might focus more on the unique character of Tsogo as a place, and on the connection between "protector spirits" and local music.

3. Recording Sessions Background

The archive's recordings of Basum music come from nine separate sessions, carried out between July 16-26, 2000. We explained the objectives of the recording project to each performer, paid them for their participation, and secured their release to use the recordings for educational purposes only. The team of researchers included Denzin and Konchok Jiatso from the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences; Paul Brown, recording engineer (National Public Radio); John Flower and Pamela Leonard, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; David Germano, Frances Garrett, and Travis McCauley, University of Virginia; Nicolas Tournadre, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. The audio recordings were made with a Sony TCD5 Pro II portable cassette deck, using AT825 X-Y Stereo microphones, recording on Maxell 2S 60 minute analog cassette tapes. We used a Sony PD150 digital camcorder with a condenser microphone for the video recordings, and a Kodak DC290 Digital Camera for the still photographs.

The most salient condition surrounding all of the recordings is that the performances are out of their natural context. The very limited fieldwork window, and the timing of fieldwork during the busy summer agricultural season rather than the Losar holiday in winter, meant that the songs were requested rather than observed. In some cases, noted below, this out-of-season time frame prevented the locally acknowledged "best singers" from participating. In all cases the performances were unavoidably unnatural (akin to singing Christmas carols in July!).

Despite this fundamental handicap, the villagers of Basum understood the objective of our project and responded generously. Some actually sought us out, volunteering their performance out of a sense of pride in their local culture, and with a clear understanding that some of their musical traditions are disappearing as the older generation passes on.

Session 1 Tsomjuk (mtsho mjug)
(July 16, 18. Tapes 15, 17: not yet processed into the archive)
In many respects we descended on Basum like a small army, arriving en masse with a large truckload of equipment, and setting up camp on a small field outside the village of Tsomjuk (mtsho mjug) at the foot of the lake. Our initial contact in the area was Tashi Pelden, who had previously worked with Nicolas Tournadre and Konchok Jiatso on their linguistic research. We were introduced to Jiatso, a Tsomjuk villager and local leader who allowed us to use his home as a recording site, and who arranged for three singers to perform. We recorded 5 songs, and the singers introduced us to the main forms of song and dance in Basum, including gzhas chen and zhab bro. In addition, David Germano recorded two teenage girls in the fields behind Tsomjuk on July 18.

Session 2 Mukpa (smu pa)
(July 17. Tape 16, not yet processed into the archive)
Since it was not possible to lodge our group in a village, after this session we decamped from the field outside the village and moved to the tourist shacks a few kilometers up the lake shore, near the island temple. From this base we made day trips by car to villages around the lake and in the valley below, but on the first day in our new quarters we had a group who came to us. Jiatso contacted relatives in the village of Mukpa, on the road approach to the lake, who sent three teenage girls (bsod nams dbyangs 'dzoms, nyi sgron, and blo bzang dbyangs can) to us. Overall, the results of this session were not very good, from the standpoint of either recording or interview. We were plagued by wind and bees affecting the sound, and by an impromptu audience that reduced our interviewees to nervous embarrassment. Paul Brown and I worked with Ah Nu, our cook, as interpreter who translated into limited Chinese. The fact that we were three men clearly did not put our informants at ease. They managed to sing four songs they learned from elders of their families, and to share what they knew about them. They noted that the best villages for music were Tsogo (mtsho 'go) at the head of the lake, and Gyara and Duma lower in the valley.

Session 3 Mukpa (smu pa)
(July 19. Tapes 18, 19, 20, 21)
The recording session in Mukpa was chaotic, but revealing. We arrived on a day when many of the villagers were working together to shore up the banks of the river, so there were quite a few people about, and something of a carnival atmosphere prevailed – especially with our arrival. We divided into smaller teams and began recording impromptu interviews. One of these interviews, with Panjor (46 years old) covered basic information on household economy, inheritance patterns, marriage customs, and local festivals. He also reviewed his understanding of local song genres, including what he referred to as "mang gzhas" (literally, "folk songs") which he described as spontaneous expressions of feeling in song, especially flirtation between young people. With some embarassment (and to the delight of the gathered crowd) he sang a sample to David Germano and me. That afternoon we gathered in a house (belonging to Jiatso's relative) and recorded four local women singing. The session was marred by our attempts to maintain relative quiet while recording, which only incensed the local children who wanted to join in the fun. In this turbulent atmosphere, the women singers were a bit nervous, and our attempts to elicit the work songs they sang to Pam Leonard and Denzin earlier in the day were largely unsuccessful. The first songs they performed were folklorized Kongpo songs heavily influenced by the stod gzhas (Western song) style. It was interesting to note that when we 'gave up' our efforts to record songs indigenous to Basum and allowed them to sing whatever they liked, the two younger women of the group chose to sing popular songs, sung with pronounced vibrato in a distinctly Chinese karaoke style. Following this, the two older women chose to lead a Basum ceremonial song (gzhas chen) with a six verse structure and different closing phrase, dancing steps, and distinct ornamentation which the younger singers did not sing. The last songs of the session were proverb songs (gtam dpe) sung as solos.

Session 4 Lo and Te
(July 20. Tape 22)
The villages of Lo and Te are located up the mountain from the lake – a very difficult drive from the main road – and we encountered very few villagers there. We made no song recordings, but did interview some of the residents on the local economy and festivals, and on the zhabs bro (dancing song) genre and the "geng" dance at Losar.

Session 5 Chipa (brjed pa)
(July 21. Tape 23a, b, c)
Chipa was the last village reachable on the lakeshore road during the rainy season. It contains local government buildings, a small restaurant, a primary school, and a store which served as our studio. We recorded four singers in Chipa, two men – Dondup (don grub) 62, and Chosang (chos bzang) 40 – and two women – Pema Donma (pad ma sgron ma) 63, and Sonam Tsomo (bsod nams mtsho mo) 69. The men performed ceremonial (gzhas chen) and drinking (chang gzhas) songs, two of which they identified as being from the "old society." Dondup was a bit out of breath and stopped dancing on the last song because he was tired. The women also sang ceremonial and drinking songs, as well as work songs and songs associated with the Losar festival. Sonam Tsomo was particularly energetic, despite her age, and informative on the performance context of the songs. These recordings were made by Konchok Jiatso, John Flower, Paul Brown and Travis McCauley; interview recordings were made on the same day nearby by David Germano and others.

Session 6 Tsogo (mtsho 'go)
(July 23. Tape 25)
(July 26. Tape 33)
As noted in the essay above, Tsogo is the center of Basum music by virtue of its location at the head of the lake, and its hosting role for the Losar celebrations on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. It was over half a day's walk from Chipa to Tsogo, and we arranged to stay the night in the public building overlooking the village square (the site of many of the Losar activities), where we recorded a group of Tsogo villagers who perform during Losar. The head of the group was a 43 year old man, Tsering Nyima (tshe ring nyi ma), who led three women – Phakya Lhamo (phag skyag lha mo), 34, Dzomkyi ('dzoms skyid), 34, and Tsechu (tshe bcu), 27 – in a number of dancing, ceremonial, and drinking songs. Their performance was confident and well-rehearsed, and Tsering Nyima was clearly a regular at the Tsogo Losar celebrations. On July 26, we were able to interview the teacher from Tsogo, a local antiquarian whom virtually all the villagers we met acknowledged as an authority on the history and culture of Basum, at our base camp.

Session 7 Zala
(July 23. Tape 27, not yet processed into the archive)
Konchok Jiatso and Nicolas Tournadre travelled further up the mountain from Tsogo, going on horseback to the relatively large and remote village of Zala. There they recorded three ceremonial songs and carried out interviews on local spirits and the folklore of the landscape.

Session 8 Duma
(July 25. Tape 28, 29 filenames)
(July 26. Tape 32 filenames)
The small village of Duma is located down the valley from Basum lake, close by the village of Gyara. While talking to villagers in Gyara about meeting local singers, Yangchen Tsomo (dbyangs can mtsho mo) overheard, and invited us to come the next day to her friend's home in Duma to record their group. We arrived at the appointed time at a newly constructed house on the side of the main road, and were met by four women dressed in their holiday best: Yangchen Tsomo, 45, her daughter Lhache Dadon, 22, our hostess Xiaomi (sho mig, a sinified name), 35, and the group's leader and teacher, Diki (bde skyid), 64 years old. This was the best session in which I participated in Basum: the atmosphere was warm, friendly, and relaxed, and we were served yak butter tea and chang throughout. The singers were clearly enjoying themselves, and Diki was knowledgable and articulate in her explanations of the songs. After recording for several hours, Denzin, Paul Brown and I arranged to return the next day to continue. We shared a meal on the following day, and enjoyed another good session of recording and conversation. To send us off with proper ceremony, our hosts sang drinking songs and served chang to us, and Xiaomi gave us one of her photographs of the Tsogo Losar festivities (the picture at the head of this essay) from her collection.

Session 9 Gyara (rgya ra)
(July 25. Tape 30, 31)
I arrived in Gyara late, having stayed on at Duma, and the video recording session led by David Germano and Travis McCauley was well underway. A local government official had arranged for a group of Gyara villagers to perform the dancing songs they would normally do at Losar (see the video above). The atmosphere was festive, and it seemed that most of the village had turned out to enjoy the show. It also seemed a fitting way to wind up our brief encounter with the musical traditions of Basum.

John Flower
University of North Carolina, Charlotte