The Music of Penam (pa snam)

Location

The archive's collection of song recordings from the Penam region are primarily drawn from the village of Sokhang (gso khang), located in Mak (mag) township, Penam county. Penam county lies in the eastern portion of Shigatse prefecture, 193 kilometers southwest of Lhasa, and 36 kilometers southeast of the city of Shigatse. The southern portions of the Penam are extremely mountainous, with peaks over 5000 meters. The landscape flattens out in the central and northern parts of the county, where river valleys provide relatively rich farmland for raising barley, wheat, potatoes, peas, and rape seed. Mak township is in the central portion of Penam; the township government is located in Sokhang village. A dirt road runs from the county seat to Sokhang, where it terminates at the township government compound, across the river from the main village.

The farmers of Sokhang are relatively prosperous, living in large stone houses with a byre for yaks and sheep on the ground floor, a south-facing courtyard above for drying grain and meat, and separate kitchen, bed rooms, and common room opening onto the courtyard. The village has its own water-powered mill for grinding the staple barley into flour, and each family keeps a garden of peas, potatoes, and greens. The varied topography of the region allows farm families to graze livestock on mountain pastures above the village, and some villagers specialize in herding. The local diet in summer consists of barley or pea-flour tsampa, yogurt, soups made of potatoes or greens, and dried meat cut straight from the joint. Food is accompanied by generous amounts of yak-butter tea and chang (barley beer). As a ritual sign of this agricultural abundance, guests are traditionally served chang with a dollop of barley flour thrown in, and sent-off with a smear of barley flour on the left shoulder. The people of Sokhang practice polyandry, where brothers share one wife. On ceremonial occasions, the local dress for men is made of white wool trimmed with colored cloth, manufactured in the village; at weddings, the man presiding dons a red fringed hat (see photograph). Women wear brightly colored chuba, and adorn themselves with impressive arrays of jewelry. The main festivals featuring singing and dancing occur at the harvest in summer, and at the Losar new-year celebrations, which take place about a month earlier than in Lhasa.

Musical Traditions

The musical traditions of Penam are similar to other areas in the U-Tsang region of Tibet. In Sokhang, this music is vocal, without instrumental accompaniment, although in recent years a group of five young men from the village have begun to perform in the "Western" (stod gzhas) style, singing and dancing with dramnyen, flute, and bells (see essay below). The main song genres appear to be ceremonial songs (gzhas chen), drinking songs (chang gzhas), songs accompanied by dancing (zhabs bro), and pastoral songs (glu gzhas), narrative songs (rnam thar), and "folk songs" (glu), with some evidence of "Western songs" (stod gzhas) in the traditional repertoire. There is also an active tradition of performing wedding chants, read from texts, which prescribe the rules for setting up a proper household. Singing is performed during festivals(new year (lo gsar) and summer festivals, ploughing (sa ka) and harvest ('ong skor) festivals), at work, and at wedding celebrations. Of particular interest in the village of Sokhang is the presence of both song traditions associated with herders and the ceremonial song (gzhas chen) and drinking song (chang gzhas) genres typically found in agricultural communities. Sokhang also has inter-generational transmission of songs and an active community of music centered around circles of elders, younger peers, and family.

THDL Archival Resources

The archive of recordings from Penam contains examples of ceremonial songs (gzhas chen), performed in both local and "Western" (stod gzhas) style; drinking songs (chang gzhas); dancing songs (zhabs bro); a variety of pastoral songs (glu gzhas); and the performance of a wedding chant. There are also a number of "Western" songs accompanied by dramnyen. The recordings were made on August 6, 7, and 8, 2000 during four separate sessions arranged by a quartet of musicians originally from the village. Audio recordings of all the songs from Penam 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 and general performative contexts of the songs; 2) provide some information on the background of the recording sessions themselves, and on the performers we encountered in Penam.