Southern New England Apprenticeship Program Year 17 Session - Penpa Tsering and Apprentices
SubjectPortrait of
Penpa Tsering
(Tibetan, born 1963)
SubjectPortrait of
Tenzin Yangchen
(Tibetan)
SubjectPortrait of
Kunga Choekyi
(Tibetan)
Date2015 May 10
Mediumborn digital video - MTS file
DimensionsDuration: 35 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.278.8
DescriptionVideo of a teaching session of the team in Tibetan traditional music during Year 17 of the Southern New England Apprenticeship Program. Mentor, Penpa Tsering, with apprentices Tsering Yangchen, Kunga Choekyi, and Tenzin Choekyi and members of their families. This teaching session was held at Kunga Choekyi's home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
NotesSubject Note: The Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program is a CCHAP initiative since 1997 that fosters the sharing of community-based traditional (folk) artistic skills through the apprenticeship learning model of regular, intensive, one-on-one teaching by a skilled mentor artist to a student/apprentice. The program pairs master artists from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Connecticut with apprentices from one of the other states, as a way to knit together members of the same community or group across state lines. Teaching and learning traditional arts help to sustain cultural expressions that are central to a community, while also strengthening festivals, arts activities, and events when master/apprentice artists perform or demonstrate results of their cooperative learning to public audiences. The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society manages the program in collaboration with the Folk Arts Program at the Massachusetts Cultural Council and independent folklorist Winifred Lambrecht who has a deep knowledge of the folk arts landscape of Rhode Island. Primary funding for the program comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, with support also from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Institute for Community Research, and the Connecticut Historical Society.Biographical Note: Penpa Tsering is a master of the music of his native Tibet. He sings, dances, and plays sixteen of Tibet's traditional musical instruments. Born in Chamdo, Tibet in 1963, music filled his life from an early age. His mother and grandfather taught him to sing traditional Tibetan songs, including the healing songs of his family, who, for generations, have been nomadic farmers. He claims to know over 70 Tibetan traditional songs, which are not well documented and at risk of being lost.
Eventually, like many ethnic Tibetans, he fled Chinese-governed Tibet to Nepal, and then India, by undertaking an arduous, 27-day trek across the Himalayas in 1989. On his arrival in India, Tsering was invited to join the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsala, an agency created by the Dalai Lama to preserve Tibetan culture. As a TIPA teacher and artist, he toured the world performing Tibetan music. He moved to the United States in 2001 and became a US citizen in 2006.
Although his primary instrument is the tyling (flute), Penpa Tsering has mastered the folk music styles and instruments of Tibet's three regions: his native Kham (eastern Tibet) which features the flute and the sound of the long-necked, two-stringed piwang; U-Tsang (western Tibet, roughly corresponding to the current Tibet Autonomous Region within China), whose music is based around the dramnyen, or lute; and Amdo (northern Tibet), where the dalang (Tibetan mandolin) predominates. Although the traditional Tibetan vocal repertoire was passed on to him by his mother, Penpa is primarily self-taught on these and many other traditional instruments.
Subject Note: In Years 17 and 18 (2014-2015 and 2015-2016) of the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, Tibetan musician Penpa Tsering provided music instruction and guidance to several Tibetans in the Tibetan community of Old Saybrook. The apprentices taking part were Tsering Yangchen, Tenzin Kunkyab, Tenzin Choekyi, Tenzin Kunchok, Tenzin Miglay, Tenzin Rabjam, Kunga Choekyi, Ngawang Choegyal, and Tenzin Wangchuk, with occasional participation from other Tibetans. They learned musical instruments such as flute and dramyen (stringed lute) from Penpa, who is highly skilled in all Tibetan instruments and musical forms, and he also taught them songs. After two years of learning, the apprentices were able to play music for the community's social gatherings. For their public presentation each year, the groups performed at the community’s Dalai Lama’s birthday celebration in Norwich.
Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to these artists.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view