CCHAP Transition Party: Performance by Lakedhen Shingsur
PerformerPerformed by
Lakedhen Shingsur
(Tibetan, born 1962)
Date2018 September 20
Mediumborn digital video
DimensionsDuration: 13 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.284.5
DescriptionVideo of a flute performance by Lakedhen Shingsur at the Connecticut Historical Society on September 20, 2018.
NotesSubject Note: On September 20, 2018, the Connecticut Historical Society hosted a celebration of new CCHAP Director Kate Schramm and outgoing CCHAP Director Lynne Williamson. Many artists and community members who had worked with CCHAP over the years attended. Several artists performed, either solo or in impromptu jam sessions, in the spirit of friendship and creativity.Biographical Note: Born in Gangtok, Sikkim in 1962, Lakedhen Shingsur is a natural musician who taught himself to play flute while at the Indo-Tibet Buddhist Cultural Institute school in West Bengal. He became a versatile musician also able to accompany on damyen. He formed an amateur dance and drama club which still exists to present Tibetan song and dance, learning songs from Tibetan elders living in Sikkim. For ten years he was a member of the Sikkim National Performing Arts Troupe, touring in India, Canada, the Middle East, and visiting the U.S. for the Festival of India in 1982. He has lived in Old Saybrook and Clinton, CT since arriving in 1992.
Lakedhen's primary instrument is the transverse flute. Usually made of bamboo with 6 finger holes, these are played throughout the Himalayan region. As a working musician Lakedhen's repertoire included modern Indian film scores as well as the folk music of Tibet, Sikkim, and Nepal. He learned many songs from the director and other members of the song and drama troupe, representing a number of ethnic groups from the region. Love songs, traditional welcomes for guests, Buddhist spiritual lessons, historical events, dance songs, and odes to the beauty of Sikkim are some common folk song subjects.
Lakedhen has led a folk music and dance group from the Tibetan community in southeastern Connecticut, teaching traditional Tibetan music and language in the community and performing at celebrations and festivals with his music group and students. He was featured in the CD "Sounds Like Home - Connecticut Traditional Musicians" which can be heard on the CHS YouTube channel.
"One of our songs is Dhana-Hain Roupaun: Sikkim the valley of rice, its smiling faces, its peace, prosperity and contentment, its imposing grandeur are all a part of its heritage. Another song is called Gha-To-Ki-To: An age old tradition of welcome. Guests are served chang, a millet brew, or soicha, butter tea, as a welcome in all Sikkimese homes."
Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to this event and 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
