Thupten Tenzin
Thupten Tenzin's parents fled from the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, traveling on foot for about ninety days over the Himalayan mountains when he was three years old. The family settled in Ladakh, India, near the border with Tibet. At age 19, Thupten went to the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharmsala, India to train as a music and dance teacher. He was sponsored by Tibetan Children's Village (TCV), an organization dedicated to educating the children of nearly 100,000 Tibetan refugees living in India. Prime Minister Nehru said that Tibetans could send their children to any of the schools in India, but Dalai Lama said we need special schools for us, so we can keep alive our culture for Tibetan children. After an intensive three-year special course in both music and dance, TCV sent him back to Ladakh to teach in one of the five new Tibetan schools. He later moved to the TCV school in Patli-khul, developing a program in music and dance from the three principal regions of Tibet, organizing a performing troupe, and teaching Tibetan language.
Thupten's teacher at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts was an old master musician named Lhutse who had trained with a folk opera group in Lhasa. Because he was learning many different instruments, songs, and dances, Thupten's instruction and practice lasted from early morning until evening. He became proficient in five instruments important in secular Tibetan music: damyen, a six-stringed lute which is often depicted in Buddhist teachings and paintings as a symbol of the harmony of existence, also appearing as a magical instrument in folk tales; gyumang, a type of zither played with a small hammer; piwang, a two-stringed fiddle in both large and small sizes, and bamboo flute.
These instruments often provide solo or ensemble accompaniment for folk dances which differ from region to region in Tibet. Thupten's repertoire included a secular, quite rigorous classical music which he can also compose. After moving to Norwalk in 1993 he formed a folk dance group with other Connecticut Tibetans, performing around New England for two years. Thupten's two daughters joined him from India in 1996. He passed away in the late 1990s.
