Arts writer
THE beauty of traditional Tibetan folk music is showcased through a variety of working songs, songs about family and the beauty of the land in Ngawang Choephel’s 2010 film Tibet in Song, which will be screened at the Labia on Orange Street on Sunday at 6pm.
There will be an introduction and Q&A by Venerable Geshe Lhakdor, a Tibetan by birth, who is currently a close associate of HH Dalai Lama and co-writer of his books such as Beyond Religion.
The film was a winner of the Special Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
In Tibet in Song, rarely seen folk music performances are juxtaposed against startling footage of the early days of the Chinese invasion and a concise explanation of the factors leading to the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile in 1959. Choephel sets the stage for a unique exploration of the Chinese impact on Tibetans inside Tibet.
It is both a celebration of traditional Tibetan folk music and a harrowing journey into the past 50 years of cultural repression inside Chinese controlled Tibet. Director Choephel, who was a Fullbright Scholar in the US, returned to Tibet to record traditional folk music. However, he was arrested and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. After five years he was liberated due to his mother’s pleas, with the support of international artists such as Annie Lennox, Philip Glass and Paul McCartney.
This film weaves a story of beauty, pain, brutality and resilience, introducing Tibet to the world in a way never before seen on film. It is a heartbreaking tale of cultural exploitation and resistance, which includes Choephel’s own imprisonment for recording the very songs at the centre of the film. Tibet in Song provides raw and uncensored look at Tibet as it stands today, a country plagued by brutality, yet willing to fight for the existence of its unique cultural heritage.
It features both original music composed by Choephel himself, and an array of traditional folk songs sung by native Tibetans.
l 021 424 5927.