Traditional Arts Spotlight: Rolyang Lobling Prepares for the Tibet Festival
Mentor Artist: Migmar Tsering
Apprentice: Students of Rolyang Lobling
Traditional Artform: Tibetan Dranyen
The 2023-2024 cohort of the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program includes 18 collaborations between mentor artists and apprentices who are working together to keep traditional cultural expressions vital and relevant to the communities that practice them. With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and a longstanding partnership with the Vermont Arts Council, Vermont Folklife initiated this program in 1992 to support the continued vitality of Vermont's living cultural heritage. In this ongoing series of Field Notes we’ll introduce you to some of this year’s program participants and the traditional art forms they practice. Vermont Folklife has been documenting the work of participants in the Apprenticeship Program since its inception. These interviews and audio-visual records are part of an ongoing collection in our Archive centered around traditional arts, music, and trades.
This note features interview excerpts, audio, and photos recorded at a recent site visit by VT Folklife staffer Mary Wesley.
Migmar Tsering’s dranyen students call him “Gen Migmar la,” a term of respect for a teacher in the Tibetan language. Migmar has been teaching Tibetan music, dance, and song within Vermont’s Tibetan community since he arrived in the state in 2011. In 2016 he officially created Rolyang Lobling, a performing arts school that meets regularly in Burlington’s Old North End. Vermont Folklife has supported the group since its inception through our Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP).
Migmar leading students in a tune on the Tibetan dranyen
Below are text and audio excerpts from interviews with Migmar, his students, and their parents recorded at a recent rehearsal where the group was rehearsing a song that will be performed at the upcoming Tibet Festival in Burlington, VT on Saturday, November 11, 2023.
Rolyang Lobling
Migmar: I am the founder of Rolyang Lobling, which was started in 2016 on November 1. This is the second batch of the music class. Rolyang means “instrument,” and Lobling means “the place where we learn.” This is the 19th Tibet Festival coming up on November 11.
For this year’s festival my students will be playing dranyen on the song “Emma Lenchik.” This is a very traditional, well known Tibetan song. I would bet if you are a Tibet singer you will not grow up without singing this song. It’s that common, that famous, that celebrated, especially by Tibetan artists. It’s actually a song about celebration, so it suits.
“It’s quite amazing to see the whole community gathering around and sing while they play.”
It talks about you being on top of the hill and you are making a lot of noise up there. It’s not to show how good my voice is—it’s telling you, I’m trying to show how good my voice is, something like that. When I come down the hill and you see me putting the crystal clear water in chang, which is Tibetan beer. It’s a celebration—let’s come together and drink beer and have fun. And then the last verse of the song says “it’s very prosperous that we are all together here and I wish that we can be always together like this, celebrating life, supporting and cherishing each others’ friendship. That’s what the song is all about.
Students and parents - why are you in this class?
In the audio clip to the right you’ll hear students rehearsing Emma Lenchik and students and parents sharing what the class means to them..
Students
I’m in this class because I want to learn more about my culture and I feel like that’s really important.
I really love being in this class because I got to learn a lot and it helped me express my way of understanding my culture’s language.
Instead of just doing dranyen all the time we also sing a lot. We do group dances sometimes along with it and he makes us learn the roots of the song before we actually play it on the dranyen, so that makes it easy to understand.
I’ve done dranyen for four years with my sister and I enjoy it because we do many performances. One time I got to I got to customize one part in the ending and I did a cartwheel!
Music kind of calms me down, and it’s nice to socialize with my friends.
Parents
I think they not only enjoy playing music but they also learn the Tibetan language. Gen Migmar la also teaches them music, they sing songs and they also perform on the stage. The music brings them together, they learn a lot. Through music they learn the Tibetan language, the culture, the tradition.
I try to emphasize to my boys and let them know how lucky we are to have Gen Migmar la in Vermont, This is such a blessing, part of it is because with music, it’s one of the ways we are preserving the culture. It’s not just dranyen class, there’s so much in depth to this.
The last two community gatherings we’ve had were amazing because the kids’ performances just get better and better every time. I know our last one I had tears in my eyes because everybody was singing and getting along. I think the whole community in general are proud with what Gen Migmar has done with these kids. It’s quite amazing to see the whole community gather around and sing while they play.
The 19th annual Tibet Festival
Students:
The Tibet Festival is about our culture, showing our dances, our food (especially the food!), and the songs. Everybody gets together and does the circle dance.
The Tibet Festival is really enjoyable because there’s a bunch of food and different people performing, including us and my mom sometimes, and a bunch of other parents. They perform different times, the yak dance and the snow lion dance. I feel like I want to do that when I’m older.
The gorshay is the circle dance. I did it once and then I started doing it again and again. I instantly fell in love with trying to match my rhythm. It was a good challenge watching the other people [adults] that are good at it and seeing how close I am to them. I could really notice how it is to be one of them. It’s so fun, too.
Migmar: In this festival we have the whole community working together. From the young kids to the old community members, we are one in this. That is the most special thing about this festival. The other thing is, this is a platform where we get to share Tibetan culture, Tibetan costumes, Tibetan food, Tibetan craft… It’s the most beautiful medium through which we can add beauty to the diversity in Burlington.
The third most important thing about the festival is, because we have a festival, way before, three months before we start practicing. There are groups, like Tashi Shoepa group [a traditional welcome dance], they will be practicing that dance. Then we have the yak dance and the snow lion dance as the kids told us, they [the adult groups] will be practicing those dances. And then the Rolyang Lobling group practicing the dranyen, and then there is a teenage group practicing Tibetan cultural dance, and then there are two adult groups practicing their own dances. So each group might have at least one, maximum three performances that they do.
At the end of the festival we always try to do a fashion show. The motive for doing that is sharing Tibetan costume, and at the same time celebrating the time, the hard work that we put into this celebration, bringing everything out there and cherishing that “We did it!” Thanking each other, patting our shoulders, saying “Yes, if we are all together in this we can accomplish anything!”
•••
Thank you Migmar and Rolyang Lobling for welcoming us at your class!
Learn More
Made Here
VT Folklife is working in collaboration with Migmar and other artists participating in the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program to create a three part podcast series titled The Arts That Shape Us, exploring the nuance and complexity of what the traditions "of Vermont" really are.
This project is generously supported through Vermont Public’s “Made Here” fund.