Luocangguanque

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From 1983 to 1984 he studied flute playing and the reading of Tibetan gongche notation at the Guomang Zengzha (Lower Flower Courtyard) of Kumbum Monastery under Xiangqu Gele, and from 1984 to 1985 he studied the performance techniques of the guanzi, the small suona and percussion instruments under Angwang Luozang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Buddhist Music in Huangzhong, Qinghai: At its height the Kumbum Flower-stand band numbered more than forty members and a repertoire of more than thirty pieces; at present the musician monks can remember only thirteen pieces, and only nineteen monks can play the flute, the guanzi pipe, the nine-cloud gong, the sheng and similar instruments. The band is written down in Tibetan gong-che notation; inheritors such as Luozang Guanque and Luozang Genga have long taught student monks the art of playing the flute and the guanzi pipe, together with the reading of Tibetan gong-che notation and numbered musical notation. Kumbum Monastery stands in Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province, and is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelukpa school. Inside the monastery, the upper and lower butter-sculpture courtyards have each maintained a monk band from the very founding of the monastery, serving exclusively the making of the butter sculptures and their display as an offering, and this has continued for more than six hundred years. From the tenth lunar month to the twelfth lunar month every year the musician monks play music for each important stage of the three-month-long making period; during the Great Prayer Assembly from the eighth to the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the performance reaches its climax when the butter sculptures are displayed as an offering on the evening of the fifteenth.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Tibetan, born in October 1964, a native of Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province. He has systematically mastered the ten pieces performed in the Huajia (Flower Frame) music of Kumbum Monastery, is able to read the entire corpus of Tibetan gongche notation, and is thoroughly proficient in the playing techniques of the dizi, guanzi, Tibetan-style suona and related instruments. He began performing Huajia music in 1984. He has devoted himself to collecting and organizing historical materials concerning Huajia music. Within the documented technical tradition of Buddhist Music in Huangzhong, Qinghai: Kumbum Monastery is a sacred site of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the six great monasteries of the Gelukpa school; its butter sculptures, murals and silk appliqué are hailed as the three supreme achievements of Tibetan art. The Flower-stand music of Kumbum Monastery is music played specifically for the making of the butter sculptures and their display as an offering. Kumbum Monastery has an upper and a lower butter-sculpture courtyard devoted to the making of the butter flowers, and the “flower-stand” band is a monk band established specifically for the making of the butter sculptures and their display as an offering. It comprises two bands, Jiezong Zengzha belonging to the upper courtyard and Guomang Zengzha belonging to the lower courtyard; these are the only bands of their kind in the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries of the Qinghai area, and they have continued unbroken since the monastery was founded, a history of more than six hundred years. From the tenth to the twelfth lunar month every year, during the three-month process of making the butter sculptures, the two bands play the relevant pieces for every important stage of production in their own courtyard. During the Great Prayer Assembly from the eighth to the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the performance of the Flower-stand music reaches its climax when the butter sculptures are displayed as an offering on the evening of the fifteenth. Before the Cultural Revolution this band also frequently played together with the monastery's ceremonial procession band to welcome and see off eminent monks and preceptors. At its height the Flower-stand band had more than forty members and a repertoire of more than thirty pieces; at present the musician monks can remember only thirteen pieces, and only nineteen monks can play instruments such as the flute, the guanzi pipe, the nine-cloud gong and the sheng. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Flower-stand bands": Kumbum Monastery has an upper and a lower butter-sculpture courtyard devoted to the making of the butter flowers, and the “flower-stand” band is a monk band established specifically for the making of the butter sculptures and their display as an offering; it comprises two bands, Jiezong Zengzha belonging to the upper courtyard and Guomang Zengzha belonging to the lower courtyard, and these are the only bands of their kind in the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries of the Qinghai area. "Tibetan gong-che notation": Flower-stand music is notated in Tibetan gong-che notation; an inheritor must be able to interpret the complete Tibetan gong-che notation and must also be versed in reading numbered musical notation. "Nineteen monks, thirteen pieces": At its height the band numbered more than forty members and a repertoire of more than thirty pieces; at present the artist-monks can remember only thirteen pieces, only nineteen monks can play the flute, the guanzi pipe, the nine-cloud gong, the sheng and similar instruments, and the small suona, the ancient sheng and the plucked instruments can now be played by very few people. "Great Prayer Festival climax": During the Great Prayer Assembly from the eighth to the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the performance of Flower-stand music reaches its climax when the butter sculptures are displayed as an offering on the evening of the fifteenth; before the Cultural Revolution this band also frequently played together with the monastery's ceremonial procession band to welcome and see off eminent monks and preceptors.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Buddhist Music (Huajia Music of Tibetan Buddhism at Kumbum Monastery), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Since 2004 he has taught student monks the playing techniques of the dizi, guanzi and other instruments used in Huajia music, as well as the reading of Tibetan gongche notation and numbered musical notation, and has trained a group of core performers including Luozang Angxiu and Angwang Xire.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Luocangguanque · National Representative Bearer Archive