Tibetan Opera

01 · Historical Records

Tibetan opera in the Tibet Autonomous Region is the parent body of the art, and it was carried far and wide to the Tibetan-speaking areas of the four provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan by monks who came to study in the great monasteries of central Tibet and by pilgrims; this produced branches such as Huangnan Tibetan opera in Qinghai, Gannan Tibetan opera in Gansu and Seda Tibetan opera in Sichuan. Tibetan opera originated in the religious art of the Tibetans in the 8th century. After the 1980s the Qinghai Tibetan Opera Troupe was established at Huangnan, where it created and performed outstanding plays such as Yile Xiannu, The Envoy of the Tibetan King and The Golden Dawn, which had a considerable influence at home and abroad.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Tibetan opera is also performed in the Tibetan settlements of countries such as India, Bhutan and Sikkim. The Tibetan name of the art is Lhamo, meaning 'celestial maiden'. According to legend, Tibetan opera was first performed by the Seven Sisters, and because the content of its repertoire is largely made up of mythological stories drawn from Buddhist scriptures, the name Lhamo came to be used. In the 17th century it separated from monastic religious ritual and gradually formed a naturalistic performance based mainly on singing, combining the basic formulae of singing (chang), chanting (song), dancing (wu), acting (biao), speech (bai) and technique (ji). The vocal style of Tibetan opera is high-pitched and sonorous; basically the tune is set for each individual performer, and every line of song is supported by accompanying human voices. Tibetan opera was originally a plaza (open-air) drama, accompanied by nothing but a drum and a pair of cymbals, with no other instruments. The traditional repertoire of Tibetan opera is said to comprise 'thirteen great plays'. Those most frequently performed are Princess Wencheng, King Nuosang, Langsa Wenbang, Zhuowa Sangmu, Sujinima, Baima Wenba, Dunyue Danzhu, Zhimei Gengdeng and the other works grouped under the name 'the Eight Great Tibetan Operas'. Besides these there are Reqiong Wa (Riqiong Wa), Prince Yuncheng, Jingba Qinbao, Deba Dengba, Suibai Wangqu and the like; most of these plays contain Buddhist content. Costumes in Tibetan opera consist of a single set from beginning to end; performers do not wear makeup and perform mainly in masks. Tibetan opera is divided into white-mask opera and blue-mask opera. The annual Shoton Festival is the time when opera troupes flock to perform, so the Shoton is also called the 'Tibetan opera festival'. New repertoire brought fresh vitality to Huangnan Tibetan opera. In the accompaniment to Yile Xiannu, for example, Tibetan traditional instruments such as the six-stringed lute are combined with a large modern mixed orchestra based mainly on folk instruments; while providing atmospheric music for the interludes, it can also accompany the vocal lines directly, changing the situation in which, in Tibetan opera in Tibet, the drum and cymbals served only to keep the rhythm of dancing and stage movement and very rarely accompanied the singing. The improved sets and stage art of Huangnan Tibetan opera are magnificent and splendid, full of wonder and elegance, and refreshing to the eye and ear. Tibetan opera has a long history and a meticulous set of performing formulae, and it occupies an irreplaceable position in the spiritual life of the Tibetan people. Because it is bound by strict religious and divine rules, Tibetan opera received little influence from Han culture in the course of its development, and both its performing content and its form preserve more of their original appearance; it therefore has extremely high academic value in fields such as the genesis of drama. At the same time, the scripts of Tibetan opera represent a peak of Tibetan literature: they lay weight both on musical cadence and on artistic conception, make extensive use of maxims, proverbs and idioms, and even interweave allegorical stories into the plot, preserving the essence of the language of ancient Tibetan literature. Jianggar Tibetan opera has its birthplace in the Jiangga ravine of Rinbuk County. The plays performed by Jianggar Tibetan opera include Qujie Nuosang, Ajia Langsa and Princess Wencheng and the Nepalese Princess, and sometimes Reqiong Wa. The most influential of them is Qujie Nuosang. It is said that the master actor Naga, drawing on the 'Biography of Nuosang' written by Dingqin Yunba Cairen Wangdui and on the essence of some books written by the 8th Panchen Lama and Dorje Bzitra, staged the Tibetan opera Qujie Nuosang of that time, and it was by this that the troupe became famous. The influence of Jianggar Tibetan opera is second only to that of Jumelong; it is a highly representative troupe, its speciality being fine singing, comparable to the wenxi (literary play) of Han Chinese opera, and it is highly praised by the broad masses. Its vocal style is high-pitched and full-bodied, ancient in manner and rugged, but the ornamental emphatic notes called 'zhenguo' are not as numerous as those in the Jumelong vocal style, nor have they been developed so subtly and richly. Like Jongba Tibetan opera, the plays it performs follow the 'script' rather strictly: the 'xiong' that is spoken is the 'linked-bead rhymed speech' of the narrator who expounds the plot, and the dance rhythms interspersed between the vocal lines are all leisurely, deep and slow; the performance is also comparatively simple, with no acrobatics and no special techniques. After taking part in the Lhasa performances each year, the Jianggar troupe, on returning to Shigatse, is to perform at Tashilhunpo Monastery, and the Panchen comes to watch. On the second day of the eighth month of the Tibetan calendar it must hurry back to Rinbuk to perform at Qiangqin Monastery. In summer it also has to give two or three days of performance separately for the 'Gasa Tuozi' (the Gars' garden party), the 'Zhongguo Yejie' (the garden party of officials of the seventh rank and above) and the 'Zizhong Yejie' (the garden party of the monk officials). Jianggar Tibetan opera is fairly popular in areas such as Shigatse, Gyantse, Rinbuk and Bailang; besides the professional troupes there are also amateur groups at work.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Tibetan opera is a very large system of theatrical genres. Because the various parts of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau differ in natural conditions, living customs, cultural traditions and dialect pronunciation, it possesses numerous artistic varieties and schools. A performance is generally divided into three parts: the first, called 'dun', is chiefly the opening presentation of song and dance in honour of the deities; the second, 'xiong', mainly presents the main story of the play; the third is called 'zhaxi', meaning to bless and to welcome auspiciousness. In the course of its transmission, blue-mask opera formed four major schools according to region: Jumelong Tibetan opera, Jongba Tibetan opera, Xiangba Tibetan opera and Jianggar Tibetan opera.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera · Tibetan Opera.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, the autonomous region government established the Tibet Autonomous Region Tibetan Opera Troupe on the basis of the former Jumelong troupe, taking on the task of inheriting and developing Tibetan opera. It first collated and performed traditional plays such as Langsa Wenbang, Princess Wencheng and Prince Nuosang, and also created and performed a number of plays on modern subjects; keeping the original open-air character of Tibetan opera as its base, the troupe went on to experiment with theatre and stage art, moving the art from the plaza onto the proscenium stage with lighting, scenery and makeup, and beginning to use orchestral accompaniment. In recent years, however, Tibetan opera, like the opera genres of the inland, has in the midst of change found itself in competition with modern art and forms of entertainment for audiences and for the performance market. The problems are lack of funding, the hard survival of troupes, a break in the succession of artistic talent, the loss of traditional performing skills and weak theoretical research. The crisis facing the development of Tibetan opera in each locality urgently calls for a plan to be drawn up to protect this ancient ethnic-minority genre. The Jianggar troupe still has a number of well-known performers, such as Lagu, the son of Tangqu, the last master actor before the Liberation, the 75-year-old performer Qiangba, and the young performer Danzeng; they are active in the artistic field of the Jianggar Tibetan opera tradition. Danda (official archival record of the associated inheritor): male, Tibetan, born in 1944, a native of Deqing in Tibet. In Tibetan opera he has played such different roles as monk, deity and Buddha, boatman, demon and spirit; his representative works include Sujinima, Boma Wenba, Zhuowa Sangmu and others. He is a representative inheritor of Tibetan opera (Lhasa Jumelong), inscribed in the second national-level batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Cidan Duoji (official archival record of the associated inheritor): male, Tibetan, born in 1938, a native of Lhasa, Tibet. He has thoroughly and systematically mastered the various skills of Tibetan opera, with singing, directing and acting methods of a style all his own, and he has directed a number of newly composed Tibetan operas, such as Thangtong Gyalpo. He is a representative inheritor of Tibetan opera (Lhasa Jumelong), inscribed in the second national-level batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Danda 02-0625
• Cidanduoji 02-0626
• Langjieciren 02-0627
• Ciduo 02-0628
• Ciren 02-0629
• Cirenwangdui 02-0630
• Nimaciren 02-0631
• Gamaciren 02-0632
• Baimei 02-0633
• Renqingjia 02-0634
• Duojietai 02-0635
• Ouluxueba 04-1658
• Lixianjia 04-1659
• Taluo 05-2391
• Cairanghuadan 05-2392
• Duodan
• Biandianwangjiu
• Luosangzhaxi

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Tibetan Opera (Tibet) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Danda · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Cidanduoji · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗