Opera master Norbu Tsering passes away.

[RedLantern]

I had no idea that there was such a thing as Tibetan Opera.May all be inspired by the dedication or Norbu Tsering La.
Ache Lhamo,or Tibetan Opera ,is a combination of dances,chants,songs and satires.The repertoire is based on Buddhist parables and Tibetan history.This art form was created by Yogi Thangtong Gyalpo in around 1430 to raise money for building bridges,and also to impart Buddhist teachings to the general public through art and entertainment.
Tsering served as the opera master at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) from the late 60's until he retired in 1996.He is one of the pioneers in e-establishing Ache Lhamo.( Tibetan Opera).and trained hundreds of artists during his tenure at the institute.
Born in Lhasa in 1927,he became a part of the Kyomolung Opera Troupe at a young age.He fought the Chinese invaders in 1959 in Lhasa,but was later captured at gunpoint and imprisoned for 9 months and escaped to India in 1961.
One of his students Tash Dhondup Sharzur, living in the U.S.wrote: "The Tibetan Community and the musical world have lost a great master and opera teacher".-Ghen Norbu Tsering La.He passed away at Delek Hospital in Mcleod Ganj  after a prolonged illness.He was eighty -six.

[bambi]

Om Mani Peme Hung. Gen Norbu Tsering have been doing very well by teaching and passing on his knowledge as I believe that it is important to preserve ache lhamo as it has been around since 1430. Although he went through quite a lot when he was young but it did not stop him from continuing his passion for music and arts.

I found a picture and a short video of him.

Opera master beating drum	Small | Large

[Jessie Fong]

Thank you for highlighting about the Tibetan Opera. Had I not come across this article, I would not have known about it.

I started to find out more and came across the following, extracted from :
http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/AcheLhamoTheArtOfTibetanOpera.aspx

With funding from the Molly Tomlinson Bequest the Ethnology department at World Museum and the Tibetan Institute for Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamshala, India are working together on an exciting 3-year project to create a collection of contemporary ache lhamo or Tibetan Opera for Liverpool's spectacular Tibet collections.

You may well be asking yourself what is ache lhamo (pronounced a chey lha mo)? Its unlikely you will have seen any mention of it in a museum with Tibet collections and so it remains relatively unknown to people in Europe and America who may well be familiar with the cham dances and sand mandalas of Tibetan monks.

For Tibetans ache lhamo is an incredibly popular art form, as it is a fast-paced mixture of drama, acrobatics and opera performed 'in the round' under a magnificent blue and and white tent. Spectators find themselves a good spot with their family and friends and watch whilst having a delicious picnic.

The Buddhist stories of good triumphing over evil are brought to life with dazzling masks, sumptuous costumes and simple props and it is these costumes, masks and props that we are collecting. The photographs you can see show Choeden Dorje, senior mask maker at TIPA making one of our masks. This red satin balaclava-type mask is for the child of a flesh-eating ogress, which you can probably guess from the fangs!