By Kevin McKeough
Tenzing Peldun probably won’t ever be a roofer in Tibet. But she can sing like one.
Peldun was among a group of girls who performed a construction worker’s dance as part of “Tashi Delek: Afternoon of Tibetan Culture,” held at Beane Hall at Loyola University’s Water Tower Campus Saturday. The troupe sang while swaying, circling and stamping the floor with a bokto — a flattener on a long pole affixed with bells.
“It’s something you do every day; it’s not a performance,” Peldun said afterward. “You take the stick and use it to flatten the roof while you sing. I guess it makes work easier.”
Tashi Delek — which takes its name from a Tibetan greeting — drew a capacity crowd of more than 150 for two hours of dance, music, chanting and dumplings native to Tibet, a mountainous region of Central Asia.
“There’s a growing popularity in the U.S. for these things,” said Tashi Phuri, president of TIBETcenter, a non-profit arts and culture organization in Evanston, which organized the event. “It’s very peaceful, whether it’s the chanting, the dance, the folk songs. They sing the praise of religious leaders, parents, animals that work for you, the beauty of the seas.”
The event was co-sponsored by the Loyola University Museum of Art and held in conjunction with its current exhibition, “The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama,” which continues through Jan. 15.
“This was a good way to introduce Chicagoans to a culture that is quickly disappearing and to highlight Tibetans’ peaceful nature,” said Ann M. Meehan, curator of education for the museum, who recently made a trip to Tibet.
During the program, Tibetan children from Chicago and Madison, Wis., ranging from toddlers to teens, danced in brightly colored costumes in front of the Tibetan national flag, accompanied by drumming and traditional instruments such as the lutelike granyen.
Tibet has been under the rule of China since the early 1950s, but many Tibetans regard it as an autonomous country and consider the Dalai Lama its rightful leader. Both participants and audience members at Tashi Delek spoke of the importance of preserving traditional Tibetan culture.
“It’s our job to keep our ancient culture alive,” said Yeshi T. Dremagang, president of the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago, a community organization where many of the children take dance classes. He’s eagerly awaiting a May visit to Chicago by the Dalai Lama — whom Tibetan Buddhists believe is a reincarnated god of compassion. “Seeing him is a blessing for Tibetans,” he said.
Tsering Lhamo and her sister Tsering Youdon were at the event to see the dance performances by their daughters, Woser Lhamo, 5, and Loden and Seldon Youdon, 9 and 7. “They want to talk in English, but we try to speak Tibetan to them. We don’t want them to forget our culture,” Lhamo said.
Out in the lobby, Sonam Dhargye was busy sculpting elaborate miniature figures from butter dyed with watercolors. A native of Tibet, he left a monastery in India in 1992 to come to Chicago, where he now works as a runner at the Chicago Board of Trade. “It’s totally different, but I like it,” Dhargye said of the chaotic pace of the trading floor versus a monastery. “I have my own schedule.”
Lisa Cohen, a Buddhist from the Gold Coast, came to the event to feel closer to her spiritual practice. “This is the first time I’ve gotten to see the traditions,” she said. “The Buddhist practice is sort of inward. This is bright and very colorful.”
Tashi Delek left Carol Herhold of Old Town in a state of near-bliss. “It was so beautiful and colorful and exuberant,” she said as she sat eating dumplings with her friend Nancy Benjamin of Andersonville. “I was sitting here so relaxed, as if I were in an aura of peacefulness.”
