By Ajay Kumar
Melbourne, April 3 – From a nomadic boy born in a tent on the highest mountains of the world, to a monk in a sacred monastery in India, to a factory worker in Australia – Tenzing Tsewang’s biographical musical is a captivating journey of diverse cultures and identity. Tenzing is a musical exponent who unleashes the unlimited potential in music and stirs us from our social slumber and awakens us to the limitations imposed by the negative mind. With a combination of tranquil flute improvisations, ancient Tibetan chanting and mythical Tibetan folk songs, Tenzing Tsewang’s music takes the listener on a profound journey through the Himalayas and into the soul. At Chapel Off Chapel on Chapel street, a hip café attached to the concert hall was scattered with holistic brochures, incense wands and surprisingly a large queer audience prettily sipping café latte’s as the organisers Sabina and Julia welcomed one and all.
Ten minutes and one scalding cup of Masala-Chai! And suddenly, you’re enjoying enchanting music that dates back thousands of years and where else could it be from other than India, a land where the rich Tibetan music has not only survived but also flourished.
Combining bamboo flute, clay flute, Tibetan guitar, drum, cymbals and an extraordinary voice, Tenzing’s music fuses the ancient with the modern and the sacred with the secular. Tenzing also wowed the crowds with Nepalese and Buddhist chants. He later spoke at length on spirituality – Easy, feel-good, demystified spirituality that stirs, the kind all understood – which facilitates a dialogue between reason and emotion, mind and body. Spirituality in a lucid language and with a perpetual smile, much like the Dalai Lama!
This concert received some passionate support, being close on the heels of the Tibetan Uprising Day, the anniversary of the Lhasa Uprising in 1959, when thousands of Tibetans lost their lives protesting the invasion and occupation of their country by the China. The Day focuses on raising support and awareness from around the world, for the Tibetan struggle for freedom and fundamental human rights.
Many local Councils here, flew the Tibetan flag as a gesture of solidarity and support for the Tibetan people, while the Treasury Gardens came alive with the Tibetan National Anthem.
And Tenzing’s music is no different – it is his inner voice, combining the experiences of dispossessed people, a rich spiritual and folk culture and the struggles and joys of life as a migrant in Australia. Tenzing also organises Mantra chanting and healing workshops that attempt to heal the soul. “Believing in spiritual healing and cleansing of the mind, body and soul is crucial”, he says.
Today Tenzing is an eloquent expression of inner peace. Something that has come from inhaling good, exhaling bad!
