Bhutan

Reuploaded 08/09/2025

In 1970, King Jigme Darje Wangchuck of Bhutan invited English ethnomusicologist John Levy to record & document the music of Bhutan. Levy was a British mystic, artist, & musician best known for translating the works of his guru Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon, Atma Darshan & Atma Niviriti into English. He was born into a wealthy aristocratic family but at one point in his life gave up his entire fortune & went to live in India with only a loincloth & a begging bowl. Levy was an expert in Asian folk music, especially that of India, Nepal, & Bhutan.

These recordings are from the field tapes from Levy’s Nagra-S tape recorder taped in 1971. They have been re-mastered & released as a two CD set entitled, Tibetan Buddhist Rites from the Monasteries of Bhutan. Four schools of thought dominate the religious landscape of Himalayan Buddhism; they are the Gelukpa, Nyingmapa, Kagyu, & Sakhya orders. Each of the schools interact with one another & share similarities, yet they also differ in aspects of practice, certain teachings (philosophical & epistemological), & also musical traditions.

In Bhutan it was the Drukpa Kagyu (or more simply, Drukpa) order, a derivative of the Kagyu order, that took political hold. The religious & musical life of Bhutanese Buddhists is dominated by the traditions of both this Drukpa & also to some extent the Nyingmapa orders.

These recordings do well to present the clarity of Levy’s scholarship as well as the musical forms akin to both the Nyingmapa & Drukpa. The two CDs are divided into three parts, with the first presenting ritual music of the Drukpa. These songs were recorded in the towns of Thimpu & Punashka. They draw upon dominant religious forms found throughout Bhutan as well as folk elements particular to that region. The second section presents music of the ritual dances from both the Nyingmapa & Drukpa orders. Both monastic as well as public ceremonies from two separate annual festivals are presented in the third section.

While the music on the two-disc set is presented as Tibetan Buddhist Rites, it is distinctly Bhutanese. The opening track, a propitiatory rite, serves as an invitation to Genyen, a protector deity specifically associated with an area in Bhutan in the Thimpu Valley. "Chham gi Serkyem gi Yang” (Tune for Offering of Consecrated

Drink) also calls attention to the particulars of Bhutanese Buddhism: calling attention to specific protector deities of Bhutan & of Serkyem, a Bhutanese style on beer.

The recordings also serve to present a majority of the various instruments used in both monastic & non-monastic Bhutanese song. The music of the shawm (a double-reeded long horn), the silayen (cymbals), dramnyen (seven-string long-necked guitar), & zurlim (flute) are all represented. Yet the most spectacular musical element of this comes from the individual voices & polytonal throat chanting of the monks. The most compelling piece, in praise of the Nyingmapa scholar Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), is performed by a manip, or wandering ascetic.

Levy did a remarkable job here of allowing the music to be played & presented in its natural state, not as the project for recording, but as an extension of the performance of everyday life.

Levy died in London in 1976.

Various – Tibetan Buddhist Rites from the Monasteries of Bhutan, Sub Rosa 222, 2005.

CD1

Part 1: Rituals of the Drukpa Order from Thimphu & Punakha

1 In Praise of Genyen

2 Offering of ‘Golden Drink’

3 Exhortation to the Guardian Goddess of Long Life

4 Long Trumpets – ‘Throat Ornament’

5 Long Trumpets – ‘Two Notes Prolonged’

6 Invitation to Gonpo

7 Petition to Chakchen

8 Invoking Tshetro’s Blessing

9 Supplication to the Buddhas

10 Aspiration to be Reborn in Western Paradise

11 Petition to Dramar

12 Prayer for Lama’s Long Life

13 Large ‘Mani-wheel’ with mantra

14 – 16 Rite to Cure Disease, Chanted by nuns

17 ‘Tibetan Shawm’ Processional Music

18 Processional Music for Shawm & Percussion

19 Long Trumpets – ‘Auspicious Ending’

Part 2: Sacred dances & rituals of the Nyingmapa & Drukpa Orders from Nyimalung & Tongsa-recorded at the Nyingmapa Monestary, Nyimalung

20 Peling Shachham – Deer Dance

21 Dramitse Ngachlam – The Drum Dance of Dramitse

22 - 23 Lama Norbu Guamtscho

24 Ritual Dedicated to Padma Sambhava

CD2

Part 2 (continued): Sacred dances & rituals of the Nyingmapa & Drukpa Orders (Suite)-recorded in the Tongsa Dzong (from the Seven Supplications of Padma Sambhava)

1 Entreaty to the Three Buddha-bodies

2 Invitation to Padma Sambhava

3 Rise Up, Padma

4 Words of Prayer

5 ‘Tibetan Shawm’

Part 3: Temple Rituals & Public Ceremonies

Annual festival, Drubchen, great tantric attainment, in Nyingmapa Monastery at Kyichu

6 Myule Drelwa – Calling Down of Deities to Subjugate Evil Spirit & Kulwa,

                            its Death, Stabbed by Black Hat

7 Part of Junbeb - the Coming Down of Grace

8 Monks in Procession Playing Portable Instruments Followed by Chanting

                            of the Heart-Drop Teaching (recorded in Thimphu)

9 Dramnyen Choshe – Song of Offering, with Lute (dramnyen), Lute solo, followed

                            by Chorus, in Praise of Sons of Bhutan

10 Dramnyen Choshe – Chorus only, Song in Praise of Chinese Silk

Annual festival of Sacred dance, at Jampai Lhakhang (Temple of the Future Buddha in Bumthang District, East Bhutan)

11 - 13 Monks, a Clown, Crowds, & Instruments

14 End of Festival, with Temple Bell, Drums, & Trumpets

15 Wandering Ascetic (Manip) Chanting a Milarepa Poem

16 Wandering Ascetic (Manip) Chanting a Mantra

17 Cymbals (Silnyen) Played Solo

18 Cross-flute (Zurlim)-Folk-song from East Bhutan

19 Another Manip Chanting Milarepa Poem

20 First Manip as Story-teller

Namaste,

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