ALL
performer
ICH Elements 2
-
Ram Faat: Religious Festival of Lepcha Communities
The Lepcha community under Samtse Dzongkhag (district), especially the Limithang Chiwog (sub-block) under Samtse Gewog (block), conducts the indigenous festival “Ram Faat” annually. All the Lepcha in this community are Buddhist. It is a community festival where even the Lepchas as far as Paa Chu, Phuntsholing under Chukha Dzongkhag come to observe Ram Faat in Limithang chiwog. It is a five-day festival worshipping the God of earth for protection of their society and country from misery. During this festival, they propitiate the deities seeking protection from natural calamities such as earthquake, flood, landslides and well-being of all sentient beings. There is a strong belief that that their tutelary deity resides in one of the giant mountains where they locally call it as Zay Nga facing North east of their community Lhakhang (temple). Annually, Ram Faat is held for five days from 10th to 14th days of the 12th month of the lunar calendar. This is one of the Lepcha’s most intriguing festivals that the Lepcha community in the locality observe. It is unknown when the Ram Faat was initially introduced but it is conducted in one storied Community Lhakhang, Limithang Chiwog which is three hours drive on a rough feeder road from Samtse Dzongkhag. While the actual date of the establishment of the temple is not known, the head lama said that the Lhakhang used to be there during their fore fathers’ time indicating that the temple used to be there from 16th century. There was no evidence how the Lhakhang looked like before. It has only been five years now that the Lhakhang, with the help of the government support, has been face lifted with the concrete walls and aluminum corrugated sheets. The majestic Guru Rinpoche statue is the primary image in the main shrine room and also require two Choep/chogap (ritual performers) along with the head lama of the community Lhakhang. However, certain parts of the element seemed to have been lost. For example, when asked about the performance of the mask dance during the festival, the Lama (narrator) said that the practice of performing the mask dance during this festival had declined with the loss of the equipment (mask and dress) due to insects and pests. Today, no one in the community knows what kind of mask dances were performed during this festival. The Lama (also the narrator) seems to be frail and old, but he assured that he has two trained disciples in the community who will maintain the continuity of this festival even after his death.
Bhutan -
Khalfa (songstress) art
Khalfa is a woman-performer of folk songs and instrumental music, a poetess in Khoresm Oasis, who embodies traditions of oral folk art. In terms of activity, there are the following types of khalfas: khalfa sozi (khalfa-musician), who performs folk instrumental melodies; khalfa yodoghiy (khalfa-singer and khalfa-poetess), who performs folk songs at wedding ceremonies and festivities, while accompanying her singing by playing on a musical instrument; khalfa kitobiy (khalfa-book lover), who reads old books of religious themes during commemoration and rituals events ("mushkulkushod" – literally "relief"); khalfa dostonchi (khalfa-narrator); khalfa raqqosa or khalfa oyinchi (khalfa-dancer). In Khoresm two directions of khalfa performance became widespread, i.e. ensemble performance and solo performance. In ensemble performance it is possible to see a leading woman-performer, who sings songs under accompaniment of accordion (i.e. Russian diatonic accordion, which has been existence in Khoresm since XIX centure and which is called "qol soz"), doira player (who accompanies singing by playing on doira; sometimes she can act as a dancer as well) and dancers (who accompany singing with their dances; they usually dance with kajraks (castanets), or sometimes, sing along and play on doira).
Uzbekistan
ICH Materials 7
-
Khalfa (songstress) art
Khalfa is a woman-performer of folk songs and instrumental music, a poetess in Khoresm Oasis, who embodies traditions of oral folk art. In terms of activity, there are the following types of khalfas: khalfa sozi (khalfa-musician), who performs folk instrumental melodies; khalfa yodoghiy (khalfa-singer and khalfa-poetess), who performs folk songs at wedding ceremonies and festivities, while accompanying her singing by playing on a musical instrument; khalfa kitobiy (khalfa-book lover), who reads old books of religious themes during commemoration and rituals events ("mushkulkushod" – literally "relief"); khalfa dostonchi (khalfa-narrator); khalfa raqqosa or khalfa oyinchi (khalfa-dancer).\nIn Khoresm two directions of khalfa performance became widespread, i.e. ensemble performance and solo performance. In ensemble performance it is possible to see a leading woman-performer, who sings songs under accompaniment of accordion (i.e. Russian diatonic accordion, which has been existence in Khoresm since XIX centure and which is called "qol soz"), doira player (who accompanies singing by playing on doira; sometimes she can act as a dancer as well) and dancers (who accompany singing with their dances; they usually dance with kajraks (castanets), or sometimes, sing along and play on doira).
Uzbekistan -
Khalfa (songstress) art
Khalfa is a woman-performer of folk songs and instrumental music, a poetess in Khoresm Oasis, who embodies traditions of oral folk art. In terms of activity, there are the following types of khalfas: khalfa sozi (khalfa-musician), who performs folk instrumental melodies; khalfa yodoghiy (khalfa-singer and khalfa-poetess), who performs folk songs at wedding ceremonies and festivities, while accompanying her singing by playing on a musical instrument; khalfa kitobiy (khalfa-book lover), who reads old books of religious themes during commemoration and rituals events ("mushkulkushod" – literally "relief"); khalfa dostonchi (khalfa-narrator); khalfa raqqosa or khalfa oyinchi (khalfa-dancer).\nIn Khoresm two directions of khalfa performance became widespread, i.e. ensemble performance and solo performance. In ensemble performance it is possible to see a leading woman-performer, who sings songs under accompaniment of accordion (i.e. Russian diatonic accordion, which has been existence in Khoresm since XIX centure and which is called "qol soz"), doira player (who accompanies singing by playing on doira; sometimes she can act as a dancer as well) and dancers (who accompany singing with their dances; they usually dance with kajraks (castanets), or sometimes, sing along and play on doira).
Uzbekistan