The Story of the Dramnyen

Six and half strings

- the story of how one of the strings of the Bhutanese lute was shortened.

The Bhutanese Drangyen, or lute, has the unique distinction of having six and a half strings referred to as drays, which produce seven different scales.

Ap Dawpey (85), master traditional musician shared an oral story of how one of the strings was lowered.

Long ago, they lived seven dakinis. Every spring they would descend down to earth to bathe in a pool of water in the middle of a lush meadow bordered by snow peaked mountains.

A young shepherd, an orphan who lived nearby, used this idyllic meadow as pasture for his sheep. 

One day, after taking a nap under a willow tree, the shepherd awakes only to find a find a lute on the ground next to him.

Rubbing his eyes in disbelief he plucks a string and a beautiful melody flows forth. He plucks more strings and is enthralled by the music.

Meanwhile, the seven beautiful angels were enjoying their bath and playing happily in the water nearby.

The shepherd is excited with his new toy and immediately rounds up the sheep to take them home to the barn. On the way he passes by the pool and notices the seven beautiful women bathing in the pool, but he shows no interest in them.

After putting the sheep in the barn, the shepherd goes up to the attic of the barn and hides his new possession. Every night he would climb up to the attic to play the lute at the stroke of midnight.

The youngest angel decided to allow the orphan boy to keep the lute on the condition that he was not to play the instrument or show it to other people under any circumstance.

She told him that every night he was to play for her. He could beckon her by strumming the lute, that would be her a cue to appear to him in the attic of the barn.

So every night the young angel would sneak down and spend the entire night listening to the young boy play the lute. At the sound of the rooster crowing, the angel would disappear.

As the story goes, the blessings of the lute made the poor boy rich. He became as rich as the king in his valley and he kept the contract with the young dakini.

In the same valley but on the other side of the river, lived a powerful king who fathered the most beautiful women in the kingdom. His youngest daughter was said to be his favorite. Every night the sound of the lute flowed into the air and the wind carried the melodies gently to the distance kingdom. Soon the music enveloped the princess and she became obsessed with it and would spend the whole night listening to the music.

On her 21^st birthday, the king wanted the musician to play for his daughter and sent his men across the river to search for the musician, which they did.

Soon the king had a bridge built over the river, and the princesses started visiting the musician. She called him uncle.

The princesses also arranged an archery match for the man who loved to sing and dance. The princesses were so curious that they inspected his house, opening and closing the door several times, and noticed a lute behind the door.

The princess was delighted and in her joyful mood, she strummed the strings of the lute and the dakini appeared. In dismay, she realized the presence of other people the dakini immediately, cut all seven of the strings of the lute and then she disappeared.

That night, at the stroke of midnight the shepherd picked up his lute to play and noticed that the strings had been cut and he became anxious.

After that evening he started to become poor and in a short time he had nothing. He realized what had happened, so the next spring he hid in the meadow and waited for the dakinis to take their bath.

When they appeared, the young man confronted the youngest angel and pleaded, “please fix the strings,” to which she replied no.

The young boy was adamant and continued to please with the dakini who reasoned, “If I had not cut the strings that day, I would have died from all of the impurity caused by betrayal.”

He persisted, and so finally the dakini, consented to string the lute again but this time she lowered one; to remind him of the breach of trust.

The story of the Crocodile

All the old lutes in the country have a crocodile carved as the head. Ap Dawpey explained the reason why traditional lutes have this animal.

In the old days all lute players went insane. No one knew why, so they consulted Sha Gyalp (King of the East).  

According to Bhutanese myths each direction has a king whose responsibility is to protect the kingdom.

For example, the king of the east is known as the Sha Gyalp’s and it is said that his voice is so powerful that every time he speaks it destroys nything that came its way. As a result, he had to remain silent till he discovered that he could convey his information through the lute.

So the Sha Gyalp uses the Dramnyen to relay his messages, even though he is neither a great musician nor a singer.

Through the lute, the Sha Gyalp explained that the melody of the lute had attracted demons.

Like the people, the demons also became enthralled by the music and they would come up as close as the knees of the lute players.

Since they were invisible, the lute players never noticed but because of the negative energy they brought anyone in their proximity would go insane.

 As a remedial measure, the Sha Gyalp instructed that all lute were to have the head of the crocodile with horns and beaks as a figurehead to ward off these negative forces.

This way, even if the melody of the lute attracted demons, the sight of the crocodile would keep them at a safe distance.

Today we find many of the modern lutes carved with heads of different animals. Bhutan’s master traditional musician Ap Dawpey is concerned and remarked, “The carpenters who make these modern lute’s must be educated on the history of the lute.”

Contributed by Tshering Tashi

The Mystery of the Sacred Scrolls

Tshering Tashi reports from Bhutan on the mysterious disappearance of unique and priceless sacred scrolls containing rare traditional song lyrics and mask dance instructions. Tshering is well-known as the co-author of 'Bold Bhutan Beckons' together with the Hon. Tim Fischer, the former Australian Deputy Prime Minister, and Ambassador to the Holy See. 

«The statue of Zahbdrung Jigme Chogyal-the patron of classical music in Bhutan. Photo: Ugyen Wangdi

Agay Dhendup is revered as the father of zhungdra or classical music.  His grandson, Zhabdrung Jigme Chogyal (1862-1903), who became the patron of this genre, is credited with its popularisation.

Unlike traditional lyricists and dance masters, Agay Dhendup took care of having his lyrics and guidelines for mask dancers written down in two separate manuscripts.  These documents were kept in Talo village in the Punakha valley.  As they were rolled, they are known as the shogdril.

The villagers of Talo consider these two scrolls sacred and a treasure of the village.  For a long time, the villagers looked after the 100-year old manuscripts.  These two documents may be the only of its kind and today they are missing.

History

Like many treasures in the country, the scrolls have also been kept out of the general public view, but many elders of Talo admit to seeing it.  One of them is Ap Dopay (80), the premier zhungdra expert.

According to him traditionally the Tse-poem, or lead female singer, had the responsibility of looking after these two sacred documents.

Since the lead singer was from his family, they looked after these historical documents for many years, in accordance with the tradition; while the ownership always rested with the monastery.

Few years ago, breaking from tradition, the custody of the scrolls was reverted to the monastery. Although it was registered as a property of the monastery, Ap Dopay now fears that these documents may no longer be there.

The Scrolls

When the manuscripts were in his family’s possession Ap Dopay, 80, said he tried to study it, but found it hard to decipher the script, as it was written in Umi or classical Tibetan text.

Both manuscripts were written on daphne paper using traditional ink.  The scrolls are rolled and placed in bamboo for safekeeping.

Like other elders in the village, Ap Dopay believes that Agay Dhendup did not personally write the lyrics or the guidelines.  They believe that he dictated it to his clerk.

Who was Agay?

Agay or grandfather Dhendup was the maternal grandfather of the mind reincarnation of the Zhabdrung.

He was a lyricist for most of the Bhutanese classic songs.  He also composed several mask dances that are still performed exclusively by Talops and only in Talo.  He lived in Talo monastery, which was the seat of his grandson.

 The Patron

Zhabdrung died when he was 41 but, during his short life, managed to propagate his grandfather’s songs and dances. “I won’t live long but the zhungdras will carry on my legacy,” Ap Dopay shared a quote of Zhabdrung.

There are oral stories in Talo of how Zhabdrung Chogyal in his Sung Chenm or last word, instructed his younger brother Mepham Kuenga Dra to perform the dances composed by their grandfather every year during the festival of Talo.

In the small circle of zhungdra lovers, the mind reincarnate is credited for strengthening the foundations of classical music laid down by his grandfather Agay Dhendup.

The Mystery

When asked about the whereabouts of the scrolls, Ap Dopay confidently said it is somewhere in the village, but definitely not in the monastery, where it should be. “The custodian will only step forward, if the government announces some incentive,” he said.

He said that, about 10 years ago, one of the villagers brought one of the scrolls of Agay Dhendup to him in Thimphu.  It was in bad shape with many holes in it.  The villager felt that he was in a position to help repair it.

The scroll was the one with the guidelines for mask dancers.  Ap Dopay said, with the help of a Dzongkha expert, they managed to decipher part of it, which was about the entitlements of the dancers.

He was surprised with the amount of details and thought gone into preparing such a document.  For example, the scrolls mentions the atsara or clown be given x number of pork fat slices, and x amount of rice.

Ap Dopay tried to get help to conserve it but got sick before he could.  When he consulted his astrologer, it was pointed out that the source of his sickness was the old document.

Adhering to the astrologer’s advice, Ap Dopay, whose situation was worsening, and fearing dire consequences, immediately sent the scroll back to Talo village.

Zhungdra

Following the will of the patron of the classical music, Agay Dhendup’s songs and dances are performed every year during the annual festival of Talo.  People, who have witnessed it, say it is the finest of the genre.

The Talops have become custodians of these songs and dances.  Generations have been performing these compositions and yet struggle to perfect it and find it hard to comprehend its depth.

Ap Dopay has been supervising these dances for as long as he can remember.  He has taken personal responsibility to orchestrate them, and ensure that no external influence or alteration is made to these dances.

It is apparent that the shogdrils are not only the treasure of Talo but also a national treasure.  Collective effort must be made to locate these two important manuscripts before it is too late.

Contributed by 

Tshering Tashi 

The Hon. Tim Fischer and Tshering Tashi co-authors of 'Bold Bhutan Beckons'. Picture: JOHN RUSSELL

The Old Main, University of Texas in El Paso 1917

The El Paso Connection

Whenever I speak of Opera Bhutan and the collaboration with the University of Texas in El Paso, people are always amazed and intrigued at how three Cartesian geographic coordinates that are Rome, Bhutan and El Paso could have any relation whatsoever to each other. But this is one of the fascinating aspects of this project, that it has succeeded to bring together the most unlikely elements, each one so different from the other but through this project will demonstrate the ability to work together.

Coming back to El Paso, to solve the mystery as to how this city nestled in the mountains of the Chihuahuan Desert in far west Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border fits in to the Opera Bhutan project, I quote from the UTEP – University of Texas in El Paso - introductory booklet:

“UTEP was founded in 1914 as the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy, and the inspiration for its architecture is credited to Kathleen Worrell, wife of the School’s first dean, who was fascinated with a photo-essay on Bhutan that appeared in the April 1914 issue of National Geographic magazine.

The bridge leading to the Paro Dzong
National Geographic, April 1914

The article, titled “Castles in the Air”, recounted the travels across Bhutan of British diplomat and engineer John Claude White. Accompanying the article were 74 of White’s photographs – among the first ever published of the ancient and isolated kingdom.

Persuaded by his wife that Bhutanese “dzongs” would be a good fit for his mining school’s setting in the foothills of El Paso’s Franklin Mountains, Dean Worrell had the first campus building , Old Main, constructed in this style in 1917.

The Pedestrian Overpass, UTEP

Since then, nearly all UTEP buildings have followed this theme, creating an unusual degree of architectural coherence on a U.S. university campus, and offering a glimpse of the beauty and serenity of Bhutan itself.

… Inspired by its architecture, UTEP has greatly strengthened its ties to Bhutan during the past two decades through initiatives that foster understanding and appreciation of the Bhutanese people, culture and traditions.

… The University sponsors bi-annual “Bhutan Days”, which bring performers and artisans from Bhutan to the campus to interact with UTEP students, faculty and staff, and members of surrounding communities.

… UTEP’s special relationship with Bhutan has become more than just our architectural history and narrative. It is deeply embedded within the hearts of all who learn, teach and visit here.”

The Old Main, May 2012

The Opera Bhutan team is very proud to be a part of this amazing bilateral reality in El Paso and we are looking forward to our continuing collaboration with our Texas friends.

Aaron Carpene and Stefano Vizioli at UTEP, May 2012