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Tickets
Adults ($13-16, $4 student discount, available through Select-a-Seat
or by calling 208-454-1376 or the McCain Center at
208-459-5011)
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Hidden behind the Himalayas, the culture of Tibet, and especially its tradition of mystical performing arts, for centuries remained largely unknown in the West. In recent years with the exodus of the Tibetan refugees, there has been an unheralded surge of interest in all things Tibetan. In particular, Tibetan temple music and dance has begun to attract an audience in North America, mainly due to tours of the monks of Drepung Loseling, one of Tibet's most artistically prestigious monasteries.
From its inception in 1988, the Mystical Arts of Tibet has enjoyed overwhelmingly enthusiastic critical and popular acclaim. Two of the five CDs produced by the Drepung Loseling monks have achieved a top-ten listing on US music charts. The music of the Drepung Loseling monks is the heart of the Golden Globe nominated soundtrack,
Seven Years In Tibet. They also performed with Philip Glass at the premiere presentation of his Academy Award-nominated score of Martin Scorses's
Kundun.
The first world tour (1988-1989) was jointly sponsored by the Canada Tibet Friendship Society and Richard Gere of Tibet House, New York, and was billed as “Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Peace.” The group visited 130 cities in North America and Europe. The public reception was over-whelmingly enthusiastic. Inspired by this success, the monastery has continued to reach out to an increasingly broader audience. Sacred Music Sacred Dance performances have entranced capacity audiences in venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall, The Lincoln Center, Portland Symphony Hall, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Twin Falls, and Boise. The sand mandala paintings have mesmerized viewers in dozens of university art galleries and museums including the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
The public will have the "premium" opportunity to see the progress of the mandala sand painting in the Langroise Foyer. An opening ceremony and the drawing of the lines of the large art work begins the residency. The painting takes 19 hours to complete and will be open for public and student viewing at all hours of the work. At the conclusion of the 4 days, the mandala will be swept up and sand distributed to any who want the remembrance. Some will be poured into a running body of water (Indian Creek or the Boise River) in a symbolic gesture of world peace and healing. “We hope that many students and the Treasure Valley community will be involved in both the opening and closing ceremonies and attend the performance of dance and music. It is a way of gaining another view of the world without buying the airline ticket.”
Tibetan culture is one of the most ancient heritages on our planet. Although based in the ritualistic Buddhist traditions of early Indian civilization, it far predates the 2,500 years of Buddhist history. For example, many of its artistic symbols, such as the "eye of god," were also used by the native peoples of North America, a factor that most anthropologists feel support the theory that our North American natives migrated to this continent from Central Asia some fifteen to twenty thousand years ago, bringing these cultural features with them at that time.
The Tibetan culture is also a highly endangered tradition. Our generation could be the last to see their artistic culture in its full richness, integrity and splendor. In 1959, the Chinese government closed the monastery when they invaded Tibet. Most of its monks were either killed or put in concentration camps. Approximately 250 escaped to India, where they re-established a replica of their institution in the refugee camps of Karnataka State, India. This monastery presently houses some 2500 monks.
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Why make such beautiful
works of art, only to dismantle it later? Read a
short commentary
by Dr. Karen Brown, adjunct professor at Albertson
College, Northwest Nazarene, and Boise State
University.
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Review the Caldwell schedule
of this event by clicking
here.
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View the pictorial description
of the mandala and the performance portion of Mystical
Arts of Tibet by clicking
here.
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View the Drepung Monastery's
website by clicking
here.
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Post-event
commentary and Wrap Up.
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