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| Loten Namling mixes Tibetan Folk Music With Jazz and Blues Loten Namling was trained from an early age in the traditional music of Tibet. Now, he’s building an international following by fusing Tibetan folk songs with Western-style jazz and blues. Born in India in 1963 and now living in Switzerland, Loten is a master of the dranyen, a six-stringed Tibetan lute with a long neck and a drum-like lower body often covered with goat or sheep skin. Loten’s songs, called nangma toesche, come down from the Tibetan Muslims of Kashmir and from the western areas of traditionally Tibetan territory now under Chinese control. Originally separate styles, they are now customarily played together. Some, said Loten, were composed by Tibet’s sixth Dalai Lama. When he plays these songs, he said, he often feels “transported” back to the days when they were first sung. Loten’s love of music began when he was a child in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala. When he was 16, Loten’s parents presented him with a dranyen, and he began to teach himself to play. Loten was further inspired by visits to his school by traveling performers. He later searched for recordings by older masters and spoke with people who had seen musicians who had played in Tibet. During China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-76), Loten said, Chinese authorities in Tibet tried to destroy all forms of Tibetan culture, including its folk music. Later, they “put a lot of Chinese propaganda songs in these old songs.” Today, though older Tibetans prefer the traditional forms, many younger Tibetans listen mainly to the Chinese and “techno”-style style pop music now popular throughout Asia, Loten said. Loten’s own musical innovations are founded on his love for tradition. At the same time, he said, “it is very important—especially in this new world—to interact with different cultures.” The CD “White Crane, ” released in 2000, includes songs accompanied only by the dranyen and songs accompanied by saxophone, cello, and bass. At a concert in 2005 in Berlin, Germany, Loten recited poetry and performed a spontaneous jam with a small jazz group. Blues, too, is now a strong influence on Loten’s approach to his music. Loten observed that blues can be associated with “Tibetans being oppressed in Tibet by the Chinese.” There is a “raw and fresh” quality to blues, said Loten, whose father and grandfather served as guerrilla fighters against his country’s Chinese invaders. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |