Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Scored for: SATB and SSAA choruses, chamber orchestra, digital audio, 30 minutes. Also available in a chamber version (flute, harp, piano and percussion) and octavos for SATB, treble choruses and TTB choruses or with piano as well as single voice solo with small chamber ensemble. Published by Seeadot. For perusal scores and orders click here. Tse Go La Suite (15 minutes) is available from the composer for solo voice, flute, percussion, piano and string quartet. Tse Go La Suite is also scored for solo voice, flute, piano and percussion. Dr. Clearfield offers presentations and demonstrations of the work. Contact her manager Trudy Chan to learn more. Text: Dr. Sienna Craig and traditional texts from the region of Lo Monthang in Upper Mustang, Nepal, initial translations by Karma Wangyal Gurung and Katey Blumenthal; poetic translations by Sienna Craig; transliterations by Katey Blumenthal and Andrea Clearfield Language: Tibetan (Mustang dialect) and English
Tse Go La at Michigan State, Sandra Snow, conductor
Description: This cantata is inspired by the composers treks to the restricted and remote Himalayan region of Lo Monthang, Nepal to study and document indigenous Tibetan music. The work incorporates 5 songs from the gar-glu (court) and tro-glu (common) traditions. Katey Blumenthal and Andrea recorded over 130 songs that had not been previously documented. Their fieldwork is part of the World Oral Literature Project at the University of Cambridge. Published scores and arrangements: Full cantata for SSAA/SATB and chamber orchestra, 32 min. Chamber version for SSAA/SATB (reduced scoring), 32 min. SSA, TTB and SATB octavos of individual movements for chamber ensemble or piano. Perusal scores available from Seeadot. The full cantata with chamber orchestra or reduced chamber ensemble is available from Seeadot Masterworks here. Premiere:World premiere, 4/29/12 with the Mendelssohn Chorus, Pennsylvania Girlchoir and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, conducted by Alan Harler at Holy Trinity Church, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. NYC and NJ premieres, 2012 by Schola Cantorum on Hudsun, Deborah King, artistic director. Performance at University of Texas at Austin with UT Concert Chorale, the Women of the UT Chamber Singers and the UT New Music Ensemble, Dan Welcher, Conductor, 2013. Chamber version movements with the 2015 Colorado All State Choir and the MSU chorus, Sandra Snow, conductor. Commissioned by: The Mendelssohn Chorus and the Pennsylvania Girlchoir Performances of entire cantata include: The Mendelssohn Chorus and the Pennsylvania Girlchoir with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (premiere); The University of Texas at Austin Chorales and New Music Ensemble; Michigan State Choirs and New Music Ensemble; Schola Cantorum; San Antonio Chamber Chorus with UIW Cardinal Singers; Atlanta Young Singers. Published by:See-A-Dot Publishing
Contact Andrea Clearfield for more information:
LISTEN: Entire work, performed at UT Austin with the UT Concert Chorale, the Women of the UT Chamber Singers and the UT New Music Ensemble, Dan Welcher, Conductor
WATCH 2 TREBLE CHORUS ARRANGEMENTS WITH THE 2015 COLORADO ALL STATE CHOIR
Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life), composed in 2012 and scored for double chorus, chamber orchestra and electronics was inspired by the composer’s fieldwork in the restricted, remote Himalayan region of Lo Monthang in Upper Mustang, Nepal where she recorded and documented indigenous folk music with Katey Blumenthal, ethnomusicologist and anthropologist.The people of this region, just over the border of Tibet, are ethnically Tibetan. Lo Monthang is one of the last remaining enclaves of old Tibetan culture. These songs are sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan. Under the auspices of the Rubin Foundation, Clearfield and Blumenthal recorded 130 songs that had not been previously documented. The songs are now part of the University of Cambridge World Oral Literature Project dedicated to the preservation of endangered languages. The recordings are also now in the Cultural Library in Lo Monthang, Nepal and the songs are being taught to Mustangi children in NYC as part of a new Himalayan language and culture preservation initiative. Tse Go La was co-commissioned by the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Girlchoir as a way to bring some of these songs for the first time to the U.S. The libretto incorporates original poetry by Dr. Sienna Craig, chair of the anthropology department at Dartmouth College, and traditional songs and texts. The composer wishes to thank The MacDowell Colony, The Bellagio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Ragdale Foundation for providing invaluable space and time to compose this work.
REVIEWS
With First Festival, Orlando Sings is off to a fine start
Andrea Clearfield’s “Tse Go La (At the Threshold of This Life)” is inspired by and contains traditional Tibetan music. The choir added its own percussion, with rhythmic hissing and breath-filled syllables in this moving cantata that not only evoked a culture but a lifetime of emotion.
- Orlando Sentinal, Matthew J. Palm, June 12, 2022
“A beautifully constructed and deeply satisfying work of art..a fantastic amalgam of cross-cultural influences, achieved with remarkable lucidity…rich… powerful..the complexity and allure of Tse Go La cries out for more performances.
—Peter Burwasser, Broad Street Review, 5/5/2012
“The warm, direct music Philadelphians have come to expect from Clearfield has become all the more distilled as it is increasingly influenced by travels to the loftiest regions of Nepal, where she collected folk music and Buddhist songs in 2008 and 2010. Tse Go La is the most elaborate work to emerge so far from these experiences.” Philadelphia Inquirer Preview Story: Andrea Clearfield’s Songs from High Mountains by David Patrick Stearns, 4/28/2012
Tse Go La premiere. Photo by David Gitlitz
NYC premiere review: Thresholds – The Healing Power of Music by Rob Wendt
I Care If You Listen (A magazine about new classical music, art and technology): “What impresses me the most about Andrea Clearfield’s compositional ethos is her fidelity to both the spirit and the form of Tibetan chant…Anthropology, musical elegance and creativity, and a spirit of interconnected human experience coexist in her work in an organic way, which obviates the question, “Is it activism, or is it art?”
—Rob Wendt
QUOTES
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been as moved by a new work as I was last night. Congratulations on a magnificent piece!”
- Peter Bay, Music Director, Austin Symphony Orchestra
“I don’t know of a contemporary work of this genre that comes close to the emotional and almost extraterrestrial highs that TSE GO LA delivers. Andrea has a wonderful sense of large-scale timing and drama in all her works, but this piece spans the broadest arch of any of her pieces that I’ve heard. From the “elemental” electronic opening, with its rocks and fire and water and wind, to the “Birth” sequence (with meltingly lovely poetry by Sienna Craig), all the way to the chanting of the Heart Sutra in the “Death” music at the close, this is a half-hour of musical magic-making of the highest order. When the last singing bowl ceased ringing, there was a full thirty seconds of silence before anyone dared to applaud—but then the response was overwhelming. This music will resonate within everyone who hears it for a very long time.”
- Dan Welcher, Composer-Conductor, Director, University of Texas New Music Ensemble
Quotes from students in the Michigan State University Women’s Ensemble after performing Tse Go La:
“At the end, when the singing bowls were ringing, I was in a place of complete nothingness. I don’t think I have ever experienced that before. I just existed and it was peaceful.”
“The music was powerful but hearing the field recordings before we sang transformed the experience for me. I recognized then how carefully Dr. Clearfield held up the original songs and then created something magical around them.”
“I had goose bumps so many times I thought I would jump out of my skin.”
“She is inspiring on so many levels.”
“It didn’t matter that it snowed. Nothing mattered except making the music together at that time and place. I will never forget it.”
– from Sandra Snow, director of the MSU Women’s Ensemble, 3/3/16
“Andrea Clearfield graciously hosted an extensive introduction to her “Tse Go La” cantata to the The Philadelphia Fans of Classical Music. We not only learned about the extensive detail and research that went into the work but also how so many lives have already been affected in the process. What started as a well defined goal rippled through the Tibetan community, and now the world, as that drop broke the surface of an extremely isolated community in danger of losing some of its cultural history. I can’t think of a more compelling story for why the arts are vitally important.”
– Sharon Torello, Founder, LocalArtsLive
Listen to the concert webstream from the premiere performance with the Mendelssohn Club, Pennsylvania Girlchoir and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia
FIELD RECORDINGS
Katey Blumenthal and Andrea Clearfield’s field recordings from Lo Monthang, Nepal are now part of the World Oral Literature database of Endangered Languages and Cultures at the University of Cambridge
LECTURES
Andrea has been presenting lectures on the fieldwork and creative responses in the U.S. and abroad including Yale-National University of Singapore, Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, University of Chicago, Michigan State, College of William and Mary, Hope College, Connecticut College, University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, The College of New Jersey, The University of Texas at Austin, Rockefeller’s Bellagio Center in Italy, Phi Beta Kappa lecture series, California Institute of the Arts, Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy, Moulin a Nef in Auvillar, France. Links from recent public presentations here: Taos News: Andrea Clearfield links Taos to Tibet, August, 2015 MacDowell Downtown- Andrea Clearfield presents Tibetan recording project, Mariposa Museum, Peterborough, New Hampshire
The College of William and Mary – Compositions inspired by Tibetan Music
The University of Chicago – On Tibetan music preservation
The College of New Jersey – Preserving the Heritage of Tibetan Music
TEXT
Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life) – a cantata on rites of passage
I. KYE (Birth) Bare threshold of this life
Pass over, pass through
Our body, this vessel,
begins and ends anew.
In these mountains of our soul
we are willed into being, elemental:
Earth, water, fire, wind, space.
(Sa, lung, chu, mé, nam kha)
Gifted presence, this human form
Made of mother’s blood, father’s bone,
And that hidden inner spring.
This laboring night
Breathe into the hearth-bound
Burnishing of time.
Outside, an owl calls.
Come morning, the whole village will know:
A woman’s spent silence
A child’s crystal cry.
Bare threshold of this life
Pass over, pass through – Sienna Craig
II. Shar Ki Ri (Mountain to the East) Sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan
Do not look toward the mountain toward the east
Look, instead, to the mountain in the west
Look up to the heights, and down to the depths of the mountain
Toward the places of wealth, the pure treasure of the dharma
Do not look toward the mountain toward the east
Look, instead, to the mountain in the west
For this is the root place, the copper-colored paradise of Guru Rinpoche,
The place of pure treasure and excellent perception,
A place of future accomplishment for sentient beings
Do not look toward the hills of India,
Where beautiful cultures like peacocks abound
Do not disturb them
May we be prosperous! – traditional
III. Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life) Sweet threshold of this life, Pass over, pass through
Sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan
At the threshold of this life
A vast lake appeared before me
The lake unfurled like a flower I desired [a young woman]
It was as if the true Buddha appeared threefold, for me to behold
The right side [the father’s side] inspired purity
As there is with an ordained monk, whose knowledge is as vast as the sky
The left side [the mother’s side] is a place of dakini [female deity]
In the tradition of the great consorts
From the high land of the rock strewn hills
I look down upon a beautiful valley
This high mountain pasture nurtures luscious grass,
Just as this is so, it is my karma to wed this beautiful bride -traditional
IV. Kusum (When Queen Kusum Goes as a Bride to Ladakh) Sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan
The Monthang palace rooftop
Is where the girl’s house gods reside.
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
The four-cornered square room,
Is where the girl’s parents reign.
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
Past the curtains of the prayer room,
Is where the nobility sit in rows.
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
The courtyard before the palace
Is where a pair of drummers drum,
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
Inside the main gate of Monthang,
Is where the girl’s subjects reside,
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
The area aroung the stupa,
Is where the girl’s friends congregate,
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
Like the fast patter of youthful footsteps,
In only a window of time could you see her leave
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
Even the officers of near-by Tingri,
Bow their hats in respect to the Queen.
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away? -traditional V. Re Chung Tso (The performers) Sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan
The playing party, all the musicians and dancers,
The playing party has joined the stage
Come! Turn out to watch the performers,
Performing in honor of Tara (Dolma)
[The Mother who takes us across the ocean of samsara]
Do not be distracted!
Come! Turn out to watch the performers
This performance for Tara, for wealth, prosperity, wellbeing
Come! Turn out to watch the performers,
In this place where the Lhamo [Tibetan opera] is performed
Be generous, as the performers move amongst you
[a request for donations from the audience]
You might say, “I am old,” as you gather for the performance
But turning out to watch the performance –
Oh, these times make you feel young!
The king of the golden hill, he also dances,
Performing in honor of Tara,
Here, on the spacious plain
The king and commoners alike,
They dance on the golden hill,
Requesting good fortune and blessings,
In honor of Tara,
Dance, dance, dance around. -traditional
VI. SHI (Death)
Worn threshold of this life
Pass over, pass through
In this land of many stones
A fossil unearthed by river’s course
Mirrors our own tumblings,
In the waning hours of our time
You whose name I do not know –
Old woman: faded apron, weathered hands
Old man: not seeing but to dream –
I meet you here, grateful
For this most true of destinations.
Start for this place, O gnarled soul,
Released from certainty
Along the journey of becoming.
What is nascent here,
In this transcendence, this in between,
Is nothing short of miracle:
Dried seed, green shoot, pressing
Toward the surface
Craving rain and stars and sun.
Bare threshold of this life
Pass over, pass through -Sienna Craig
Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.
Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone utterly beyond,
O what an awakening!
– Heart Sutra mantra
(chanted in Sanskrit)
literal translations provided by
Karma Wangyal Gurung
with assistance from Katey Blumenthal
poetic interpretations by Sienna Craig
transliterations by Katey Blumenthal and
Andrea Clearfield
Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life)
Scored for: SATB and SSAA choruses, chamber orchestra, digital audio, 30 minutes. Also available in a chamber version (flute, harp, piano and percussion) and octavos for SATB, treble choruses and TTB choruses or with piano as well as single voice solo with small chamber ensemble. Published by Seeadot. For perusal scores and orders click here. Tse Go La Suite (15 minutes) is available from the composer for solo voice, flute, percussion, piano and string quartet. Tse Go La Suite is also scored for solo voice, flute, piano and percussion. Dr. Clearfield offers presentations and demonstrations of the work. Contact her manager Trudy Chan to learn more.
Text: Dr. Sienna Craig and traditional texts from the region of Lo Monthang in Upper Mustang, Nepal, initial translations by Karma Wangyal Gurung and Katey Blumenthal; poetic translations by Sienna Craig; transliterations by Katey Blumenthal and Andrea Clearfield
Language: Tibetan (Mustang dialect) and English
Tse Go La at Michigan State, Sandra Snow, conductor
Description: This cantata is inspired by the composers treks to the restricted and remote Himalayan region of Lo Monthang, Nepal to study and document indigenous Tibetan music. The work incorporates 5 songs from the gar-glu (court) and tro-glu (common) traditions. Katey Blumenthal and Andrea recorded over 130 songs that had not been previously documented. Their fieldwork is part of the World Oral Literature Project at the University of Cambridge.
Published scores and arrangements: Full cantata for SSAA/SATB and chamber orchestra, 32 min. Chamber version for SSAA/SATB (reduced scoring), 32 min. SSA, TTB and SATB octavos of individual movements for chamber ensemble or piano. Perusal scores available from Seeadot. The full cantata with chamber orchestra or reduced chamber ensemble is available from Seeadot Masterworks here.
Premiere: World premiere, 4/29/12 with the Mendelssohn Chorus, Pennsylvania Girlchoir and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, conducted by Alan Harler at Holy Trinity Church, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. NYC and NJ premieres, 2012 by Schola Cantorum on Hudsun, Deborah King, artistic director. Performance at University of Texas at Austin with UT Concert Chorale, the Women of the UT Chamber Singers and the UT New Music Ensemble, Dan Welcher, Conductor, 2013. Chamber version movements with the 2015 Colorado All State Choir and the MSU chorus, Sandra Snow, conductor.
Commissioned by: The Mendelssohn Chorus and the Pennsylvania Girlchoir
Performances of entire cantata include: The Mendelssohn Chorus and the Pennsylvania Girlchoir with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (premiere); The University of Texas at Austin Chorales and New Music Ensemble; Michigan State Choirs and New Music Ensemble; Schola Cantorum; San Antonio Chamber Chorus with UIW Cardinal Singers; Atlanta Young Singers.
Published by: See-A-Dot Publishing
Contact Andrea Clearfield for more information:
Tse Go La (Cantata) – Perusal Score
LISTEN: Entire work, performed at UT Austin with the UT Concert Chorale, the Women of the UT Chamber Singers and the UT New Music Ensemble, Dan Welcher, Conductor
WATCH 2 TREBLE CHORUS ARRANGEMENTS WITH THE 2015 COLORADO ALL STATE CHOIR
Click here to watch on Youtube, Sandra Snow, conductor.
Click here to watch more videos of Tse Go La and Andrea’s other Tibetan-influenced works on Youtube
LISTEN TO MOVEMENT III (TSE GO LA) WITH ORIGINAL SCORING (SSAA/SATB AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRA)
LISTEN TO “SHAR KI RI” WITH IMAGES FROM THE TREKS
WATCH 3-MINUTE INTERVIEW WITH ANDREA
WATCH INTERVIEW WITH ALAN HARLER
MICHAEL PARLOFF DISCUSSES TSE GO LA IN A LECTURE ABOUT MUSIC AND SPIRITUALITY (at 17′ and 34′)
LISTEN TO SHAR KI RI WITH SCORE
LISTEN TO TSE GO LA (MVMT III) WITH CHAMBER SCORING
LISTEN TO TSE GO LA EXCERPTS
LISTEN: Excerpts from the premiere. Mendelssohn Club, Pennsylvania Girlchoir, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Alan Harler, conductor
Preview Score Pages (Seeadot Publishing)
Tse Go La (title page)
Tse Go La (first page of score)
LINKS (scroll down for more)
Taos Chamber Music Group premieres Tse Go La Chamber Suite
Tibet Comes to Taos at ‘Enchanted Mountain’ Salon in Artsjournal
Preserving the Heritage of Tibetan Music
Andrea Clearfield links Taos to Tibet
Article on Andrea’s MacDowell Downtown Presentation at the Mariposa Museum, Peterborough, NH
VCCA: A Year in the Making: Tse Go La by Andrea Clearfield
Andrea’s presentation at the University of Chicago
Katey Blumenthal and Andrea’s fieldwork at University of Cambridge World Oral Literature Project and Columbia University Libraries.
Andrea’s Tibetan inspired chamber work Lung-Ta (The Windhorse), audio and press
Tse Go La Premiere. Photo by Anthony Creamer
BACKGROUND
Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life), composed in 2012 and scored for double chorus, chamber orchestra and electronics was inspired by the composer’s fieldwork in the restricted, remote Himalayan region of Lo Monthang in Upper Mustang, Nepal where she recorded and documented indigenous folk music with Katey Blumenthal, ethnomusicologist and anthropologist.The people of this region, just over the border of Tibet, are ethnically Tibetan. Lo Monthang is one of the last remaining enclaves of old Tibetan culture. These songs are sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan. Under the auspices of the Rubin Foundation, Clearfield and Blumenthal recorded 130 songs that had not been previously documented. The songs are now part of the University of Cambridge World Oral Literature Project dedicated to the preservation of endangered languages. The recordings are also now in the Cultural Library in Lo Monthang, Nepal and the songs are being taught to Mustangi children in NYC as part of a new Himalayan language and culture preservation initiative. Tse Go La was co-commissioned by the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Girlchoir as a way to bring some of these songs for the first time to the U.S. The libretto incorporates original poetry by Dr. Sienna Craig, chair of the anthropology department at Dartmouth College, and traditional songs and texts. The composer wishes to thank The MacDowell Colony, The Bellagio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Ragdale Foundation for providing invaluable space and time to compose this work.
REVIEWS
With First Festival, Orlando Sings is off to a fine start
Andrea Clearfield’s “Tse Go La (At the Threshold of This Life)” is inspired by and contains traditional Tibetan music. The choir added its own percussion, with rhythmic hissing and breath-filled syllables in this moving cantata that not only evoked a culture but a lifetime of emotion.
- Orlando Sentinal, Matthew J. Palm, June 12, 2022
“A beautifully constructed and deeply satisfying work of art..a fantastic amalgam of cross-cultural influences, achieved with remarkable lucidity…rich… powerful..the complexity and allure of Tse Go La cries out for more performances.
—Peter Burwasser, Broad Street Review, 5/5/2012
“The warm, direct music Philadelphians have come to expect from Clearfield has become all the more distilled as it is increasingly influenced by travels to the loftiest regions of Nepal, where she collected folk music and Buddhist songs in 2008 and 2010. Tse Go La is the most elaborate work to emerge so far from these experiences.”
Philadelphia Inquirer Preview Story: Andrea Clearfield’s Songs from High Mountains by David Patrick Stearns, 4/28/2012
Tse Go La premiere. Photo by David Gitlitz
NYC premiere review: Thresholds – The Healing Power of Music by Rob Wendt
I Care If You Listen (A magazine about new classical music, art and technology): “What impresses me the most about Andrea Clearfield’s compositional ethos is her fidelity to both the spirit and the form of Tibetan chant…Anthropology, musical elegance and creativity, and a spirit of interconnected human experience coexist in her work in an organic way, which obviates the question, “Is it activism, or is it art?”
—Rob Wendt
QUOTES
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been as moved by a new work as I was last night. Congratulations on a magnificent piece!”
- Peter Bay, Music Director, Austin Symphony Orchestra
“I don’t know of a contemporary work of this genre that comes close to the emotional and almost extraterrestrial highs that TSE GO LA delivers. Andrea has a wonderful sense of large-scale timing and drama in all her works, but this piece spans the broadest arch of any of her pieces that I’ve heard. From the “elemental” electronic opening, with its rocks and fire and water and wind, to the “Birth” sequence (with meltingly lovely poetry by Sienna Craig), all the way to the chanting of the Heart Sutra in the “Death” music at the close, this is a half-hour of musical magic-making of the highest order. When the last singing bowl ceased ringing, there was a full thirty seconds of silence before anyone dared to applaud—but then the response was overwhelming. This music will resonate within everyone who hears it for a very long time.”
- Dan Welcher, Composer-Conductor, Director, University of Texas New Music Ensemble
Quotes from students in the Michigan State University Women’s Ensemble after performing Tse Go La:
“At the end, when the singing bowls were ringing, I was in a place of complete nothingness. I don’t think I have ever experienced that before. I just existed and it was peaceful.”
“The music was powerful but hearing the field recordings before we sang transformed the experience for me. I recognized then how carefully Dr. Clearfield held up the original songs and then created something magical around them.”
“I had goose bumps so many times I thought I would jump out of my skin.”
“She is inspiring on so many levels.”
“It didn’t matter that it snowed. Nothing mattered except making the music together at that time and place. I will never forget it.”
– from Sandra Snow, director of the MSU Women’s Ensemble, 3/3/16
“Andrea Clearfield graciously hosted an extensive introduction to her “Tse Go La” cantata to the The Philadelphia Fans of Classical Music. We not only learned about the extensive detail and research that went into the work but also how so many lives have already been affected in the process. What started as a well defined goal rippled through the Tibetan community, and now the world, as that drop broke the surface of an extremely isolated community in danger of losing some of its cultural history. I can’t think of a more compelling story for why the arts are vitally important.”
– Sharon Torello, Founder, LocalArtsLive
PROGRAM NOTES
Program notes by Michael Moore
WEBSTREAM
Listen to the concert webstream from the premiere performance with the Mendelssohn Club, Pennsylvania Girlchoir and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia
FIELD RECORDINGS
Katey Blumenthal and Andrea Clearfield’s field recordings from Lo Monthang, Nepal are now part of the World Oral Literature database of Endangered Languages and Cultures at the University of Cambridge
LECTURES
Andrea has been presenting lectures on the fieldwork and creative responses in the U.S. and abroad including Yale-National University of Singapore, Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, University of Chicago, Michigan State, College of William and Mary, Hope College, Connecticut College, University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, The College of New Jersey, The University of Texas at Austin, Rockefeller’s Bellagio Center in Italy, Phi Beta Kappa lecture series, California Institute of the Arts, Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy, Moulin a Nef in Auvillar, France. Links from recent public presentations here:
Taos News: Andrea Clearfield links Taos to Tibet, August, 2015
MacDowell Downtown- Andrea Clearfield presents Tibetan recording project, Mariposa Museum, Peterborough, New Hampshire
The College of William and Mary – Compositions inspired by Tibetan Music
The University of Chicago – On Tibetan music preservation
The College of New Jersey – Preserving the Heritage of Tibetan Music
TEXT
Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life) – a cantata on rites of passage
I. KYE (Birth)
Bare threshold of this life
Pass over, pass through
Our body, this vessel,
begins and ends anew.
In these mountains of our soul
we are willed into being, elemental:
Earth, water, fire, wind, space.
(Sa, lung, chu, mé, nam kha)
Gifted presence, this human form
Made of mother’s blood, father’s bone,
And that hidden inner spring.
This laboring night
Breathe into the hearth-bound
Burnishing of time.
Outside, an owl calls.
Come morning, the whole village will know:
A woman’s spent silence
A child’s crystal cry.
Bare threshold of this life
Pass over, pass through – Sienna Craig
II. Shar Ki Ri (Mountain to the East)
Sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan
Do not look toward the mountain toward the east
Look, instead, to the mountain in the west
Look up to the heights, and down to the depths of the mountain
Toward the places of wealth, the pure treasure of the dharma
Do not look toward the mountain toward the east
Look, instead, to the mountain in the west
For this is the root place, the copper-colored paradise of Guru Rinpoche,
The place of pure treasure and excellent perception,
A place of future accomplishment for sentient beings
Do not look toward the hills of India,
Where beautiful cultures like peacocks abound
Do not disturb them
May we be prosperous! – traditional
III. Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life)
Sweet threshold of this life, Pass over, pass through
Sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan
At the threshold of this life
A vast lake appeared before me
The lake unfurled like a flower I desired [a young woman]
It was as if the true Buddha appeared threefold, for me to behold
The right side [the father’s side] inspired purity
As there is with an ordained monk, whose knowledge is as vast as the sky
The left side [the mother’s side] is a place of dakini [female deity]
In the tradition of the great consorts
From the high land of the rock strewn hills
I look down upon a beautiful valley
This high mountain pasture nurtures luscious grass,
Just as this is so, it is my karma to wed this beautiful bride -traditional
IV. Kusum (When Queen Kusum Goes as a Bride to Ladakh)
Sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan
The Monthang palace rooftop
Is where the girl’s house gods reside.
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
The four-cornered square room,
Is where the girl’s parents reign.
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
Past the curtains of the prayer room,
Is where the nobility sit in rows.
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
The courtyard before the palace
Is where a pair of drummers drum,
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
Inside the main gate of Monthang,
Is where the girl’s subjects reside,
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
The area aroung the stupa,
Is where the girl’s friends congregate,
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
Like the fast patter of youthful footsteps,
In only a window of time could you see her leave
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away?
Even the officers of near-by Tingri,
Bow their hats in respect to the Queen.
But from the girl’s own homeland Monthang,
Would they dare to send her away?
To the eastern region of Ladakh
Do you dare send Kusum away? -traditional
V. Re Chung Tso (The performers)
Sung in the Mustang dialect of Tibetan
The playing party, all the musicians and dancers,
The playing party has joined the stage
Come! Turn out to watch the performers,
Performing in honor of Tara (Dolma)
[The Mother who takes us across the ocean of samsara]
Do not be distracted!
Come! Turn out to watch the performers
This performance for Tara, for wealth, prosperity, wellbeing
Come! Turn out to watch the performers,
In this place where the Lhamo [Tibetan opera] is performed
Be generous, as the performers move amongst you
[a request for donations from the audience]
You might say, “I am old,” as you gather for the performance
But turning out to watch the performance –
Oh, these times make you feel young!
The king of the golden hill, he also dances,
Performing in honor of Tara,
Here, on the spacious plain
The king and commoners alike,
They dance on the golden hill,
Requesting good fortune and blessings,
In honor of Tara,
Dance, dance, dance around. -traditional
VI. SHI (Death)
Worn threshold of this life
Pass over, pass through
In this land of many stones
A fossil unearthed by river’s course
Mirrors our own tumblings,
In the waning hours of our time
You whose name I do not know –
Old woman: faded apron, weathered hands
Old man: not seeing but to dream –
I meet you here, grateful
For this most true of destinations.
Start for this place, O gnarled soul,
Released from certainty
Along the journey of becoming.
What is nascent here,
In this transcendence, this in between,
Is nothing short of miracle:
Dried seed, green shoot, pressing
Toward the surface
Craving rain and stars and sun.
Bare threshold of this life
Pass over, pass through -Sienna Craig
Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.
Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone utterly beyond,
O what an awakening!
– Heart Sutra mantra
(chanted in Sanskrit)
literal translations provided by
Karma Wangyal Gurung
with assistance from Katey Blumenthal
poetic interpretations by Sienna Craig
transliterations by Katey Blumenthal and
Andrea Clearfield