Noam in Bhutan

Daily Life in Bhutan, Part III: Ambient Café

2010-08-23T09:33:00.005+06:00

The definition of home during my year in Bhutan was Ambient Café. Almost no day went by without a visit to my favorite place in Thimphu. Ambient opened just a few days after my arrival in Thimphu in August 2009, and I quickly discovered what a marvelous place it is. Located right in the center of town, near the traffic circle, the big glass windows allow wonderful light to shine into the entire room. The room is tastefully decorated, and the environment is truly comfortable. I came there for the food and coffee, and soon found my Bhutanese family and a remarkable community of friends.

Letho and Junu (up above in the photo) a wonderful couple who run this café, have created a place that serves the best coffee in Bhutan, serves delicious and healthy food beautifully presented and cooked by Sonam, and above all a place that is truly a community gathering place, with great ambience (as the name suggests).

Throughout the year, Ambient’s menu has evolved in wonderful ways. And today you’ll find such delicious dishes as Hummus Platter, Lasagna, Moussaka, Quiche, Tofu Curry and many other varieties along with the assortment of sandwiches, wraps, and appetizers. Everything is made from locally grown fresh vegetables, according to the seasonal vegetables and fruits including a fresh fruit shake that changes as fruits become available.

Letho makes awesome coffee, the best in Bhutan without a doubt!

Indeed, for me Ambient Café was more than just a place to go have lunch every day. It was where I felt most comfortable, most happy to be. Every day, as I would work through my mornings, I would eagerly anticipate lunch time, when it was time to go walk up those stairs and say hello to Letho, Junu, and Jigme! and of course, also always hoping Lama Shenphen would be there. Lama, (in the pic below) with his wonderful sense of humor, his terrific stories, compassion, wisdom and always smiling face is a contagious presence, a magnet and an inspiration. To see how present he is, day in and day out, and to witness his work with youth that have drug and alcohol abuse problems in Thimphu is a true inspiration.

At Ambient Café, I spent so many wonderful afternoons and evenings, sharing great food and great company, laughing, laughing and laughing with friends from far and wide. Spent lovely hours with so many wonderful people, and indeed Ambient would always be a reminder of the impermanent nature of life. People coming and going. Sometimes interesting tourists, but more often than not volunteers from overseas who would be in Bhutan for two or three months, would make Ambient their home for that time, and soon enough it was time for them to leave, and we would say goodbye, and always new people would emerge.

Indeed, after a year in Bhutan, just two weeks ago, it was my turn to leave. I will miss Bhutan so much, and maybe I’ll write a little more about that another time. But for now, I should just say, that I will undoubtedely greatly miss Ambient Café for everything that it is, and for everyone that is there!

Love,

Noam

Daily Life in Bhutan, Part II: Kilu Bhutan Music School

2010-07-14T09:14:00.007+06:00

Of course, how can I write about my daily life over the past year here without writing about the most constant aspect of my life here and the opportunity that brought me to this amazing place. I am nearing the end of my one year appointment as a music teacher at Kilu Music School and it’s been a fantastic year.

The Department of Youth and Sports complex, where Kilu is located...

Kilu is located on the second floor of this building

Decorations on our building...

There certainly have been many highlights for our school during my time here, and I’m very proud of the efforts we all made to facilitate the success of these events. Some of these events include our wonderful annual student recital in December followed by our intensive winter program in January; our students performing in a BBS TV special in celebration of His Majesty’s Birthday in February; A wonderful week long workshop conducted by guest music teacher from California Janet Greene in March; Cellist Frances-Marie Uitti’s visit and performance with our students in June and of course most recently the remarkable honor of performing in front of His Majesty just last week. It seems one more highlight is coming up later this month as several of our students will be featured on BBS’ special music program “Spotlight”.

Of course, these highlights as wonderful as they are, are only the surface (and a wonderful surface at that) of the work and fun that we’ve had this past year at Kilu. The daily work of teaching children is no easy task, and has had its challenges for me. But I feel my students are my teachers. Every day teaching I learned about myself, about music, about patience, about children and about how to be a better teacher.

A new addition to the interior of Kilu. Framed photos of our students and guest performers from recent concerts.

The view from outside our school...Changankha Lhakang up above.

I’ve grown so fond and attached to my students, and I care deeply about them. What I have enjoyed so much during my time with them is that even when they have been disruptive in class, or misbehaved there is a kindness and a joyfulness about these children that is moving. They struck me right away, as such incredibly talented, intelligent and kind-hearted kids.

I would be remiss if I didn’t write a few words of appreciation about one very important person, who plays a crucial role in Kilu’s continued existence and success as a school. I’m talking of course about Rinchen Lhamo, Kilu’s administrator. Rinchen is one of the most wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting here in Bhutan. She was there that very first morning to pick me up at the airport, and has been a great friend and colleague ever since. Her generosity, sense of humor, supportive and compassionate upbeat nature have helped make my life here in Bhutan, at Kilu and beyond, a joy. I can’t imagine where Kilu would be without Rinchen’s diligent, can do, easy going, committed and efficient work as the single person who runs all the logistic and administrative matters relating to our school. Having her as a companion through this journey at school has been a real gift. Thanks, Rinchen!

And thank you to all of my students for a great year of learning!!! I’m going to miss all of you!

Love,

Noam

Daily Life in Bhutan, Part I: Memorial Chorten

2010-07-12T22:43:00.011+06:00

The National Memorial Chorten came to represent the feeling of “home” in Bhutan very soon after I arrived here in Thimphu. During my first week in Bhutan, a week long puja was taking place at the Chorten. Every day I would wake up to the sounds of the ceremonial horns and drums and cymbals, to the sounds of prayers coming loudly through the speakers in the Chorten grounds. That first week, walking to the Chorten every morning, to watch the puja going on and the many devotees circumambulating, joining in, that was my first real introduction into Bhutan, and it created an immediate and deep connection for me with this wonderful spiritual monument. Though at the time, I did not exchange anything more than a smile or a glance with the other people around me, it was really the first place here in Bhutan that gave me a sense of belonging and community.

Every day, as I walk from my apartment to town or to school, my path inevitably leads me by the chorten. It’s a two minute walk from my apartment to the main intersection below where the Chorten stands, beautifully and peacefully. It’s bells ringing in the wind, it’s golden top radiant and awesome looking.

As I walk outside of my apartment garden gate, this is what I see...

walking down the path leading from my apartment to the main road...

At any point during the day, you will find devotees circumambulating in clockwise motion around the Chorten, reciting mantras, turning large prayer wheels, prostrating and praying. The Chorten is a place of worship, a place of practice and devotion for many. A daily and physical reminder of Buddha’s teachings.

The prayer wheels are right on the left when you enter the Chorten grounds...

A woman prostrating...

But the Chorten is not only a place of worship and practice, it serves as a kind of community gathering place and park at the same time. In the absence of a park in the town area of Thimphu, the Chorten serves as a place of refuge from the busy day, a place to come and take a nice evening walk, quietly, or with a friend. The Chorten grounds are also a place for teenagers and young adults, couples and friends to come and hang out, giving them much needed privacy to share their lives with one another away from parents, relatives and school.

I, myself, have often joined the crowd in circumambulating round and round. It just feels really good! The seasons have changed, from autumn and winter through spring and summer, and the Chorten has seemingly changed its personality along with the weather, yet always remaining a kind of comforting presence, an inanimate friend and companion.

bird's view (inside the chorten, from above)

To learn more about Chortens/Stupas visit here or here.

Cheers,

Noam

Kilu's Big Day: A performance in front of His Majesty - Monday, July 5, 2010

2010-07-11T22:24:00.001+06:00

The day began very early, when I arrived at school at 6:30am, to find Rinchen, our school's administrator already there. She had been there since 6:00 she said, she couldn’t sleep. Shortly after I arrived Saito arrived and Rinchen helped myself and Saito put on our Gho. By help, I mean she dressed us as neither one of us knows how to put it on. The students were to arrive at 7:00 and by 6:45 we were both ready to go wearing our ghos, and we moved to the DYS auditorium right near by the school and got prepared.

Students started to arrive, slowly, with only about 10 arriving on time. By 7:05, a whole crew of His Majesty’s bodyguards and staff arrived to inspect the area and guard the auditorium’s entrances and entire area. Their early arrival prompted me to worry that his visit would be happening earlier than planned, and yet on the other hand it was a sure sign that it was actually happening!

By 7:15 most of the children arrived, we practiced going on and off stage, did a sound check (overcame a big mic problem), warmed up the kids with songs and arranged all the last minute matters, such as were the individual performers were to sit, and what the announcers (two teenage students) were to do. We spent extra time making sure the kids bowed properly, went all the way down, with the heads down, and took their time getting up. A few of the young ones were less than gracious!

Around 8:30am we received word that we should have the children line up outside the auditorium, towards the parking lot to welcome His Majesty. The students all stood in a row, we instructed them on how to bow in three different groups as he walks past us. Since I was wearing the traditional gho, in this particular circumstance, as in any formal occasion, I had to accompany it with the kind of white shawl, called the kabne, and I had to learn how to bow properly with this kabne when we greet His Majesty. I got a quick lesson from his bodyguards, and thankfully they allowed me and Saito to only have to do it when he arrives and then take it off when we perform, otherwise, we would have had to bow with it and put it back around our shoulder, and bow again every time we went on stage which would have been a train wreck waiting to happen.

We saw the royal vehicles come through our center’s gates, and we all got prepared, one of our teenage students stood first with a ceremonial scarf to offer him and then the board members, teachers and choling (sound man) at the front and then all of the students lined up to welcome His Majesty. It was so exciting to see him step out of the car, I had only seen him in photos previously. He looked elegant and very awake (in the deeper meaning of the word), his hair combed backwards with gel…at that point I bowed, following the proceeding to my right, and stayed down as he walked past us and towards the students. He walked quickly past our students all the way to the end and then took a long look at the group, and then announced “let’s take a group photo before we begin”. So he called the children to come sit on the stairs, all around him, he sat with them, on the stairs and our students all sat and stood on the stairs around him with us the teachers and board member joining. The royal photographer and videoman snapped their cameras, and after a few moments, he said “ok…big smiles…”.

Then he moved into the auditorium and suggested that we start the program. He remained standing as the children first sang the national anthem, with one of our students accompanying on piano. Our two announcer students, extended a very brief thank you to His Majesty for coming to attend our concert and then the program began.

I was watching how His Majesty listened to the students. How he sat. He has such intense focus and discipline about him. He was listening very intently to every piece, there was no flinching, there was no restlessness of any kind. His every movement was graceful and majestic indeed! For the most part he kept his head lowered and listened, without looking at the performers. But when each finished performing he said something briefly to each one and clapped, such as “well done” or “thank you”. The students all did exceptionally well, and the program went without a hitch.

Towards the end of the program came the teachers’ turn to perform. With my performance, I elected to play an excerpt from the composition ("The People's King") I had written especially for his 30th birthday back in February. I watched him listening (from time to time) as I performed. His eyes were closed, head down and he was listening very intently, I felt that he was enjoying it and really following along, appreciating it. I could sense his appreciation from the moment I started. His hand tightening up a bit, half way through my performance almost as though he is feeling the deep emotional content in the music. When I finished performing and after taking my bow, I walked gingerly towards where he was sitting, and with my head mostly lowered handed him the score of the piece which I had prepared in advance, and said that it’s the “original score of the composition” he said, “thank you, it’s beautiful”.

Then Saito, my colleague, performed a movement from Brahms wonderfully and all of our students came on stage to sing the final two songs together. An arrangement I made of a Bhutanese song by Jigme Drukpa called Gamay Ga and Michael Jackson’s optimistic and hopeful “Heal the World”.

His Majesty stood up for the final song, and stood very close to our children, smiling at them as they sang “Heal the World”. When we finished the song, and took our group bow, he spoke. He thanked us for the “wonderful concert" and congratulated everyone on a job really well done. And asked us if we wanted to hear what he thought about music and why it's so important. He said he wanted to share with us a few thoughts. I'll summarize by way of paraphrasing.

Firstly, that playing music is wonderful because it brings happiness to ourselves and to those who listen to us play, such as our friends and family.

Secondly, that it helps develop creativity in those who play and sing. And, that actually studies have shown that studying music also helps students with their academic work, sports and social skills.

And finally, that in his mind the most important thing about being a musician is that it helps us learn how to listen. We learn how to listen to music, to one another, to what others have to say, it helps us learn how to listen to the environment around us, to the streams, and the wind. Indeed, it helps us develop compassion for others and reminds us to take care of our environment.

After the concert he surprised us all, when he invited all of the students and staff for a private tour of his Palace and of his "office"...the Throne room, in fact. His Majesty has visited many schools in Thimphu this past year, but I hadn’t heard of such an invitation being extended! Maybe usually, because there are just too many students, it's not possible. We were in for a real treat! I later heard it was ordered spontaneously by His Majesty while the concert had been going on, so his staff had to frantically put all of this together!

So we loaded the buses, and made our way to the palace grounds, in we went through the gates, where a ways into the palace, we stepped out of the buses and organized into a group. It was just us and His Majesty (and his body guards, and secretary). A private tour through his palace (which is quite modest by the way, but very beautiful). We all walked quite closely to him, behind him, basically as though it was a field trip and he was our tour guide!!! He talked with some of the kids as he was walking and a few of them got to walk by his side, as he guided them, holding their hand and showing them various things around the garden. I exchanged looks of amazement with Rinchen (the school administrator) and the board members, and we all felt that we could have never expected such an opportunity to come. This was special not only for the kids, but also for all of us. This was extraordinary not only for those of us who are foreigners and would never again likely get the opportunity, but also for the locals, who have never had such an opportunity before.

After a tour of the garden, we looked at his house from the outside, and from there we walked up the steps that lead from his palace, to the entrance to the Thimphu Dzong. Dzongs are the government and monastic headquartes of each Dzongkhag (district) and the Thimphu Dzong is the nation’s center for both administrative and monastic work. As he walked up the stairs, his assistants, helped him put on a gloriously beautiful yellow kabne, (shawl) which I’ve always seen him wear in photos.

We then reached the main entrance path to the Dzong, which is living organism, not a museum, and there were passerby, people who were walking to and back from the Dzong, who stood to the side of the path and bowed as he walked past them, and we followed. We reached the stairs that lead to the entrance of the Dzong, and then he suggested we take another group photo. So again, he sat in he middle of the stairs, and all around him we gathered. More photos were snapped. Then our private royal tour guide (His Majesty) offered more explanations about the Dzong, which was built by his grandfather the 3rd King, when the nation’s capital moved from Bumthang (in Central Bhutan) to Thimpu. After all Thimphu is actually a relatively new town in Bhutan. But, in the center of the courtyard lies, the main temple, which is much older than the rest of the complex, and is the older part of the Dzong. He walked us in to the main courtyard, and explained what department is in each building we see, pointed to where his office is and where the monastic body works. Right above us, he said, is where all the cabinet meetings take place. He said there is something very special about the fact that in Bhutan the administrative and monastic centers reside in the same complex, and that often when important dignitaries from all over the world come to visit and have meetings, during the meetings they ask, “what are those sounds…?....those are the sounds of chants and ceremonies going on by the monks on the other side of the Dzong”.

From there we walked around the courtyard and towards his office complex, where we were guided quietly up the stairs and towards a long hallway, which had walls that were beautifully decorated with paintings that depict the entire story of Buddha Siddhartha. I looked out the window and I saw, a group of elderly, handicapped, and poor looking children walking towards the same building we were in. We were all guessing that the King was granting them audience and Kidu (Kidu is an on going living tradition of financial support that the King grants to people of need). This is basically an extensive and comprehensive system of state support of the poor, underprivileged, sick and handicapped. No doubt His Majesty was a busy man! After a short while, he indeed informed us he had to go upstairs and host these visitors, but asked that after we finish our refreshments we come to take a look at his "office" (throne room). When we got upstairs, he asked us to perform one of our songs for his Kidu receiving guests, and our performance of a Bhutanese song was much appreciated by the visitors.

There is no doubt in my mind, that he does in fact have a real presence about him. The presence of a leader, but also a kind of generosity of heart and compassion. I have been impressed previously by reading his speeches and hearing of the work that he does, the Kidu I have written about earlier, his long walking tours of the remotest parts of the nation, where he walks by foot for hours every day, sleeps in the fields, to grant Kidu in these areas, console those who have suffered because of the recent earthquakes and floods, and to help with reconstruction work.

For all of us involved, this was indeed a wonderful and unforgettable day!

Love,

Noam

A Very Special Composition

2010-07-11T21:07:00.004+06:00

One week ago, Kilu Music School had the remarkable honor and great fortune of performing in front of His Majesty, the King of Bhutan. My next blog entry will be about that unforgettable day. During that performance which mostly featured our students, I had the opportunity to perform a short excerpt from the special birthday composition I was commissioned to compose for His Majesty’s 30^th Birthday several months back. I am taking this opportunity now to tell you more about that remarkable project.

Not long after I arrived here in Bhutan, I was asked by the Press Secretary for His Majesty if I would be interested in a commission to compose a special celebratory piece in honor of His Majesty’s 30^th birthday, which took place February 21, 2010. I happily accepted such an honor and opportunity and composed “The People’s King”, a 25 minute cross-cultural work that brings together traditional Bhutanese music with classical music and jazz. It features the piano, four traditional Bhutanese instruments: flute, dramnyen (lute like), pchewang (similar to the chinese erhu/two stringed bowed instrument) and yangchen (zither like) as well as the long life Amitayus prayer chanted by the young monks of Dechen Phodrang.

I composed the piece during the months of December 2009 and Janauary 2010 and it was rehearsed and recorded in February 2010 at the national studios of Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS).

In my letter to His Majesty, which was submitted along with my composition on His Majesty’s birthday I wrote the following in describing the composition and the intentions behind it.

February 21, 2010

Your Majesty,

It is with great and distinctly unique pleasure that I submit to you this musical offering for the occasion of your 30^th birth anniversary. When Dorji Wangchuk of Royal Office of Media asked me not long after arriving in Bhutan to compose a piece of music for your birthday, I immediately felt compelled by the exceptional honor and opportunity to express my great appreciation and admiration for this wonderful country, its beautiful people and its exceptional leader. As the months went by, and my life here grew ever more rich and rewarding in virtually every aspect of my life, I feel that this has also become my opportunity to express my gratitude for the many gifts that Bhutan has bestowed upon me.

In composing this piece I have attempted to bring to life an integration of my very preliminary understandings of Bhutanese music with the other compelling influences that have shaped my internal musical landscape. To achieve this end I decided to bring together four traditional Bhutanese instruments along with the piano, and write melodies that primarily use the Bhutanese musical scale, while incorporating harmonies and rhythms that are jazz and classical music inspired. I feel that the result is at once exciting and full of promise for many more such endeavors of musical collaborations and integration in the future.

In the beginning and ending of the piece you will hear the young monks of Dechen Phodrang Monastery chanting the Amitayus (Tsepagmed) mantra of Limitless Life. This long life mantra was chanted and recorded especially for the occasion of your birthday, praying for your long life. Aside from wanting this very meaningful and appropriate mantra in the piece to express my deepest wishes for your continued health and prosperity I have been very moved in the past few months by the beauty and hauntingly meditative quality of mantras chanted collectively.

I would indeed like to join the monks in my piece and wish you a long, limitless life. I also want to take this opportunity to personally express my admiration for the work that you do, for your leadership and service to your people, and for the values that you articulate and demonstrate by example. This world desperately needs more countries like Bhutan and more leaders like you.

I hope that you enjoy the music!

Yours truly, with deep admiration and respect,

Noam Lemish

The experience of creating and delivering this piece was unique and full of learning every step of the way. The minute I had decided that I wanted to use primarily traditional Bhutanese instruments and Bhutanese musicians, I also had to limit the melodic content played by these instruments and musicians to the pentatonic scale as this was the only music they knew how to play on these instruments. I believe the melodies I wrote for this piece were inspired by the many songs and melodies I’ve heard many mornings of the year coming from all around my neighborhood. Sitting on my balcony, or working inside, sometimes I would hear Bhutanese pop music coming from a neighbor’s house, chanting and religious songs coming from the Memorial Chorten, or contemporary Bhutanese folk songs being blasted loudly from speakers at the police grounds, where rehearsals were taking place for various National celebrations.

During the rehearsal process, I taught by ear each part of the piece to the four Bhutanese traditional musicians. And when we recorded there were a myriad of logistical obstacles that came up. However, the piece was completed on time, and the result was heartening.

This project was made possible, with the help of several important individuals. I would like to list them below.

Musicians:

Samten Chopel, flute

Kencho, pchewang

Songay Thinley, yangchen

Kelzang Phuntso, dramnyen

Monks of Dechen Phodrang Monastery

Production:

Sonam Wangmo, sound technician

Neten Dorji, mixing

Choling, editing

BBS Studios

Khen Sonam Dorji, for helping me find musicians

Dorji Wangchuk and the Royal Office of Media for all of their help.

~~~~~

Thank you,

Noam

Kilu Music School Fundraising Concert: June 12th, 2010

2010-07-11T19:18:00.010+06:00

Last month, on Saturday June 12^th, we had a very special day for our school - the annual fundraiser concert, at the Taj Tashi Hotel in Thimphu. Featured in this concert was world-renown cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, who came from Holland especially to donate her time and talents to Kilu Music School. Her primary reason for coming to Bhtuan was to begin discussion and plans for opening a string program at Kilu. And we took the opportunity and planned a concert around her visit.

Along with wonderful performances by Ms. Uitti and Kilu’s teachers (myself and Saito Ryohei), the concert featured collaborations between Ms. Uitti and our students as well as individual and group performances of piano and singing by Kilu’s students.

The concert was a smashing success. The children did fabulously well, we had a full house in attendance, and managed to raise a good deal of money for the school. The Minister of Education, Lyonpo Thakur S. Powdyel honored us with his presence, and spent time with our school board, teachers and Ms. Uitti after the concert complimenting us on our work, and offered his pledge to support our future endeavors of music education in Bhutan.

As was the case with our annual student recital which took place in December, I was immensely proud of the hard work and dedication of our students in preparation for this performance. They worked really applied themselves in rehearsals, and in the concert itself, they all rose to the occasion and did a marvelous job.

On a personal note, I had the great pleasure of performing an improvised piece with Ms. Uitti during the concert and it was a wonderful musical experience. Indeed, during her entire stay in Bhutan, I was lucky enough to spend many hours with Ms. Uitti, enjoying great conversations, music and good food!

Here are a few photos from the concert courtesy of Xochitl Rodriguez:

Tashi Delek,

Noam

My visit to Karshong, a remote school hamlet in Trongsa District in Central Bhutan. May 22-27, 2010

2010-07-09T21:44:00.016+06:00

The bus ride from Thimphu to Trongsa was smooth and enjoyable. Nodding off to sleep from time to time, enjoying the beautiful, luscious, scenery throughout and gnashing on snacks. Riding on Bhutanese buses is such a wonderful experience. An intense mixture of emotion. A sense of relaxation, while sitting back and looking out the window at the splendid views, and yet a kind of tension and fear also running through my body. At times, driving so close to the edge, sheer drops. Driving through Bhutan’s mountainous terrain, there’s never really any respite, as you’re seemingly always on the edge of the mountain. And when a car comes straight at you, on these one lane roads, the bus moving even more to the left of the road and the edge, fear increases. And so this happens time and time again. Sitting there, tension and relaxation, cheesy Bhutanese pop music blasting through the speakers, the smell of doma and perspiration, driving left of the chortens, this is the experience of riding the bus in Bhutan.

Arrived in Trongsa town after about eight hours on the road, where not long after I arrived Sonam Lhamo, my friend and her fellow teacher and friend Sonam Tsoki came down to meet me from the school. After spending the night in a small hotel in Trongsa, and before setting of on our journey to Karshong (the small enclave/settlement school four hours walk from Trongsa town).

Trongsa Dzong

Inside the Dzong

Dzong from above!

As we began our walk outside of town we thankfully ran into the cook from the school which meant the tractor heading from town to school (once a month only when it comes to town to bring construction supplies) hadn’t yet left. We could hitch a ride with the tractor and save ourselves the walk. Thank goodness for BST – Bhutanese Stretchable Time. It was past noon, and the tractor was supposed to leave at 10:00am, but it hadn’t left yet.

It was quite a scene to get on the tractor, as the tractor was full of supplies, materials for cement, which were quite dusty, and the cart was already filled with several villagers. There appeared to be discussions going on about where we were going to sit, and some of it seemed to be about me, because as often is the case Bhutanese are very reverential towards foreigners, and they seemed to not want me to sit on the dusty cement materials and get myself all dirty. I tried to explain that I was grateful for the opportunity to ride in the tractor instead of walking and that I didn’t mind it at all, and that I also didn’t mind the fact that it was going to be a very bumpy ride, which they were trying to explain to me and make sure that I would be comfortable. They finally brought some empty boxes, dismantled them to prepare seats on top of the bags of cement supplies, for us to sit on, and we were ready to go.

We finally set off and wow was it a bumpy ride. It seemed for us, the bags of cement were providing somewhat of a cushion, while our fellow riders who were sitting on the metal of the cart, were suffering much more. Several times, they literally stood up, balancing themselves, it was better than having the pain of the bumps from the metal. As we climbed higher and higher on the mountain above Trongsa the view of the Trongsa Dzong, the town itself, the valley, and the surrounding mountains was spectacular. The ride was extremely bumpy, with dust from the supplies, mud from the road (flying off the wheel) flying everywhere. Bugs, flies, insects and the sun.

On the driving part of the tractor, the front part, there were five or six men, Indian laborers and Bhutanese riding along, squeezed in surrounding the driver. They were also headed towards the school, where they work on the on-going construction of the school. In the cart behind us and next to us sat the cook from the school, a school boy, two young village men and an old villager from villages not too far from the school (several hours walk it must be). These villagers not only live in a super remote place, they also speak their own dialect, so even my friends cannot really communicate too well with the older ones, as they don’t even speak Dzongkha.

Now, back to our journey. We were jumping up and down, laughter and smiles abound. The villagers were getting a kick out of the fact that a chillip (foreigner) was on board. But, not long after we started our journey, maybe a half an hour in fact, we hit a road block. A truck carrying huge rolled up electricity wires (they are working on connecting a village half way up towards Karshong to the grid) got stuck in the mud, one side of it falling half way into the side of the road, and almost to the gorge below it. A few men were already working on unloading its cargo and now all the men from our tractor joined in the work. There was a Toyota pick up truck with the project contractor there, connecting the truck to its rear with very thick ropes and they were trying to unload these super heavy wires which were rolled up into thick rolls. The truck looked to be thoroughly stuck and the task at hand looked impossible and time consuming. We debated whether we should start walking or wait. Since we still had about three quarters of the walk left we decided to wait a while and see if they succeed.

They all pulled the ropes, trying to get the cargo unloaded. They managed to get three such rolled up wires, but could not unload anymore. They then tried to see if enough weight had been removed for the truck to set itself free from the ditch. Remarkably enough, as they tried to use the pick up truck to pull the truck out, it almost worked, and most of the truck had been centered again and now only one wheel was stuck in some more deep mud. They then dug around this wheel, to create enough space for that wheel to also be free and the truck was freed from the ditch and ready to carry on with its journey. After an hours delay so were we.

Oh, it was so wonderful to get back on the tractor and keep on driving on this beautiful dirt road, with its amazing views, our legs spared, heading deeper and deeper into the Trongsa wilderness. Interesting, how such a bumpy ride, quickly became, in relative to the strenuous task of walking up the mountain with heavy bags, the height of comfort.

We passed the village that was being connected to the electricity grid (by village, I mean three or four houses and a Chorten). Sonam Lhamo told me that this is the last village before the school.

But it was not too long after we passed this village and right after Sonam Lhamo finished explaining to me that we were coming up towards the hardest part of the walk where we have to walk straight up to the top of the mountain to our right that we hit a terrible part of the road, our cart bouncing violently left and right several times and suddenly we were stuck, could not move. The right side of our cart was totally tilted down. We looked to the side and the right wheel had completely fallen off. So, there they were, all of the men, hurried out to examine the situation and start working on a fix.

There was a stream running through the road, and our right wheel got stuck right in the middle of a pool and a rock in it. The wheel had come off and the part of the cart that connects to the wheel was stuck inside. They had to work to lift the cart enough, searching for appropriate size rocks so they could fit the jumper exactly to actually generate the necessary lift. They managed to lift the right side enough to find out that actually a very crucial piece that would connect the wheel was missing. Hands dirty from the mud, went into the pool searching for this missing part but to no avail.

We knew that for us this was the end of the road. The men would continue to work on fixing the cart, but it might take hours, and it might require going back by foot to town and getting the necessary part. So, we took our bags and started to make our way up the mountain. We had about an hour and a half of walking left, and unfortunately had to climb the very part of the journey that Sonam has just spoken about.

As we walked up through this steep “short cut”, that went straight through the dense forest, we went through an area, where Sonam pointed to the trees and said, this is where bears live, you can see by the leaves, she said. This area is well known for the bears. Oh jeez, I thought to myself. Here we were two young women teachers, me and a school boy walking up through the jungle, with snakes, bears and other wild animals potentially lurking. I was hoping we would have no wild encounters.

Actually it really wasn’t bad at all and the scenery was wonderful. The sun shinning on the mountain ranges, while sheets of rain in the distance were being lit by the sun. The so called difficult part lasted only thirty minutes and we were quickly back on the dirt road, which would lead us in one hour’s time to the school.

Then, we arrived at the school, literally in the middle of nowhere. But the view, wow! So wonderful. As we arrived in the late afternoon, the beauty of the light and clouds above the multitude of mountain ranges was stunning.

Now, this school, and everything that is happening here is so amazing. Four teachers, a principle, sixty three students, and one cook. A school in the middle of nowhere, truly a settlement in the wilderness, with six or seven small rooms for classes and an office and an adjacent two small houses for the teachers’ quarters perched on top of a steep slope on the side of the mountain. Out houses down the hill, a moderate size dirt patch in front of the school with a tall prayer flag flying high, and several wood benches, for assembly gatherings. Construction everywhere, a bigger dirt patch below for a football field and several small huts in the surrounding areas for the children that stay on site during the week and the Indian laborers.

The school...

Morning assembly.

Hangin' out at school...

School Photo! All of the students and teachers!

The four teachers and principle in the middle...

Class.

My hosts’ house was very modest, with no electricity, but with a bukhari stove and batteried lamp which they charge during the day from solar. Once the sun sets in this little hamlet, it’s dark!

Ranges of mountains surrounding us in a 360 degree panorama. Landlocked fully, nowhere to go, except more mountain ranges in each direction which take days to cross by foot, and no roads, or vehicles around. This is the “real” Bhutan that everyone speaks of. The Bhutan that is outside of Thimphu still exists. Small villages scattered scattered all throughout this harsh and demanding terrain. Still no roads or electricity. This is what Bhutan used to be like all over the place, though it is shrinking as areas are being connected by electricity and roads. Surely, it is a good thing that peoples’ hardships are alleviated, but with such advances comes a loss to. Electricity and exposure to mass culture through the media, changes the nature of these people. The simple life is changed, one’s relationship with nature and the environment and so do the sense of meaning and purpose and perspective in one’s life.

On the afternoon of my first full day at Karshong, after my friends finished their days work of teaching we took a walk towards a Lhakang (monastery) that was located an hours walk from the school. They picked wild berries, yelling at the top of their lungs in the high pitched Bhutanese way.

The school from a distance during one of our afternoon walks...

On the way to the Lhakang we sopped at the “shopping complex” which is the running joke here with the Sonam’s. Saying that down the road is the shopping complex and just a little bit further down lie the movie theaters. Funny stuff considering how remote and underdeveloped the area really is. Anyway, the “shopping complex” was a little house along the way that is also a small shop that sells a few necessities for passerbyes. We took a few sweets (that’s a necessity isn’t it) and the last pack of biscuits (the joke by Sonam Tsoki, was that tomorrow the helicopter will be delivering new batch of biscuits).

The "Shopping Complex"

Outside the "shopping complex"

Then we made our way towards the Lhakang: Ugyen Thegchok Choling in Karshong, which was founded by the Ninth Gangteng Tulku (Kunzang Rigdzing Pema Namgayl). He also runs Gangteng Gompa and the Yeshe Khorlo centers all around the world.

The young Samling Tulku (a reincarnate lama) stays at the Lhakang and I asked Namgayl, one of the teachers if he might make the request on my behalf that the Tulku bless me and give me my Bhutanese name. Here in Bhutan, almost everyone receives their name from a Lama. When a baby is born, the parents take their child to receive a name from a teacher. In recent times, I have heard that some parents go to more than one lama if they didn’t like the name they received. I think, it is fairly common for foreigners who live here for a while to go to a lama and receive a Bhutanese name. Names here are usually loaded with meaning, most often relating to Buddhism. I had been thinking about getting a name for a few months, and all of a sudden, unexpectedly the perfect opportunity emerged. The young Tulku, perhaps no older than 13 or 14 looked at me briefly, with a kind of curiosity and promptly spoke: Sangye Rigden. And how interesting that I should receive Sangye (spelled Sangye or Sangay) as my first name, when in fact on the bus ride to Trongsa while I was thinking that I still needed to find a lama to give me a name, I thought of how Sangye would be a nice name. And I never imagined that I would receive my name in the middle of nowhere in Trongsa. We asked to take some photos with the Tulku, who was very shy but accommodating and from there we made our way back to the school for the night.

The view from the Lhakang.

With the two Sonam in front of the Lhakang where I received my Bhutanese name (strange looks with the socks, huh? protecting against leeches...)

The Tibetan word “Sangye” means, “Buddha”, and the term Rigden can refer to a “cosmic principle of wakefulness that exists as a potential to manifest in human society”. I happen to really like my birth given name, of “Noam Lemish”, but I think “Wakeful Buddha” is not a bad name to have as your backup…

As we walked back towards the school from the Lhakang it was starting to get dark. The sun had set and there was still a good deal of walking left. My eyes were glued to the ground as we walked, trying to make sure there were no snakes on the ground. I didn’t want to step on one. The thought of what we would do if one of us got bitten by a snake was frightening. The closest medical facility was a four hour walk away. So many sticks on the ground, it made me think of the famous Buddhist analogy for our state of delusion in samsara, mistaking a rope for a snake. Well, here I was in the Trongsa jungle, it was getting darker, and I definitely had my eyes glued to the ground, trying not to mistake a snake for a stick. In fact, every time we took a walk around the jungle, it made me think of the intense vulnerability that is the reality of humans living in such wild areas. Bears, snakes, and perhaps even tigers in the area. Nothing much to do if you have an encounter with such an animal.

There is a great sense of camaraderie, a kind of brotherhood and sisterhood between the four teachers that live and work at this school in Karshong. They eat meals together, take their evening and afternoon walks together, and entertain one another. The strength of their community keeps them strong while facing the challenges that their work and living conditions present.

The following day during lunch time a remarkable double rainbow appeared. A full circle rainbow all around the sun, straight up in the sky. I had never ever seen anything like it. And below it a larger rainbow that was not complete.

In the afternoon after the teaching day was completed, the four teachers and I went on a walk in the opposite direction of where we had walked the previous afternoon to the Lhakang. On the way we passed the huts of the cow herders who live in the area. All of these herders are women, and there were lots of kids playing around. Some were school kids that actually reside at the Karshong school and some were the cow herders’ children. Apparently, these women in the spring and summer take their cows away from their village and move along with them from one grazing area to the next, every three of four weeks. In every area there are huts set up for use already there year after year.

Children in the cow herders' living area...

We stepped in to have some tea at one such extremely modest hut. Basically, just one small room in this hut. Kitchen, bedroom, living room, guest room, everything in one tiny space. These women cow herders and the whole experience in general was really amazing to behold. I have only ever seen such communities in movies. People living in such remote areas, living under such harsh conditions, and yet displaying such a kindness and friendliness, openneness, a sense of community among them, and seemingly a kind of quiet contentment.

It is amazing to think of how remote this school really is, some children have to walk up to an hour a half a day in each direction to go to school. Other children whose homes are too far from the school by foot for daily walking, are accommodated at the school with very modest huts. A small community is thus created amongst these children, the teachers and the Indian laborers that live on site as well. We played football down in the dirt field, in the evening after we returned from our walk. The “stay at school kids”, two male teachers, the Indian laborers and myself playing football in the mud and drizzle, having a great time. Football, the great equalizer, bringing together people from all corners of the world so easily. No words necessary.

One child who stays at the school site is the 8 year old Sherab Wangmo. She stays with the Sonam’s and is shy beyond words. She is actually mostly silent, solemn and seems somewhat unhappy. Perhaps she really misses her mother (there is no father, I understand). It must be so hard at such a young age to stay away from your mother, your home, your village and everything familiar, and to live with strangers, teachers. I tried hard to make her smile and play. And when I engaged her about colors or cards, she did respond, but only temporarily.

The following morning at 10:00am I began the journey back to Trongsa with the school’s cook.

He doesn’t speak any English which for me worked well, as I prefer to walk quietly rather than have idle conversation. The only talking we really did was when he would point at villages on the other side of the valley and name them or point at something along the way such as water or mud and say what its called in Dzongkha and ask me what it’s called in English.

The walk was tiring but not exhausting. It was mostly nice. Neither downhill for long stretches nor up hill. We walked along two or three mountain ridges, went mostly moderately down, gradually, following the dirt road that we had moved on by tractor when we came up and took two steep downhill shortcuts through the woods.

Approaching Trongsa town by foot from above...

The following day early in the morning I made the short walk from the hotel to the entrance of the town where the bus dropped me off, ready to begin the journey back to Thimphu. For the first hour or so the bus was full but quite normal, we stopped several times along the way and picked up people. It was a very holy day in Bhutan, Buddha’s Prananirvana, and later it would become clear to me where all these villagers were headed. They were headed to a big chorten along the way, maybe an hour and a half drive outside of Trongsa itself.

But, before we reached the chorten itself, the bus was stopped by a group of people, waving the yellow bus tickets. Apparently, many of the passengers on the bus were not actually ticket holders, but just given a lift by the driver. So, he instructed those who don’t have tickets to get off the bus, and he stepped out and started loading up the bus roof (which is where all the luggage is roped and taken along as cargo) with all the stuff that this large group of people had. It was bag after bag after bag. It seemed like we were about to take an entire villages’ worth of belongings to Thimphu. I wasn’t actually sure what was going on. I thought maybe a couple of people were moving from this village to Thimphu. But eventually a group of approximately ten men, mostly young ones in their 20’s came on the bus, they said hearty goodbyes to friends who stood with them and were not joining and off we went after the half hour delay.

Immediately, everything about the bus ride changed. These men were full of energy, loud, jolly and full of a sense of entitlement about the bus ride as if they were the only passengers on the bus. When a group travels like that together, there is a sense of obliviousness about anyone who doesn’t belong to your group.

In talking briefly to a couple of the men, I realized that they were coming back to Thimphu after being away for three months, conducting surveys on the hydrolelectric power. They travel by foot in very remote areas. It’s a harsh life, exhausting, kewa datsi (potato cheese curry) every day which “in the summer turns sour before we even have chance to eat it for lunch” .

Insects and leeches every where, very low pay, far away from family from any kind of city amenities. But much like the teachers in Karshong, they were like brothers to one another with a deep sense of camaraderie, and on this day they were full of joy and excitement as they were coming home after a long time!

The man sitting in front of me, was the leader of the group and he was clearly older and they all called him sir. He was in charge of the songs. The bus drivers in Bhutan have these MP3 players and they rotate songs.

This man in front, cranked up the volume very high, and they all sang so loudly, especially a young man sitting across the way from me, who would almost scream instead of singing, and hold the notes far too long on purpose and sing somewhat out of tune.

Well, eventually we made it back to Thimphu, after a long and bumpy ride, full of delays. I was happy to be back “home” and truly grateful for the opportunity to visit this remote and beautiful part of Trongsa.

~~~~~~

Yours, as always,

Sangye Rigden

Life in Bhutan: February through June in Photos

2010-06-28T10:25:00.008+06:00

Dusk hours: the view from my balcony on a typical evening in Thimphu.

Pancake party at Shafik's house with a wonderful international community of friends.

Going on a day hike in the surrounding mountains of Thimphu. Got a little lost looking for a monastery, but had a great time anyway!

With Tshewang Dendup...who has been a special friend for me here in Bhutan.

More community: this time at Deer Park Thimphu, early may, during wisdom tea party. Friends brought cake and celebrated my birthday...so sweet!

My birthday dinner at my favorite hang out in town, Ambient Cafe, with so many of my favorite people in Thimphu!!! It was a feast and a wonderful time!

With Kheng Sonam Dorji, after he blessed us with his music and songs, at the Music Concert Series at Centennial Radio in May.

In June, I joined my friends Shafik, Lindsey and Kalim, on a hike to Chumphu monastery, a little ways outside of Paro, where there is a levitating statue of Vajra Yogini. WOW!!! No joke. Some photos from our day.

There is the monastery itself.

On the way back, a rural Bhutanese house, rice fields, smoke rising and a moist camera lens that created a lovely affect.

~~~

Peace,

Noam

Chelela Pass, Paro Tshechu and Punakha in Photos (MARCH 2010)

2010-06-27T22:04:00.012+06:00

When Janet Greene was here in March we were lucky enough to have the chance to do a little bit of traveling with some day trips to Paro, Chelela Pass and Punakha. Here are some photos from our adventures together.

At the top of Chelela pass, a magnificent 360 degree panoramic view. We got so lucky with the weather. It was a clear and crisp blue sky. Perhaps the last weekend of such spectacular visibility.

Indeed, there is Mt. Jumolhari, towering at 7314 meters (that's approx. 24,000 feet)

Different sights from Chelela Pass...

Haa Valley and Sikkim in the distance...

A Yak!

Another shot of Mt. Jumolhari...

One week later we attended one of the most popular Tshechus of Bhutan, the Paro Tshechu. Which takes place every year towards the end of March. Compared to Thimphu Tshechu which I was lucky enough to attend in September, the Paro festival takes place in a much smaller courtyard, and feels so much intimate.

Then a couple of days later, we took a day trip to Punakha (the winter capital of Bhutan) which sits around 3 hours away from Thimphu by car. On the way to Punakha, we stopped at Dochu La Pass, where these 108 chortens stand!

Punakha Dzong.

The famous bridge leading to the Dzong...

Inside one of the courtyards in the Dzong...

A chorten in the near by town of Khuruthang.

Here we are (myself and Janet) with my neighbors (who own my apartment building)!

~~~~

Peace,

Noam

Janet Greene in Bhutan for a special workshop at KILU Music School in March!

2010-05-31T22:11:00.006+06:00

In the middle of March all of us at KILU Music School had the pleasure of welcoming Ms. Janet Greene to a special weeklong workshop for our students. Janet who specializes in early childhood education, has spent decades teaching music in the US in both Elementary schools and her own music school. Her work is deeply influenced by the Orff/Kodaly approach, and integrates music, movement, the language arts into a wholistic musical education that is simultaneously engaging and effective.

A mutual friend, and my beloved college advisor, Will Johnson suggested that I meet Janet before leaving for Bhutan, as I had many questions about teaching music to children, and was seeking advice and suggestions from many different sources. And so a few weeks before my departure, we met at a coffee shop in Sebastopol and clicked right away. I carried the thought with me, that if the opportunity ever came up, it would wonderful to be able to have Janet come and work with the children here in Bhutan.

After being here for a few months, I realized even more clearly, how beneficial it could be for our children, us as teachers, and the entire community here if I could manage to bring Janet over to do workshops for the children and the teachers and inspire all of us with her great approach to musical education.

So, this plan that started as a small seed, magically came into fruition, and Janet was able to come here, on a purely volunteer basis and be with our students for a week. Her classes with our students were a smashing success! It was remarkable to behold how she masterfully engages the children, and catches them under her spell.

Our children were delighted by the time they got to spent with Janet, and all of us at KILU were inspired by watching her teach. I learned so much by observing her teaching, and have continued to utilize many of the songs, games and activities that she shared with us during her time, as our students just love these activities!

Aside from spending time with our students, we also organized a special two day workshop for “regular subject” elementary school teachers on the topic of how to integrate music into the “regular classroom” here in Bhutan. Janet trains teachers all over the world on this very subject, so I thought it was important not to miss this opportunity and share her knowledge and experience with the teachers here, particularly as the government here is very active in a comprehensive reform effort of the education system so that it moves into a more wholistic, integrative approach that truly embodies the values of Gross National Happiness (GNH) which is the guiding philosophy of the Bhutan’s government. We had a remarkable turnout of about 60 teachers from all across Thimphu elementary schools, and the workshop was truly wonderful to be a part of. The feedback that I received from the participants was incredible, and the excitement and enthusiasm that these teachers felt from the activities that Janet with us all was palpable throughtout the entire workshop. In fact, by way of my students who study in different schools, I know that many of the teachers have already been incorporating some of the lessons, and activities that they learned during this special workshop.

On a personal note, I had a wonderful time with Janet, we did a little bit of traveling together during her stay here, which was fantastic and shared many wonderful conversations and music!

In short: THANK YOU, Janet!!!

-Noam

Reflections

2010-05-20T23:24:00.005+06:00

Nothing quite compares to the exquisite beauty of the mountains south of Thimphu (actually the mountains all around Thimphu), with the beautiful and diverse appearances of the sunlight, which light the mountains and the trees, every day, differently. And the bellowing clouds, and peace and calm that the mountains exude. It’s quiet, to walk towards the mountains from KILU School towards home, it feels quiet and it quiets me inside.

~~~~~~~~

I think it’s been easy to take for granted the fact that here in Bhutan an entire society seems to run based on values such as patience, generosity, and non-violence. It’s been a remarkable experience to live in a place where there are no displays of violence, people are not rude to you, or short, or mean, or aggressive. The only time someone has been rude to me in my nine months here was in Jakar, and it was an American tourist. It’s hard not to take it for granted when you’re in it, but the fact of the matter is that there is patience all around, and even more so, there is generosity.

I don't want to be naive and suggest that somehow this is a utopia. Human beings reside here and with that, come negative actions and emotions. Like every where else in the world people mistreat one another here, I am sure. There is domestic violence, there are thugs, there is corporal punishment, sexual harrasement, abuses of power and abuses of every kind. But, compared to every other place in the world I've ever been, this place is "heaven on earth" in terms of the way people treat one another. Sure, I believe my experience in Bhutan is what it is partly because I am a foreigner and as such, I am treated very well here. But, beyond the patience, generosity and non-violence, there is an openness, an inquisitiveness, a friendliness and generosity of spirit all around that is truly wonderful.

~~~~~~~~

Here in Bhutan, another thing that I’ve taken for granted is the fact that no one judges you by your nationality. As a foreigner, between the ex-pats here, and the way Bhutanese think of us, no one seems to care what country you are from. It’s not a label that matters. Above all, you are a human being, and are treated that way, without much attention given to your nationality or ethnicity. That’s been refreshing, it’s almost like here, I can just be Noam. Not an American, not an Israeli, just Noam, a human being.

~~~~~

In terms of the international community here. It's a small one. I've wondered in recent months, what is it about this place that brings together such sweet, gentle, kind, warm, people to it. It’s as if it is a magnet for wonderful people. Warm, kind-hearted, helpful, generous, interesting and fun to be around. It’s amazing!!

Impermanence is embodied in the international community here. People come and people go. It's almost as if I can look at the past nine months here and divide them into three different social waves of terrific people that came and went. Of course there was a group of people that was already here when I arrived, but most of them have left. A second wave came between december and february, and now we are in the third wave which started at some point february. It is indeed a great lesson in impermanence as I have bonded with several dear friends who are now no longer in Bhutan, and soon I will say goodbye to those who are still here.

I feel quite blessed that I have such wonderful people enter my life and I am confident that we will continue to be in each others' lives.

~~~~~~

A Must Read Article by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche

2010-05-10T00:06:00.002+06:00

A phenomenal and comprehensive piece by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche on Bhutan and the multitude of issues it faces as a society and nation. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Bhutan.

Here is the article as it appears on Kuensel Online.

-Noam

Students of KILU on Kuzoo and Centennial Radio FM!

2010-03-07T21:54:00.004+06:00

Today, apparently was International Children's Broadcasting Day. Our students were featured in programs on two of Bhutan's four radio stations. Several of our students performed piano and sang on Kuzoo FM's "Sing Along" show at 6:30pm and Centennial Radio featured audio from KILU's December annual concert. The kids did really well and all of us at KILU were very proud of their work!

This comes after, just two weeks ago, three of KILU's student were featured extensively performing music on a special program on BBS (National TV) celebrating His Majesty's 30th birthday, which fell on February 21st.

Our students are becoming minor celebrities in Bhutan!!!

Cheers,

Noam

A BIG THANK YOU FROM KILU MUSIC SCHOOL!!!

2010-02-28T23:26:00.002+06:00

So many of you donated generously to help me come to Bhutan and to help provide very needed resources for the students of KILU Bhutan Music School. Here are our students holding many of the sheet music, books, CDs and instruments that were purchased with your donations and brought to Bhutan by yours truly. Everyone at KILU is saying a HUGE THANK YOU to ALL OF YOU!

Love,

Noam

Paro and Taktsang Monastery (Tiger's Nest) – January 30 and 31, 2010

2010-02-28T22:49:00.009+06:00

We took off to Paro Saturday afternoon. Tshering Dorji, Sherab, Kencho and Phuntsok, the five of us in Kencho’s car. Car full to the brim with our “stuffs” (as Bhutanese say, adding an unnecessary “s” to many words) and the mood quite upbeat in the car as we headed out of Thimphu towards Semtokha and beyond.

I had reflected on the fact that it had been nearly three months since I had left Thimphu, basically since returning in early November from Bumthang, I had stayed inside the “walls” of Thimphu town. Interesting to reflect on such a prolonged period without any geographical movement, and without really much of a desire or need to do so.

When we arrived in Paro we stopped in town to purchase some groceries for our overnight stay at Drugyel village. Basically, we would be staying the night at this villagers house, enjoying hot stone baths and sleeping in a shack. But, in order to be fed, we would need to bring groceries for our host to cook for us. We bought vegetables of all kinds, and snacks, as well as ingredients for tea.

Paro Valley

Before we would head for our hot stone bath and our night in the village the boys wanted to take me and go visit two very historic and important temples in Paro valley. The first one we visited is the Dungtse Lhakang. (Pg. 138 in Pommaret's book on Bhutan for more info). This temple is unique because it is one of the onlychorten shaped temples in Bhutan. I found the paintings on the walls of this temple which was dark inside and required a torch to be viewed, I found these paintings to be most beautiful and elaborate and abundant paintings that I have seen collected together inside of one temple so far. I really would like to come back and see this temple again.

Dungtse Lhakang

From there we went to visit Kyichu Lhakhang (more info on pg. 131 of Pommaret). This is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Bhutan. It supposedely dates back to the 7^th century, even before Guru Rinpoche’s time and was said to be built by the Tibetan Buddhist king, Songtsen Gampo. This is where Dilgo Kheyntse Rinpoche spent a good deal of his time teaching, and living, and he is honored in this temple.

The road leading down to the village looked treacherous, with huge rocks, it looked quite inhospitable for any car, and so instead, we entered the well known Drugyel high school (where Sherab had done his studies) and parked the car down in the football field, as it was the weekend. Good thing, both Tshering and Sherab lived in Paro a good deal and knew the town.

So we made our way towards our “hotel” for the night, walking for about ten minutes, carrying our sleeping bags, groceries and bags, crossing a very small stream and eventually reaching our destination. A big brick house and behind it, beyond loads of building supplies, a rather ugly looking shack. That’s where we would be spending our night. The shack divided into two. One side was the room where we would sleep and eat, wooden shims covering the ground, with sheets/embroidered cloths creating a sepration and the other side where two wooden baths were built into the ground, steam already rising from them. In the left hand corner of this second part of the shack, was a big tub full of cold water and two empty buckets. This water could be used to help modify the temperature in the baths. In front of this open hot stone bath section of the shack was a bon fire going out in the open, with many big sized stones being heated and attended to by a young boy of maybe 11 or 12.

Kencho and Phuntsok resting in our "hotel"...

In front of us the open sky, with the silhouettes of the surrounding mountains gradually becoming more clear as the clouds dispersed and the full moon appeared from within the clouds to shine ever so brightly in the sky.

We got settled, put our bags down and right into the baths we went. There were five of us and only two baths, it was even questionable if two could fit in one of the baths, as it was smaller. So, who wanted to go first? Three people could go in at once. Phuntsok, Tshering and myself agreed to go in first. So in we went into the warm and delightful water!!! I had the smaller tub all to myself for a while, and it was wonderful.

Relaxin'...

The way these hot stone baths work, is the stones are being heated on the fire outside, and when we need to heat the water inside the bath, the young man (boy) who was attending would bring a stone and drop it into our bath. It would make a nice splashing sound of the heat rippling through the water, and then in a matter of seconds or a minute or two, the water in the entire tub would be heated. The bigger the rock the more dramatic the heatwave would be. A few times, with really big rocks, the heat that would take over the water was so significant that I had to come out of the water and gradually come back in as it cooled off a little bit.

After a couple of hours of bathing in and out, it was time for some dinner. This was my first time in Bhutan really eating the way you eat in the village. We were served rice, ema datsi, a kind of cauliflower sabji and eggs I believe. No silverware, and so it was all hands. And it was great fun rolling the rice into a ball (or at least trying) and grabbing some of the veggies and eating. By the end of it, my hands were so oily. I think it’s better to keep the rice away from the curry, and dry, so that you can roll it into a ball and then get the veggies. My hands were so oily and messy by the end of it. What fun!!!

I should mention that throughout the weekend, during the drives, during the bathing, during the hike up to taktsang singing was a very main component of the experience. Every so often Tshering would burst out in a Bhutanese folk song, and the rest would join singing from the bottom of their throats, Phuntsok would sing a beatles song, and from time to time even Sherab and Kencho would beging singing. They asked me to teach them an Israeli folk song, and I indulged for a little while.

After dinner, we returned for some more bathing and then it was time to get ready for bed. Sherab and I pitched up the tent, and after a little bit of difficulty we managed to figure it out. We had brought sleeping bags, and we made our way into the tent, got ourselves as warm and cozy as possible, and got ready to sleep. Eventually, the rest of the group got in, one by one, and thus we were quite a cozy group of five in the tent, pretty much, laying there shoulder to shoulder. The ground was uneven, with the wooden shims, and the noise of the water running into the tub, and the host and the young man cleaning the baths, and dealing with everything outside lasted for about a half an hour. At first, I couldn’t stop laughing at the situation, all five of us, shoulder to shoulder in this tent, and then eventually I began to close my eyes and tuck myself deeply inside my sleeping bag. It was warm and cozy enough and once I fell asleep I slept decently well.

The following morning, Kencho and I were the last ones to stay inside the tent, and while the rest of the guys were already up, I decided to stay in the warm bag as much as I could. Eventually when we heard that tea was being served, we got ourselves up and made our way outside of the moist tent. We had tea, warmed ourselves up by the fire, and enjoyed the crisp blue sky, that was becoming ever more clear with every passing minute. Over to the north of us I could see for the first time in my life the peak of Mt. Jumalhari covered with a thick blanket of white, white snow.

Beautiful mountains north, and eventually even the sun came out from the clouds and starting to heat our backs as we sat by the fire, trying to avoid the thick smoke from entering our eyes. Eventually breakfast was served, not really that different from dinner: red rice, kewa datsi and radish with red chilis. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are pretty much the same here, and people eat very big breakfasts indeed. Considering the hike that awaited us, on this day I didn’t mind eating a good deal in the morning, as I didn’t know what to expect in terms of food the rest of the day.

Sherab by the bon fire in the morning...

Left to right: Tshering Dorji, me, Phuntsok, Sherab (drying underwear) and our host.

We got all of our stuff together, and made our way towards the car, which remained parked in the football field of Drugyel high school, and from there we drove to the base of Taktsang monastery. We could see Taktsang very shortly after we got back on the main road from the high school parking lot and it was high up above. We would have to climb up THERE!

So, we parked the car, fed some rice to the dogs that were hanging around and looked starved and began our hike up towards Taktsang Pelphug (Pg. 136 in Pommaret) or “Tiger’s Nest”. From the base one looks up towards the monastery tucked into the rock face, and it seems truly impossible to imagine that there is a path that somehow leads to it. In fact, all along the way, it just doesn’t seem like there is a way to get there, unless you climb the cliff, and only at the last minute when you start the descent from the adjacent mountain, do you see the stairs and the path that will lead you to the monastery.

Sherab in his colorful Gho getting ready for the hike. When visiting Temples or Dzongs, Bhutanese must always wear their traditional clothes. Sherab elected to also hike all the way up in his Gho, some of the other guys, changed before we entered Taktsang.

The guys elected to take the “short cut”, which is the much more steep and direct climb up the mountain towards the monastery. The way to reach Taktsang is by way of climbing an adjacent mountain, eventually reaching even higher then Taktsang and then descending, crossing a short bridge and walking up from the side of the cliff towards the monastery. It was a rigorous climb, and I was tired and out of breath easily, my legs hurting from the climb, but it was not more challenging than the hike I did with Pia in Bumthang, and in fact it was less straining as the climb was shorter (twice as short in fact).

Tea break...

The view on our way up...

About half way there, you reach the “cafeteria” which is a glorious vista point towards the monastery, still below it, looking straight across, it is quite something to behold. The majestic beauty of this nestled monastery is breathtaking indeed. No wonder it is so famous.

Not long after the "cafeteria", we stopped again on a big boulder for a tea break. It appears when Bhutanese go on hikes, even rigorous ones they take a packed lunch (rice and curry of sorts) in a special container that both keeps it warm and has different compartments in it, along with a big flask of tea which keeps it warm. It is interesting to compare this to Western hikers which will likely only take water, snacks/power bars, and sandwiches to keep their load light. Here, one of us (me most of the way up) had to carry the full flask of tea and someone else had to have the food container in their bag. After tea, we basked in the sun on the big boulder for a few minutes and then we resumed our climb.

So we continued our way up, with beautiful views of Taktsang, eventually reaching a point where we were standing higher on our mountain than Taktsang, from there we began to descend towards the temple. Passing along several holy streams. We stopped at the Meditation hall, where Sherab’s brother was there for a three year retreat (or is it three months), to drop off various food supplies that we had carried all the way up. We stayed there for only a few minutes and we made our way towards Taktsang.

Down we went on the stairs, and from there we crossed the bridge where the waterfall was and up we went the final patch of stairs before reaching Taktsang itself. By the time we reached it was past 1:00pm and the temple was closed for lunch!!! So we too decided we would have lunch. We went towards one end of the cliff where there was a bench and had our prepared lunch with tea. I guess it pays off to carry that warm lunch up the mountain as it was quite wonderful to eat after all of that exertion.

After 2:00pm the temple re-opened and we started to go visit all the different altar rooms. The first place we went was the holiest spot. But the actual cave where the room is, is only opened one day out of the year, so of course we couldn’t enter. In this room (cave) apparently not only Guru Rinpoche meditated but also Trungpa Rinpoche and DJKR and many other greats. Taktsang I found out had burnt down in 1998 and most everything burnt down except this main holiest of rooms and the statues and relics in, were not burnt thankfully. So, having been renovated all of the many other important altar rooms with all of the different deities to me were not as impressive as older temples that I’ve seen, including the ones I had seen the previous day.

After spending a while going to the many different altar rooms, the return down didn’t take nearly as long as the climb up, and aside from almost spraining my ankle pretty bad, the way down was uneventful. We reached back to Thimphu late that night after a wonderful dinner at Tshering’s mother’s house, and a night of conversation with a friend of the guys’ from Paro.

~~~~~~~~~

Love,

Noam

Life in Thimphu: November & December in Photos

2010-02-28T21:18:00.010+06:00

Pia and Anne, a cake and lots of Danish flags, celebrating Anne's birthday!

With friends at Anne's party...

One of the few recording studios in Bhutan. We came here to record the soundtrack that I composed and arranged for Bhutanese filmmaker's Dechen Roder short film "Article 13". Check out Dechen's work and her colleagues at Bhutan Backstage.

Bhutanese filmmaker Tashi Gyletsen and Tashi Nencha studio's engineer.

With Khenpo Rigzin, who had just returned from Singapore, and had spent time previously in Sonoma County...we have mutual friends who put us in touch.

The lovely Chorten, on my way to town from home, this sight has become my daily pleasure.

We awoke the morning of December 31st to a snow covered Thimphu! It was the first (and so far only) snow of the year. Very auspicious for the new year that was knocking on the door! These next three snow photos are courtesy of my friend, Dawa.

Changangkha Lhakang (temple) covered in snow.

The view of Thimphu from Changangkha Lhakang.

Himalayan Winter Glow!

Just beautiful!

KILU Bhutan Music School's Annual Concert

2010-02-28T15:59:00.009+06:00

We are now already three weeks into the new school year (the academic year starts in February and ends in December here) but I hadn't updated you on how wonderfully the year ended at KILU!

On December 12th, we had a fabulous end of the year student concert. All of our students (who were in town) performed piano or sang, and sang collectively in choir. What was remarkable to behold was how well all the children did. Usually in such recitals, you’d at least expect a few train wrecks, some black outs or some real problems, but instead everyone, pretty much without exception performed so well, and did such a fabulous job. They all shined, really!

As for me, it was my first time in such a leadership role for such an event, not only directing things musically, but also logistically, conducting week long rehearsals, trying to keep 70 energetic children and youth focused, excited and motivated. After it all ended, I felt really proud and satisfied with myself and with the work that the entire staff at KILU did together. Combining passion, encouragement, discipline, high expectations and support, I feel good about how hard we worked, and how much we accomplished together. Most of all I was proud of the students. And the result is the great triumph that so many of these students experienced, small successes one by one. Hopefully, they too, inside, feel a sense of satisfaction and pride in how well they did.

Below you will find some photos from rehearsal week and from concert day!!! I don't have photos from the concert itself as I was busy running the show!!! But, thankfully we did have it videotaped, not only for our students and teachers to enjoy, but also for the school's archive.

Our older students listening to a fellow student perform during rehearsal week!

Dechen performing her piece in front of her peers in the larger room at KILU.

Ngawang doing the same...

Here is Tseten...

Anju and Madina practicing their piece, while I accompany them...students listening...

Thinley practicing his piece...

Getting ready for the concert in the Auditorium near our school, at Harmony: Centenary Village at the Department of Youth and Sports Complex. The three keyboards are set up (some songs had three children playing at the same time), and students practicing while Rinchen, Kilu's dedicated school administrator putting up our banner...

Empty auditorium on dress rehearsal day!

Concert day has arrived! Our students all looking fantastic in their Kiras and Ghos. Here our younger student choir is rehearsing one of their songs, with Masayuki (KILU's second teacher) accompanying them in the background.

After the concert, here I am with Ugyen and Dechen Wangmo.

Masayuki and I with several of our students after the concert was over!

That was the excitement at the end of 2009. In January 2010, while students were on holiday from their studies in their regular schools as well as KILU, we had (for the second year now) a special winter program. Three weeks of daily group classes teaching music fundamentals, singing, rhythm, reading and writing proficiency, as well as introduction to piano and recorder. This program is an opportunity for students who cannot attend regular session to get a taste of music studies at KILU. It was wonderful to meet lots of new children and youth and to have the opportunity to introduce music learning into their lives.

Now, three weeks into the new school year, with Masayuki retuning to Japan after two years of volunteer teaching at KILU (with the Japanese organization JICA), we have been joined by Saito, a new Japanese volunteer from JICA! We are busy as usual, with new and returning students and looking forward to another fantastic semester of work together!

Love,

Noam

Music of Bhutan Research Center: Jane and Janet from Santa Cruz visit Bhutan

2010-02-28T15:41:00.003+06:00

In late November, Jane Hancock and Dr. Janet Herman the co-founders of the Music of Bhutan Research Center returned to Bhutan. Here in Bhutan, along with Kheng Sonam Dorji, one of the finest musicians in the nation, they continued their work of documenting, preserving adn promoting traditional Bhutanese music.

Jane and Janet were instrumental in bringing me to Bhutan, connecting me to KILU music school, exposing me to Bhutanese music, connecting me with Sonam Dorji, and giving me lots of information ahead of my trip about Bhutan. After meeting them in San Francisco and then later on in Santa Cruz, it was fantastic and quite special to meet them here in Thimphu.

Aside from doing their own research, I had Jane, Janet and Sonam come on my radio show "Deep Listening" to speak about the Music of Bhutan Research Center and to play various recordings from recent field recordings that have yet to be released on CD. It was a very special show.

Since Jane is a great elementary school teacher back in California, and in particular has wonderful interactive presentations about classical music and composers, I arranged for her to do a presentation on Handel for my students at KILU Music School. It was a great success!

Cheers,

Noam

Article in Bhutan Times in late November!

2010-02-06T22:03:00.003+06:00

Greetings!

It's time for a few blog updates. As I am way over due on updating it. In late november an interview with me was published in one of Bhutan's newspapers "Bhutan Times" under the title "For the love of music". I thought I would share with you the complete Q & A on which the article was based entirely.

Cheers,

Noam

1. As a music teacher , please describe your teaching method.

My main focus as a teacher is to instill a love and appreciation for music and music making with my students. To do that, of course we spend time focusing on learning the very important fundamentals of playing the instrument, as well as learning theory, and rhythm, but I also put great emphasis on creativity and music making. So we also spend a lot of time singing, and making up music by way of composing and improvising. Though, learning how to play music is a top priority, the highest priority during lessons with students is to have a good time, to make learning music a fun process and that's what I strive for in my teaching.

2. What is music to you ?

This is a tremendously challenging question to answer. I asked my older students this question earlier this semester. And I tell them that there is no right or wrong answer, because really there can be so many different definitions of music. The other day I was actually asked this question by a young Bhutanese man I met. This was my answer to him then. I said, whenever an individual or a group of people create sound with the intent of expressing something, then it is music. I then hit my umbrella against the electricity pole, and said: that was music. If a person honks their horn on their car with the intent of creating a sound, then it’s music, whereas if that same person is honking the horn because he is impatient with the car in front of him than it is not music. What if one day a composer here in Thimphu decided to compose a piece using all the cars in Thimpu, which on a given day will honk their horns at a specific time. Perhaps at 11:00am in Mothitang, 11:01 near the Dzong,11:02 near the Chorten. That is a piece of music.

3. How can music help children build their self esteem and confidence?

I believe as with any activity that a child takes on, when they see that they can do it well, when they get encouragement from their teachers and their parents, than their self-esteem and self-confidence grow. During our lessons, we learn how to play many songs on the piano and how to sing, and at the end of a semester when they see how much they've learned, that helps them feel good about all the progress they've made.

4. Why is music important to the young mind?

I think we spend so much time today in schools all over the world teaching lots of subjects that require memorization of definitions and terms, and dates and concepts. So much of the children's time in schools even from a young age is dedicated towards "doing well" in tests, so that they can have a career. But, music and the arts in general do something different, and something that I believe is really missing from schools in Bhutan and all over the world. Music is perhaps the only activity that perfectly integrates what's called left brain and right brain. That means it allows the child to engage both her analyitcal (left brain) and rational side as well as her emotional, intuitive side. Another way to put it is that it feeds both the brain and the heart simultaneously and in a totally interconnected way. We all know how we feel when we listen to music or sing a song, we feel great!!! Music also gives an outlet for children to express themselves through it. Also, it helps children develop discipline. When they have to practice every day, and see the progress that daily practice and discipline can bring that teaches them a very valuable lesson about commitment and dedication. Music is also a form of communication, and it feeds a person's entire being. It feeds the spirit, and the body with beauty and joy. This is really important.

5. Music helps develop kid's skills , did it help you when you were a kid?

Yes, of course. Music not only gave meaning and purpose to my life, it brought me tremendous joy and happiness. It gave me a way through which I could express all the different feelings that I had growing up that I had no words for. So, especially as a teenager music was so important for my well-being, because through it I could express sadness, anger, disappointment, joy, happiness, and feelings that we don't have words for. It helped me feel better about life, you see. And of course, I believe it helped me with discipline and dedication. It taught me how to communicate with others, and it brought to me my first spiritual experiences of interconnectedness with all beings, and with the universe at large. Really, music has been my greatest teacher in life!

6. What do you think about bhutanese young musicians?

I've met several Bhutanese musicians from all walks of life here in Bhutan. There is so much talent, musicality and a love of music here in Bhutan, both in terms of contemporary music and traditional music. But there are so few opportunities for musicians to perform and share their music with audiences here. I would love to see more venues open up for live concerts and shows. I would love to see cafes, clubs and restaurants that have live music as a part of their regular schedule. This would give the youth a place to perform and perfect their craft as musicians and will provide income for people who otherwise might not have a job. I think there is a lot of room for the music "industry" to grow here in Bhutan. This is an optimistic thing I think, because it means there's lots of potential for growth.

7. How important it is to have a music program in public schools?

It is absoloutley necessary. As I was saying earlier, our children are working, working, working from such a young age, and when they finish school they continue to work, work, work. We need to have subjects in school that are not just about career and jobs. We need subjects that are about fun, joyfulness, playfulness. But, the thing is, that actually, as I was saying earlier, music is not just for fun, it teaches our children valuable and important lessons and helps develop their emotional being in ways that all the other standard subjects cannot. Furthermore, I'd like to see Bhutanese traditional music taught in schools as a part of the regular curriculum, so that future generations will grow to appreciate and enjoy their own musical heritage.

8. Do you think music will help kids keep away from bad stuffs like drugs and alcohol?

I believe it can. Of course, there are no guarantees. But, as I wrote earlier, I believe that music can help give meaning and purpose to young peoples' lives. It can fulfill them, comfort them, and give an expression to their suffering. This can really help to steer youth away from trouble.

9. Describe your experience as a music teacher at KMS

My experience here has been fantastic. It has been a great delight to work with all of my students, and I say this wholeheartedly and without reservation. My students come to study with real joy and an eagerness to learn that is wonderful to experience. They are inquisitive, bright and quick to learn. They are respectful and kind and therefore are a pleasure to teach and be with. Kilu Music School provides a great work atmosphere, I enjoy my colleagues, Masayuki, Saito and Rinchen and we have a fantastic board of directors that is always helpful and supportive. We have a lot of fun together!

10. What motivated you to want to volunteer with children in bhutan ?

It was a great opportunity for me to come and share my love of music and music-making with the children and youth here in Bhutan. I wanted to be somewhere where my work could be helpful, where I was needed. My interest in buddhism and knowing how special Bhutan is made me want to come even more.

11. In your opinion, how do you think the children at KMS benefited by your presence?

Well, i've only been here for three months and will be here for at least nine more months, so there's lots of work still to be done. Really, you'd have to ask the children, but I hope that my enthusiasm, passion and love of music has rubbed off on them a little bit, that music lessons are fun and of course I can see with my eyes and ears that my students are making terrific progress in learning how to play the piano, read and write music.

12. I am sure you were able to teach lots of new things , in turn what have u learned from from them ?

Dzonghka! Bhutanese songs, and other music that my students like and enjoy. I am learning every day from my students, because as a teacher, every lesson I learn more about how to become a better teacher, how to better serve my students, how to better teach the subjects. In this way, my students are my teachers!

13 what was the most memorable advice a music teacher gave you?

My beloved teacher, W.A. Mathieu in California, taught me that of course learning and teaching music is about learning and teaching music itself, but more importantly, it's about getting to know yourself. As students, through music, we learn who we are, we can see our own feelings, insecurities, talents and this is music's greatest gift to us. If we are quiet enough, to listen to even the pure sound of one note, we will discover that it has the power to show us our own intrinsic beauty, the beauty of music and the whole world itself.

A week of music making with Tshering Dorji!

2009-12-27T22:55:00.006+06:00

A week of music making with wonderful Bhutanese guitarist/singer/songwriter Tshering Dorji culminated this weekend with a concert here in Thimphu, and an appearance together on Bhutan's national TV (BBS) entertainment program "Spotlight".

I actually met Tshering on my very first night here in Bhutan. That night, my school administrator, Rinchen, and fellow music teacher Masayuki took me to my first dinner in Bhutan to a restaurant in town called "Hotel Tandin" where I was introduced not only to Tshering but two other important companions for my life here in Thimphu (Sherab and Lama Shenphen Zangpo). That night I learned about the activities at Deer Park Thimphu: A Centre for Art and Contemplation and this buddhist learning and community center has not only been a great source of learning and discovery for me in terms of buddhism but it has also provided a community of friends, both Bhutanese and international.

The following tuesday, I went to meditation class, and there I was approached by Tshering who said that he also "plays a little bit of guitar" and was wondering whether i'd like to jam sometime. I must admit I hesitantly gave him my number. Perhaps all the years in the US, being approached from time to time by musicians who wanted to jam, and having to develop a little bit of a guarded attitude to protect my time...that in itself is a topic for a whole different conversation.*** And yet I thought to myself why not? Really, why not? Why not say yes. Anyway, not much time passed and we decided to get together, and when I heard his music, I was thrilled that I had said yes. Tshering's songs have beautiful melodies, an integrity of structure and harmony that characterizes only the best of songs, and he himself is a sensitive and wonderfully skilled guitarist and singer. Only later did I find out, that Tshering is one of the most well respected contemporary musicians in Bhutan, admired by many, including up and coming musicians (though he's only 27) and his debut album "Kolors" was immensely successful here.

So we began to work on his songs. And what a joy it has been. I think what we discovered is that the collaboration with our particular instrumentation and the background and particular style of playing that I bring gave his songs a different direction, not necessarily better than the original, but different and fresh.

Our first opportunity to perform together in public was one of the most memorable performances of my life. Towards the end of November, as three extraordinary days of teaching by a remarkable buddhist master, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, came to a close, we were asked by Deer Park to present a musical offering of thanks to Rinpoche on behalf of the Deer Park community. So there we were performing a traditional Bhutanese song that Tshering had arranged in front of hundreds of Bhutanese who had come to attend the teaching and in front of Rinpoche himself. It was a privilege, an honor, and most of all a truly moving experience. Personally, I had been so moved by the three days and by the presence and energy of this master teacher and so coming to it, I was already quite charged emotionally. The feeling in the room, the listening going on, had a quality to it that was different from any other kind of listening and feeling that I had experienced previously as a performer. It's like the music had more meaning to the listeners than I have previously experienced. Or put another way, it was about much more than the music. Music was a vehicle to express gratitude. And as a performer I could feel the intensity of the moment, not only because of the audience, but because I was also saying a deep heartfelt thanks to Rinpoche through the music, and speaking not just for myself but for everyone else in the room. The feedback that we received in the following days and weeks (i've often been approached by people I don't know who were there and recognized me) indicated that my impressions were shared by others, and that indeed countless people had been moved by the experience, and by such a unique type of offering.

Yesterday we performed together at the Centennial Music Concert Series. This is a concert series organized by the radio station and my show on it, and i'm helping them organize the first concert series in Bhutan!!! This month's performance was the third installment. And though the turnout was a little bit smaller than I had anticipated, we had a great time sharing our music with the listeners, who were very appreciative.

Earlier this week, ahead of our performance together at Centennial, I had Tshering on "Deep Listening" my weekly radio show, as my hour long feature guest. We discussed and listened to his music, talked about his creative process, his life and the nature of Bhutan's music industry and conditions for artists and musicians here. We had so much fun together and I believe it made for some good radio!

Today, Tshering Dorji and I were featured on "Spotlight" the music program on Bhutan Broadcast Service (National TV). We performed four songs and were interviewed, and the show will be broadcasted in a few weeks. We had a great time together, were very pleased with how it went and the very popular host, Namgay Zam, did a fantastic job with the program.

Realizing that our collaboration is a kind of "first" in the music world of Bhutan it's exciting to know that the program and our music will be aired all over the country, and it's very possible that even in very remote villages, in areas that I will probably never get to visit, people might watch and enjoy our music. That is gratifying.

Looking forward to more playing with Tshering, both publicly and informally, in the very near future!!!

Noam

***Small footnote then: one of the problems that I felt as an artist in the US, was the constant worry about money, making ends meet, which in turn then leads to a fierce need to protect my time...after all i'm already spending much of my time on activities that are not my highest priority and yet must be done in order to make a living, and therefore there appears to be less room for generosity, and also things often end up calculated in terms of financial return. After all one needs to pay rent. Well, here in Bhutan, making a salary that is extremely modest by US standards, and yet having no financial worries at all, I suddenly find myself able to do all sorts of things without worrying about money. When people ask for music lessons, but cannot afford to pay, if I have the time to do it, I give lessons. I have volunteered my time as a radio show host, and for my performances at Centennial Radio, because I know that they need the funds to help support their station, and really since i'm ok financially, and love music and playing music, getting paid doesn't matter as much. When I don't have to worry about money, I find that I have much more room to give and not want anything in return. Something to ponder I guess about the way our society back in the West is structured, and what financial problems do to peoples' attitudes and to their hearts.

The People's King!

2009-12-27T22:41:00.006+06:00

His majesty, the King of Bhutan was in India a few days ago, and he delivered the following speech available in full on Kuensel online (the national daily).

From everything i've been able to gather, these are not just empty words, he lives these words in his actions and his leadership here in Bhutan. This is the reason the people of Bhutan call him "The Peoples' King" and this is why he is loved and cherished by so many across this nation.

Enjoy,

Noam

Our annual concert front page on Kuensel!

2009-12-18T16:20:00.003+06:00

It's been too long since i've updated you all on happenings here. Partly because it's been such a busy month as our semester was coming to a close, and partly because I was hampered by a variety of ailments (root canal, strep throat and a nasty flu). But, it's also been a wonderfully rich month...and I plan to share all of it with you very soon.

In the meantime, the daily national newspaper of Bhutan "Kuensel" had a photo from our annual concert on their front page. And here is the photo for your pleasure:

Happy Holidays!

Noam

Bumthang Journey in Photos!

2009-11-11T22:28:00.027+06:00

Just back from a fantastic five day excursion to Bumthang, a district located approximately 10 hours east of Thimphu. I had the great joy of experiencing the breathtaking beauty of this remarkable country, sharing in the fantastic spirit of its people, and relishing one of Bumthang's Tsechu's (festival) and many sacred sites. For those that want to read more you will find a detailed report below the photos.

Our bus driver loading up the luggage on the top of the bus!

Here are some of the packages that we dropped off along the way which I was telling you about.

The 108 chorten monastery at Dochu La Pass, about 45 minutes from Thimphu. The 108 chortens were built in 2005 as atonement for the loss of life caused by the "flushing out" of Assamese militants in southern Bhutan.

The view from Dochu La Pass

Really on our way now...

Shot from a crack inside the toilet shack near where we stopped for breakfast...

Wangdi Dzong

With Youmi!

More views from the journey to Jakar...

The kind of sign you see all over Bhutan, this one in a very small village which we stopped at to drop off a package.

An image from village life...

Already in Jakar now, my friend Kinga walking up towards the Dzong, having to put his kabne on in order to get into Jakar Dzong. Bhutanese have to wear traditional dress when entering Dzongs, whereas foreignors can wear western clothes.

The view from Jakar Dzong: this is the valley where the town of Jakar lies. As I mentioned, it's landscape appears significantly more tame then any other part of Bhutan i've seen thus far. But it is merely an illusion, as any 30 minute walk up a mountain will reveal new impressive mountain ranges.

Inside Jakar Dzong.

At the Kurje Monastic Complex

I bought my first souvenir in Bhutan right outside the Kurje Monastic Complex (one of the most sacred sites in Bhutan). A singing bowl with the mantra om mani peme hung engraved onto it in dzongkha. This is the lady I bought it from, and here she is demonstrating the beauty of its sound.

The entire Bumthang group! what a fantastic group of people! From left to right. Top: me, Kathrin (Germany), Pia (Sweden). Bottom: Kunzang (Bhutan), Kinga (Bhutan), Line (Denmark), Anne (Denmark), Youmi (S. Korea), Fumie (Japan).

At the tsechu. Tired baby...babies are often strapped to their mothers' (sometimes fathers') backs, as you can see. Sometimes their heads dangle in funny ways!

Tsechu (festival) grounds. Food stalls.

Saddening to see that toy guns have made it even to the non-violent Kingdom of Bhutan. I think they were being sold at various booths in the adjacent fair to the festival, and were a big hit with the young boys. Sigh.

We were sitting right next to the Cymbal man who was accompanying the masked dances with his rhythmic punctuations. From where we were sitting, the cymbals' sounds were almost deafening, but, if you let your ears get beyond the higher pitched loud and repeated tones that came with every strike, a beautiful low fundamental note emerged.

The view of the calm and peaceful Jakar valley.

Now, on our way to Ura!

There it is! The tallest mountain in Bhutan, Gangkhar Puensum, at 7,541 meters (24,596 feet).

The village of Ura from a distance.

The temple in Ura village.

This is the devoted elderly woman, who was circamumbulating all alone, in the cold windy afternoon.

A painting on the outside walls of the temple.

Another shot of the village of Ura.

With Anne, on the way back to Jakar. In the background is Gangkhar Puensum again, but because it's so white with snow, you cannot see it.

Before reaching Jakar, we stopped at a holy lake, decorated with hundreds and hundreds of prayer flags.

Now, on our one day trek up to Penseling Goempa (a monastery on the top of a mountain in Jakar). We ran into these three ladies who were coming down towards town, right as we were beginning our hike up.

The view between two large prayer flags.

We saw several such structures all the way up, whenever there was a stream of water.

The view of Jakar, and Jakar Dzong perched up on the hill straight away.

Views from our hike.

As we were finally getting close to the Monastery, there it is.

The view from the Monastery in one direction.

Top of the world?
Young monk wondering what my friend Pia is up to...

The toilet...I'll spare you the picture I shot of the inside...

Outside the monastery itself, young monks taking a short lunch break from the puja, amongst the chortens and prayer flags.

These are the young monks who were our fantastic hosts.

On the way back down, about half way, we ran into these same three women, who were now making their way back up to their village which was up top the mountain, having sold the goods they brought down, and purchased goods from the market in town.

On our way back to Thimphu, the mountains between Jakar and Trongsa.

Another impressive mountain. Not sure which...
Between Wangdi and Lobesa...

About an hour before reaching Thimphu, as we were climbing up towards Dochu La pass, a loud explosion, and a flat tire!

The view from the spot where we got the flat...

Much love,

Noam

Bumthang Journey (November 4-8)

2009-11-11T20:59:00.007+06:00

Bumthang Trip: November 4-November 8

How could I put into words the sights and sounds of this unbelievable country. This amazing landscape, and these beautiful people that I cross paths with every day.

I have just returned from a five day trip to Bumthang and what is especially difficult to explain is that above and beyond all the breathtaking, exhilarating landscapes that decorate this remarkable place on earth, what was most moving during this trip was the spirit, joy, openheartedness and generosity of the people we met.

So many wonderful individuals whose names I don’t know, but whose faces are etched in my memory, whose kindness and sweetness runs love and gratitude through my veins.

Sure, sometimes they look at us, the chillups (foreigners) with a mixture of curiosity, reverence, shyness, embarresment, and lighthearted mockery, but time and time again, the people I’ve met give and give and give, whether it be material or in an effort to help and provide assistance in whatever way possible.

November 4th, 2009 – On our way to Jakar (Chamkhar), Bumthang

Woke up very early Wednesday morning, got my stuff and was picked up by Youmi and Anne with a Taxi and headed towards the bus station down by the bridge to catch the 7:00am bus, with a 6:30am reporting time.

When we got to the bus station and located our bus the first thing that caught my attention was that there was a man in a gho standing on the roof of the bus packing up the luggage of the passengers, so I proceeded to move towards the rear of the bus and happily threw up my bags and sleeping bags. He would catch these bags on the roof and place them on top. After everyone’s bags were up top, he tied the bags with sturdy ropes and covered them with a plastic tarp. Kathrin, Youmi, Anne and myself grabbed our seats at the front of the bus, which were marked, and situated ourselves getting ready for the 10 hour journey to Jakar in the district of Bumthang.

I noticed that in the front to the left of the driver and all through the middle path in the bus were peoples’ bags, as well as packages big and small, soon I would discover exactly what these were doing there. One of the most wonderful things that happened during the course of the ten hour trip, is that we both dropped and picked up stuff along the way. Sometime in very remote villages on the way, a person would wave the bus down, and we would stop, and hand them over a package, which must have been sent this way from family members. This we did on many occasions along the route. Sometimes people would wave the bus down seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and then hop on the bus, who knows how long they were waiting there, but obviously they knew where to wait and they knew the bus would come at some point. This was quite something to watch, women and men on the side of the road waving us down, walking towards the bus, and the driver going through the various packages in the bus looking for the right one, and then handing it or throwing it through the window. In fact, on the way back, we dropped off a young child, couldn’t be older than two years old through the window to the hands of a woman. He must have been cared for by family on the journey and handed over when we got to his village.

On one occasion, quite close to Jakar already, after nearly nine hours of driving, a woman flagged us down and asked for a package. The driver couldn’t find it on the bus, and so he had to step outside and climb the roof of the bus and look for it amongst the luggage. Only to discover, that the package was indeed in the bus all along, as a fellow passenger found it. What was remarkable to behold was the endless patience and generosity. No one seemed to be bothered by this, not passengers nor the driver. And it’s not as if he was tipped by the receiver of the packages, or as though this was part of his job. Yes it had been a long day, but no one was really stressed out or in a huge hurry, nor was anyone concerned about having to stop all the time. After the package had reached its owner, he hopped back into his seat and off we went. Can you imagine this happening on the bus ride from LA to SF?

It is hard to describe the feeling of joy and contentment that ran through every fiber of my being as I sat by the half-open window, wind blowing in, on a clear clear blue sky day. A bumpy ride, Bhutanese popular music blasting through the radio speakers, our bodies bouncing up and down, moving left and right following the rhythmical patterns of the bus, which was carving its way through this rough terrain; up and down tall mountain passes and steep drops into the valleys. All around us, luscious forests, streams, waterfalls, small hamlets, rice fields and exhilarating views of mountain range upon mountain range, sometimes as many as seven or eight different ranges visible at a time, with the highest mountains’ shining snow lit by the sun’s perfect glow.

For lunch we stopped at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, where we were served the incredibly spicy ema datsi (the national dish of chillies in cheese sauce) with red rice. Our fellow travelers made a very clear and special effort to invite us in and make sure we were cared for. We were offered to eat in a private room separate from the normal dining area, probably out of respect, because we are guests, but we declined and asked to eat with everyone else. I sprinkled some of the cheese sauce on my rice and that was spicy enough, I wouldn’t dare touch the chillies. And before the four of us even noticed, all of a sudden we were the only ones left sitting in the small restaurant. Somehow all of our Bhutanese fellow bus riders, had finished huge plates of rice with ema datsi in incredible speed and were on the bus waiting for us to finish. We hurried our way through the meal, and hopped back on the bus.

Along the road, we saw monkeys, wild boar, yaks, cows, dogs, people, small villages, hamlets, and few cars, occasionally passing by. Though the roads were indeed very narrow, with very dramatic drops and endless blind turns, for some reason they were not frightening this time. Perhaps it was the size of the bus that provided an added sense of security, or the sure hands, and slow pace of the driver who did a marvelous job turn after turn after turn after turn after turn.

I thought to myself, “does it get any better than this” and I was happy as can be for the entire ride, couldn’t imagine being any other place, doing any other thing. The here and now were it.

When we arrived in Jakar, the first thing that struck me was how seemingly tame the landscape was in this particular valley. It seemed much more familiar and less demanding than the landscapes I had seen thus far in Bhutan, including Thimphu itself. Knowing that almost every Bhutanese we talked to spoke with such high praise of Bumthang, often citing it as their favorite place in Bhutan, my friend Pia and I had exchanged speculation about the reasons. Could it be, that the break from the impressive and daunting terrain in the rest of the country is the reason that Bumthang is liked, because the valley has a kind of calming, relaxing effect? Later on when we began traveling across the district outside of Jakar, we discovered that only that particular valley deceives you somehow in it’s tame landscape, but that the rest of Bumthang was as dramatic as any other part of Bhutan. Well, there could be many other reasons to like Bumthang. One such important reason is the fact that you would be hard pressed to find so many important sacred places all in such short proximity as you would in Bumthang anywhere else in Bhutan.

When the four of us were met by the rest of our friends for this journey, who had actually arrived in Jakar already two days prior, they pointed out that actually there was no electricity in town. Somehow, perhaps because we arrived at dusk, I hadn’t noticed it. But, soon as darkness took over, the town of Jakar became a kind of medieval Bhutanese ghost town with its wooden doors, candles lit inside restaurants, and locals walking the streets dressed in their ghos and kiras; Only the moon was shining light on its streets, and the sky filling up with countless stars.

In conversation with locals we learned that actually the power supply in Bumthang is quite unreliable all year long, and this was an important introduction to life in Bhutan outside of the big city, Thimphu, which generally has quite reliable electricity. When the power goes out here, it usually comes back within the hour. But, all over the countryside, and especially in remote villages, lack of electricity can be a real issue.

Knowing that Bhutan’s main export (90% I believe) is electricity, which it produces thanks to hydro-electric plants, and sends to India, I must say that it appears quite ironic, that it cannot provide stable electricity to its own people. However, it appears that this might not be because it’s sending too much to India, but because the infrastructure in Bhutan is not sufficient. Either way, the power kept coming in and out all throughout our stay, with its longest absence being close to 24 hours straight.

We planned this Bumthang trip around the very special Tsechu which happens once a year in Jakar, in early November. It’s a festival that has many features similar to the other Tsechus all around the country, such as the Thimphu tsechue that I already attended and wrote about, presenting pretty much the same religious dances, etc. But it’s much smaller in size, so that while in Thimphu, it took place in the very large Dzong courtyard, and thousands came to watch, making it feel quite spectacular and formal, in Bumthang, it felt a much more informal and had a small town back yard feel. In that sense it is probably much more representative of the way these festivals feel everywhere outside of Thimphu (and maybe Paro).

Furthermore, it also has some very unique features. One such feature is a very sacred naked masked dance that we heard lots about ahead of our trip. From what a local person told me, this dance came to be at a time when a monastery was being built but would not stand, and the dance was an important ritual to appease the local deity and to make sure the Monastery would not be destroyed.

Our friends had gone to watch this dance the previous night and told us that it apparently would be happening every night of the festival this year, so we set off to catch it the night we arrived as rumor had it that it would be the last night. One could never know for sure if and when this dance would take place. Apparently, because it is a sacred dance, the dancers wait for the crowd to be sufficiently thin, without gauking tourists, and masses of people watching, because traditionally it had been a sacred and somewhat private dance. All we knew was that it would happen sometime late at night. The previous night, our friends had gone to the Tsechu grounds to wait from about 8pm, but ended up freezing themselves in the cold until approx. 1:30am when the dance finally started.

We decided to make our way around 10:30pm, where there was already a small crowd gathered round a pile of wood in the middle of a small stone courtyard. Shortly after our arrival the fire was lit, and young men began to gather round the fire, turning their backs to the fire heating themselves up on this very cold night. We learned from our friends that we had to come prepared for the cold, so we put on as many layers as we brought with us, and came with a large blanket that we wrapped around us as we stood and waited. The dance finally began around 11:45pm, and approx. six young men, all but one extremely thin, came out wearing only a white mask. Two of the men wore underwear, the rest were naked. It must have been freezing, but I guess that’s why the dance takes place around the fire.

At first, the dance was quite comical, with the naked dancers challenging one of those wearing underwear to take it off, comicly trying to pull the underwear off. They circled around the fire, with one of the men beginning a move that we had been warned about. You see, it had been recommended not to be in the front row, and thankfully we listened. This naked young man began running straight towards the crowd, going deliberately round the entire circle of watchers, running and then thrusting his entire body, and particularly the lower body up into the crowd, though he didn’t ever appear to make contact (though I can’t be sure). This particular ritual happened at least once more during the dance, the second time conducted by a man who had a balloon (or was it a blown up condom) attached to his penis, as he too, thrusted his private areas towards the crowd. At one point towards the end of his rounding the courtyard, we heard a pop, followed by laughter, his balloon had popped. Indeed laughter from the crowd accompanied this stage of the dance, but eventually things began to become more orderly and more coordinated and perhaps a bit more serious. Various moves round the fire, across the fire, and between the dancers were conducted, with the necessary intermittent pauses for heating themselves by the fire. Thankful that we didn’t have to wait until 1:30am to watch the dance, we made our way back from the festival grounds to the city center around half past midnight.

November 5^th, 2009

Since now our group (nine) was too big to fit into one car, we hired a taxi driver for the day to help Kinga and Kunzang our Bhutanese friends who drove the three who had arrived earlier. We began by visiting the Jakar Dzong, which is the “administrative seat of the district and, since 1998, has a Drukpa monastic community. Jakar dzong sits on a little spur overlooking the valley. The ‘dzong of the white bird’ is very elegant and more modest in size than many of the other dzongs” (Pommaret, 2007).

This was actually my first time inside a dzong, so I had nothing to compare it to, but it was tremendously impressive. Built in the mid 17^th century, it indeed reminds me of some of the fortresses or castles that I’ve seen in Europe. It is awesome, in the true sense of the word. Perched up on a hill, with a terrific view of the valley and beautiful architecture inside and outside. I found it quite wonderful that this was not only a historical monument, and preserved as such, but that it’s also a functioning building, where work is conducted, and monastic studies take place.

In one of the halls, I noticed very steep wooden stairs going up to a different floor and I decided I would go up and see what was up there. I was greeted by a very young monk, who invited me to come along with him (Pia and Kathrin followed) and we all climbed an additional steep flight of stairs when the monk who had called an older monk unlocked a very sacred altar room for us. This was a magnificent room, walls covered with sacred paintings, golden statues round. We were blessed with holy water, and felt blessed indeed to have been allowed into this room that we stumbled upon only by chance really.

From the dzong we made our way to Wangduchoeling Palace, “built on a site called Chamkhar, already inhabited in the eighth century…this palace was constructed in 1857 by the Trongsa Penlop, Jigme Namgyal, whose son, Ugyen Wangchuck, the future 1^st King, was born here”. (Pommaret, 2007) Outside the palace grounds a group of young monks were playing football (soccer in US), and as in my visit to Haa, I couldn’t resist joining them. Five of us played a nice friendly match with them, and we had a lot of fun running around, although the altitude was quite noticeable, as it was quite tiring rather quickly.

From the palace we drove to the Kurje Monastic Complex, one of the most sacred sites in Bhutan “as Guru Rinpoche meditated here and left the imprint (jey) of his body (ku) on a rock”. (Pommaret 2007). Indeed, in the eighth century, Guru Rinpoche was called by the local king to help appease an angry deity. Guru Rinpoche conducted a very special set of miracles here, including the Eight Manifestations and restored peace in the area. The tale is quite remarkable, and it’s depicted in paintings on the walls of the temple.

Our taxi driver, showed us a rock that had two small holes in it, and suggested that we try to see if we can fit through the holes and make it from one side of the rock to the other to see if we have sinned much or not. According to Pommaret who also writes about this rock in her book: “They offer a way to purify sins. The sinner is supposed to enter on one side, worm his was as best as he can through the rock and come out the other side. If he gets stuck it is because he has committed too many sins and will only be able to free himself by saying prayers”. It appears this process is a little biased towards those who might be a little overweight.

From there we moved to the Tsechu grounds to have lunch and watch the afternoon set of religious dances, on this the final day of the festival. The fair/market area near by, had little metal and wooden shacks serving all sorts of food, with makeshift places to sit and eat momos, bumthang noodles and drink tea. After dinning we moved to watch the dances in the courtyard. Unfortunately there were only two dances left in the program, and after close to an hour the dances were over and blessings were being handed to the crowd which lined up in mass to receive these blessings.

November 6^th, 2009

On this day we made the two hour journey to the Ura Valley, where the village of Ura can be found. It was a beautiful and fantastic journey, with the highlight being the Urala mountain pass at 3,600 meters, from where we had the view of the tallest mountain in Bhutan!!! The Gankar Puensem, which stands at 7,541 meters. What a remarkable sight!

But the entire journey to Ura was breathtaking, with even more views of mountain ranges upon mountain ranges, beautiful valleys, and beautiful people all along the road. The road to Ura, is really the only road to Eastern Bhutan to the towns of Mongar, and Trashigang, which I hope to visit some day, and which I hear are very different from Western and Central Bhutan. And these roads are more reminiscent of the roads to Haa, perhaps a little more frightening than the journey to Bumthang from Thimphu. Indeed, when driving in Bhutan, mortality winks and you just “hope for the best.”

We had lunch at the only restaurant in the small village of Ura, which was really situated on the road to Ura on the other side of the river from the village. After lunch we asked our generous drivers and hosts to take us to the village itself, which we had to approach through a poor dirt road. We made our way through the only road in the village to the temple at the top of the small hill.

Inside the temple grounds, on a windy, cold afternoon a devoted woman was circumumbulating round the chorten and temple. This elderly lady, hunched over, walking slowly, barely able to turn the prayer wheels, all alone in the temple grounds aside from us and the dogs, was the ultimate manifestation of devotion.

Outside the temple, a beautiful array of tall white prayer flags on a small grass filled hill, with cows and dogs roaming between the flags. We also roamed, but at one point several village dogs began barking very aggressively at us, and it became clear that the warnings we had heard about the Ura dogs were not so far from the truth. We made our way back into our cars and started the journey back “home” to Jakar.

November 7th, 2009

On this our final full day in Bumthang, with the rest of the gang already on their way back home, Pia and I planned to do a half day trek up the mountain to visit a monastery called Pelseling Goempa.

Our trek started from the Swiss Guest House where he had breakfast and the nice waiter helped us find the beginning of our trail, he took us five minutes from the guest house, we crossed two small streams, and then he pointed the way and said farewell. We were about to climb up from the valley floor to the top of the mountain where the monastery stood, and the lonely planet book, suggested it would only take two and half hours up to the monastery. Well, after a half an hour of walking on this very steep incline, Pia and I knew it would take us longer than two and half hours to get to the top.

We sometimes felt like we walked for five minutes and rested for ten minutes. The altitude really makes it a strenuous task to walk uphill. But the hike was fantastic. We were all alone in this dense forest, which occasionally gave way to marvelous views of the valley, and as we reached higher and higher on the mountain, new mountain ranges would reveal themselves to us at various vista points. The air was wonderful, and the only sounds we could hear were of our own steps, and the sounds of the forests, the wind, trees, birds and insects.

At one point, about two thirds of the way up, there was a small and yet relatively big meadow with terrific views and we decided to take a rest for water and a snack. I basked in the sun, and dosed off for a few minutes, waking up to discover that I was in this most beautiful place. It’s quite a feeling, to wake up at such a place, because at first when you open your eyes, you’re totally surprised to find yourself where you are, I had forgotten where I was and what I was doing, and this new surprise further heightened the beauty around me.

Slightly energized for the last third of the hike, we finally reached the monastery, where as we were approaching we could hear the horns and drum sounds of a puja. How lucky! After taking a quick walk around the monastery we asked one of the young monks if we could go into the room where the puja was held, and he motioned for us that it was ok. As we came to the entry doorway, the young monks motioned for us to enter the room, where they were all sitting, with their prayer books, and instruments, all between the ages of 5-16 (it appeared). Immediately one of the older monks went to the altar where there were offering plates full of snacks, and placed one of these plates in front of us. Shortly after we arrived they were off to take a small lunch break, it appeared, and all but a few of them stepped out to eat, while the few that stayed behind were busy cleaning. After a few minutes, we decided we would step out and have our own lunch, which we did, right outside the monastery, with spectacular views all around us.

Soon after we sat to eat, a group of young monks came to us, one monk said “tea”, “tea”. And we weren’t sure if they were offering us tea or if they wanted tea. He motioned for us to follow him and said “tea”, “come”. We followed and they took us to a nice small room, where they pretty much offered us everything they had. Very few words were exchanged because these young monks (as most monks in Bhutan) didn’t speak much English. They wouldn’t let us get through a fifth of our tea cup, without coming back to fill our cup with more tea. I thought if I drank a lot fast, they wouldn’t fill it up as much, but that was quite faulty logic, as in reality, they kept filling my cup and I kept drinking. They brought us snacks, two kinds of holy water with which we were blessed, a small round piece of sweet dough (which was also a blessing of sorts, I believe) and watched us from the other side of the room. We asked if we could take pictures, and then I video taped them and then showed the video to them, which they were delighted with. I then showed them a variety of other short videos I had shot already during this trip and they all gathered round and watched with complete focus and satisfaction. I was so moved by their hospitality and generosity and it was really quite a tremendous experience.

It was getting close to 4:00pm and we still had to walk all the way back before it got dark. About half way down the trail, we came across the same three women that we had met right when we started the trail in the morning. There, as we crossed the second stream in the morning, these three women were carrying very large baskets filled with chopped wood and various produce on their small backs. When we came across them again in the afternoon on our way back, I realized that they must live up in the small village (hamlet) that we saw at the top of the mountain, not far from the monastery. They must have gone down to the town to sell and buy goods. It is remarkable to consider that they do this walk at least once a week, if not much more often, carrying heavy goods on their back, and we were huffing and puffing the whole way, struggling mightily both going up and down, with hardly anything on our backs. This is the reality of life outside of the towns and it is amazing to come into contact with, and it really gives me a perspective on life here. They were so friendly, and agreed for me to take a picture with them.

Well, the descent seemed similarly endless to the climb, the sun had already set and it was starting to get dark, and we still had not finished the walk. Pia had a flash light and I had batteries, but it wouldn’t work! Thankfully, I knew we could not be far, the only thing was that there was one split in the trail, and we had to make sure we made the correct turn at the right place. Thankfully, everything worked out and we made it back to the Swiss Guest House, before it got too dark. At the guest house, electricity was still off, and though they were not able to get a hold of a taxi for us, one of the owners’ friends agreed to give us a ride into town.

November 8, 2009

Having to wake up at 5:00am to catch the bus back to Thimphu, I couldn’t help but fall asleep for fairly substantial portions of the drive back. I felt almost guilty sleeping with such spectacular views every step of the way, but I couldn’t help it!

Just a few minutes before Dochila, the fantastic mountain pass, with the gorgeous 108 chortens monastery, suddenly a loud explosion on our side of the bus, and the driver stopped the bus right as we were going up. It was clear that it was a flat tire, so the driver quickly moved the truck to the side of the road, and off the bus we all came. A few of the men along with the driver quickly moved to calculate the damage, and then proceeded to bring rocks from the side of the road to place under the large flat. Then the driver began to drive in reverse and have the tired climb over the rocks, so that they would have enough lift to change the tire. Everyone else took a short walk, and nobody seemed to be particularly concerned, worried or annoyed. Flat tires being a usual occurrence on public transportation here, I suppose. I also took a short walk, and wow, what spectacular views! The whole procedure took no more than 15 minutes, and we were off again on way back to Thimphu, now just an hour away.

Indeed, I was quite grateful to have the chance to experience public transportation and travel in Bhutan with locals, rather than the way most foreigners do with their private drivers and tour guides. The experience of being on the bus, with the people, not separate from them, to really travel how they travel, and to experience their joyfulness and generosity was really great.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Pictures to follow very shortly -

Noam

Some miscellaneous photos from life in Thimphu!

2009-11-02T23:25:00.004+06:00

Doing the radio show with guest Dr. Thomas Vasileff (October 20, 2009)

Choling the station manager to my right!

Buddhist Nun, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who gave a truly inspiring teaching a few weeks ago.

Dinner and movie get together with friends. Left to Right: Xochitl (US), Rebecca (Norway), Anne (Denmark) and Pia (Sweden).

With Youmi (S. Korea) who is also a music teacher here in Bhutan at one of the public schools.

Cheers,

Noam

Concert Series! My first open to the public show in Bhutan!

2009-11-02T23:06:00.003+06:00

There's so much to catch up...today seems to be blogging day.

Last weekend I had my first open to the public concert here in Bhutan. It's the first concert in a series of concerts that the radio station I have my show with is organizing. There's a real lack of venues for live shows, or live shows for that matter her in Bhutan. In fact, I heard from someone the other day that the word "concert" doesn't exist in Dzonghka (the native language here).

So, every month we'll have an afternoon concert, at the radio station garden, for a small fee, with proceeds going to strengthen the radio station financially. We'd like it to be more of an informal kind of event, a concert as well as a social gathering, and most importantly an opportunity for the performer and audience to interact. The concerts should have explanations and be interactive with the audience. Coffee, tea and delicious home made cake were served to the approx. 50 people who showed up.

It was a remarkable, and somewhat unexpected turnout for the first event of its kind, and I was so happy to see already so many familiar faces. It gave me the great feeling that after only two months here I've developed a community of friends both international and Bhutanese. I feel it was a very successful first event. I played mostly my original compositions, but kind of had a theme of talking about jazz and improvisation, as well as speaking about my own background and path in music. A recurring theme was the way in which improvisation allows you to take any kind of raw musical material and mold it, arrange on the spot, into something different. To demonstrate this I played a Chopin nocturne "Straight" and then played several variations on it, which were improvised. I played some a piece of Abdullah Ibrahim and then segwayed into an original composition that is inspired by Ibrahim and is a kind of tribute to him. I performed several of my compositions which have a more an "Israeli folk song" bend to them, performed an arrangement of mine of the fantastic Alison Harris (california singer/songwriter and friend) "Western Wind" as well as my arrangement of Beethoven's 7th slow movement. I had a great time in this more interactive mode, and wondered why I didn't do more of this in the US!!!

Future concerts will likely involve collaborations with local musicians!!!! I can't wait!

Here are a few pictures from the garden before the concert. I know my friends took photos during, but I haven't seen them yet...

Love,

Noam

Cultural Exchange -

2009-11-02T22:40:00.004+06:00

Hello-la!

KILU music school is situated in what's called Harmony Village, a part of a new complex for youth that has various sporting facilities, classes, as well as cultural activities.

This past month, a group of young Bhutanese men and women have been rehearsing in one of the rooms near by KILU…first I heard music coming from that room and then I went to explore and see what was going on. Indeed they were dancing there, practicing what appeared to be a kind of Bhutanese way of dancing to popular Bhutanese music that you might see on BBS (national television) from time to time. About an even amount of men and women, all seemingly in their very early 20’s.

I got to talk to them and found out that they are preparing for a tour of raising awareness about Hygene and Sanitation. They will be going for 10 days to perform shows for primary schools in remote villages about this issue. They are fresh graduates of high school, and do not have a job, so the government (ministry of health and YDF) has hired them for 3 months to train and then execute this project.

They were very welcoming to me and I asked if it would be ok to come back another day and interview them for my radio show. Today (which was actually October 11), I came and interviewed them. It was quite lovely. They answered my questions, performed a skit, and were curious about my own life. They will be conducting presentations, that'll include dance and song, skits, and interactive informational/educational workshops. We joked about various things, including whether there was going to be any romance on their trip...in return they asked me if I was married, and when I jokingly said that “I was open to suggestions” they all laughed, and one of the women said something and then I didn’t really hear that, and the rest of the group laughed, saying she wanted to be my girlfriend…It was quite amusing. I then asked them to dance, and they invited me dance with them. So I did so, and had a great time making a fool of myself – I ended up somehow being partnered exactly with the same young woman who “wanted to be my girlfriend” - it was funny, and especially it was fun to be able to participate in these dances that I’ve only seen so far. The hand movements are pretty subtle and tricky to learn (at least for me). I (perhaps we all) laughed my way through this dance.

After this I invited them to come to KILU so that I could return the favor and perform some music for them. I played “Heartland” (an original composition) and “Maple Leaf Rag” and I think they enjoyed it. I certainly felt great about this kind of cultural exchange. This is exactly what I was hoping I would get to do here.

Meanwhile, in the days that followed I kept dropping in for visits to chat and hang out, and they in return also came to visit. About a week before they left for their assignment, they approached me and asked me to record some music for one of their pantomime skits. They didn't have the right kind of music and were wondering if I would be willing to help. I was happy and eager to help, they demonstrated to me what it is they wanted, and though it was a bit of a challenge to get things right, after a few tries, I got a version that they liked. They were grateful and I was humbled by the whole experience, and happy that I could help.

They left about ten days ago for some villages east of Thimphu, and today just as I was walking in town I ran into one of the guys, who informed me that they had literally just gotten back into town. He said they'll come for a visit sometime next week.

Here are some photos of us. We couldn't fit all in one frame, and so they wanted to do men and women with me, separately.

Peace and Love,

Noam

How things are going at KILU!

2009-11-02T21:59:00.002+06:00

Dear Friends,

So, as most of you know, I came here to Bhutan to teach music at Kilu Bhutan Music School. Being so busy with work, and having so many different experiences to share with you all, I have not yet had the chance to report on how my teaching is coming along. I promise i'll eventually have photos to share with you from the school, of the students and me in action, but for now, I felt compelled to give you a brief update on things.

First, it's important to note that the school and the school board were immensly grateful for all of the donations of resources that I brought with me, which were possible thanks to your generosity. Everything is being put to great use, and I actually find myself very grateful for having invested so much in making sure I came here with enough diverse resources. It has made the teaching much much easier. In terms of instruments for what we can handle, the school doesn't really need any more instruments at this juncture. Many of the students at the school (to my great surprise) have keyboards at home, which their parents or relatives bought for them in India or Bangkok. This also reflects the fact that the majority of our students come from upper class backgrounds and/or international or mixed marriage backgrounds. For the approx. one third of our students who do not have keyboards at home, I was delighted to discover that the Japanese organization that has been sending volunteers and supplies to the school since 2005,supplied the school with Melodicas which the school has begun to loan out to students who do not have keyboard upon my suggestion. In that regard things are good. The challenges remain elsewhere.

Not long after I arrived our enrollment doubled from 35 students to 70. Now, since I am here, we have two full time teachers, and the school quickly reached max. enrollment capacity. Financially, the school relies only on contributions, fundraisers, and student tuition. And there are many students who are on the waiting list, wanting to join and study, but without money to hire new teachers, we cannot accept new students, as both Masayuki (the Japanese teacher) and myself are working with a full schedule.

It has been a great delight to work with all of my students, and I say this wholeheartedly and without reservation. Of course, there are ups and downs, and pedagogically speaking there are always challenges, but on a human level, I find all of my students to be a true delight. They come to study with a real joy, and eagerness to learn., and so many of them are truly inquisitive and interested. My students are from ages 6-17, and there is a tremendous amount of respect and reverence expressed towards me in all age groups (it comes from their culture of respect towards elders and teachers) which has been hard to get used to. I like to keep things informal, but nothing i'll do or say will make them stop saying "yes, sir" and "no, sir", etc.

Also, many of my students are progressing at a great clip so far, but of course, as with children all over the world (I imagine), getting them to practice on a regular basis is a constant challenge. In my individual lessons I have been putting a lot of emphasis right from the beginning in all age groups on having singing/improvisation/composition as essential components in the learning process. It's important for me that my students not only learn how to play the piano, but that they engage in music making right from the get go. My highest priority is to foster creativity and a love of music. So far, I feel things have been going well.

Aside from individual lessons, I teach two group classes a week, my younger students (ages 6-10) and my older students (11-17). This has been a great experience for me thus far. Both in terms of the challenges I find and in terms of how rewarding it has been. I've been learning a lot about teaching, managing a class, as well as about myself, really. In the beginning with the younger kids, I found things to be quite challenging, in terms of getting them to focus, and "attention and discipline" have been issues. But, the interesting thing, is that it was clear to me that any lack of focus and hyperactivity was not as a result of a lack of interest, but rather an energy issue/short attention span (for some), and perhaps a boredom issue for others. So, it forced me to quickly look inward and come up with more interesting lesson plans (I thought my original lessons were interesting, but it's useless to be stubborn or prideful), as well as develop some strategies to calm them down in beginning of classes, and maintain focus during class. So far, so good. Things have evolved quite nicely, and i'm proud of both my own work and the way the kids responded.

The other day I decided to put on some music for the kids while I was writing out a rhythm exercise on the board for us, I went with "Moanin'" from the Art Blakey Messengers, but then when I heard it, on a whim I decided instead of writing an exercise on the board, we could practice some simple "call and response" which "Moanin'" is such a clear example of. Then after the call and response when the band breaks into the swing, I wanted to demonstrate to them how one can feel swing in the body, so suddenly I found myself dancing foolishly, swinging my hips, to everyone's laughter and delight. Before you know it, they all joined, and we practiced moving from the "call and response" clapping to the swing, dancing and had a blast!

The older group has been tremendously rewarding from the start. It's a class of about 10-15 girls, and they are bright, focused, eager to learn and talented. It makes my job so easy. And, it's the kind of class that actually energizes me. And I feel that i've been able to provide some inspiration and excitement in these sessions. Just the other day I asked them to think over the course of the week about their definition of music. Then, we had a terrific discussion (college level really) about it, and I admit I was surprised at how sophisticated and comprehensive things got.

We are now preparing for the end of semester concert which will take place on December 12th and will involve both individual performances as well as group singing. This past weekend we started the group preparations and had a great time with that as well!

So, I am quite grateful for the opportunity to teach here in Bhutan and have found it to be a tremendously rich and rewarding experience for me, not without the daily challenges that come with any kind of occupation and especially teaching, which demands endless amounts of patience and unconditional love. But, that is where I get to work on myself, that's where teaching is my teacher. So far, so good.

Stay tuned for photos from KILU!

Much love,

Noam

Pictures from Dungse Rinpoche's visit

2009-11-02T21:31:00.008+06:00

Hello again!

Here are some pictures from Rinpoche's visit. Hope you enjoy.

Waiting to enter the Memorial Chorten grounds for the special puja that Dungse Ripoche led. It was packed, there was pushing, and bumping and trying to get in, the police had to try and control the crowd.

Inside the Chorten grounds. A crowd of devoted students sits and listens. Straight ahead where the big tent is where Rinpoche was sitting, with his most immediate students that came with him from the US.

This particular lineage of buddhism, is known for these drums, that all the students were playing, along with bells...

Sacred text/prayers that were recited and sung.

Right next to my house, this is where Rinpoche stayed during his entire stay in Thimphu. They had prepared the area for weeks.

After Rinpoche left the Memorial Chorten, the crowd gathered around trying to catch a glimpse. Here he is already in the car, but the crowd surrounds the car, touching, sometimes kissing the car. When the car started moving, the crowd allowed it reluctantly to move.

A few days later a big mass teaching was held at the Police Grounds, also not far from my house. Approx. 10,000 attended.

A very large Tanghka behind the crowd, facing the stage where Rinpoche was teaching.

This is how it was raised.

Recording his every word through the speaker.

Kids playing.

Grown ups listening...

And there he is...

Love,

Noam

Israeli salad now served in Bhutan!

2009-10-22T11:53:00.004+06:00

Recently here in Thimpu, a totally new experience for me, I taught Junu who owns Ambient Café (my favorite hang in town, and where we often hang out with Lama Shenphen) how to make Israeli salad, using cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers, the salad that my mom always makes. As simple of a salad as it is, they want to expand their menu, as salads are a relatively new thing here. So, here I am, on top of everything, I’m giving them cooking advice. I know many of you out there are chuckling!!! Especially since you know what kind of a cook and "picky eater" I am.

We prepared a small sample of the salad, and it turned out quite good, better than I expected (I think the lemon must really make a difference). Everyone liked it, including Lama, and I felt quite pleased that it was such a success and that they were happy and that it was going to be useful for their little café, which I have gradually (because of their friendship) developed a vested interest in. But, it felt odd, because I know nothing about cooking and here I am giving them a recipe which they will now serve to many others.

So, if any of you are interested in trying this salad without going to Bhutan or Israel, here is the simple recipe. You'll have to experiment, as I don't know how to explain about exact quantities and such.

Chop up cucumbers (if you can get what Trader Joe's calls "Persian Cucumbers" you'll be better off), tomatoes, red bell peppers and white onions REALLY REALLY FINE, mix it all together and apply the dressing. The dressing is made out of olive oil, salt, black pepper, squeeze some lemon and voila! I would say that in terms of balance between vegetables you want to have a good balance of color between the green (of the cucumbrs) and the red of the (tomatoes and bell peppers). Stir the salad, so the dressing gets to every corner, and then let the salad sit for a little while, this last part makes a big difference!

Good Luck!

Noam

Dungse Rinpoche's Visit

2009-10-22T11:43:00.005+06:00

I've been a bit behind on sharing some new stories with all of you...this one is from ten days ago...

In the last few weeks my neighbor Chimmi and her friends have been working very hard on preparing the area around our house and the temple near by for the arrival of an important Rinpoche. I heard about this for the first time not long after I arrived, but only in the last couple of weeks have I connected the dots and gathered that the Rinpoche who is coming from the US, is the father of Dzonghsar Khyentse Rinpoche and his brother (who is the lama that Chimmi follows). Dungse Rinpoche has been living in the US for quite some time and this is his first visit to Bhutan in many years. I didn’t realize at first how big of a deal this was going to be. Chimmi mentioned that he would hold a Puja at the chorten, but some reason I thought, oh their rinpoche is coming, and they’ll hold a Puja but it won’t be a big deal…not a big deal? Think again…

Thousands of people came to see him at the Chorten (and thousands went to Paro when he arrived), the Chorten was packed with devotees, and outside of the Chorten there was a crowd waiting to get in. I joined, and waited, there was pushing and shoving and general disorderliness in trying to get through the Chorten gates, the police having to work very hard to try to make sure order is kept and no one gets hurt. People were trying to leave the chorten and the police had to try to make room for them. People from all walks of life were there, older people, young people, young parents carrying their babies on their backs, and even a few students from KILU Music School.

I made it in to the Chorten and glad that I did, as the singing that I had been hearing from my room this morning was still going on. A big crowd of practicioners was gathered, sitting in rows (mostly women) with the monastic dark red covering their shoulders, they had these drums and bells and were reciting mantras, learning songs, and ringing their bells, hitting their drums. Apparently this is unique to the Nyingma tradition of which Dungse Rinpoche is one of the most pre-eminent teachers.

Indeed I found myslelf listening to these mantras and drums and bells and found myself totally engrossed by these sounds. I eventually moved to sit right in the middle between the women, so I could be surrounded by these sounds. I was imagining a piece in which these mantras are recited by a chorus as a kind of underground layer of dronal music, upon which more layers are constructed.

After the mantras were done, it seemed to be time for lunch, I went back to the house to get a few things and head to wisdom tea party, when it appeared that things were being prepared for Rinpoche’s arrival near my house, where he’ll be staying. Yes, I walked back down to the Chorten and there people were lining up hoping to see a glimpse of Rinpoche as he was walking out of the Chorten grounds and towards his car. When he finally made it, all of us rushed towards the SUV, surrounding it, hoping to catch a glimpse, I definitely saw him as he was being lifted up and into the vehicle. Some devotees were so clearly moved, they had their hands on their mouths as they watched in awe, many moved so close to the car, once he was inside and the door shut, windows sealed, and put their foreheads to the car, or kissed the car, some were making prostrations. Clearly this was important for these people, to be near him, in any way shape or form. There was an aspect of this of kind of mass mentality, reminiscent to me (at least) of celebrity following in the US or West. I ran up the alley towards my house, and there, my neighbors all stood, quietly, respectfully, not getting to near, watching as he was moved out of the car and into the compound to get some lunch, in this instance there was no rushing to the vehicle or anything like that, just a whole lot of respect.

Here is a news article story about Dungse Rinpoche's visit to Bhutan!

More to follow soon! (and more pictures as well)

Noam

Radio appearance on KALW 91.7 Bay Area Radio

2009-10-08T00:17:00.003+06:00

Hi Everyone!

I'm excited to report that a radio story about my work in Bhutan has just come out a couple of days ago on KALW 91.7 in San Francisco. On their show Crosscurrents. I was interviewed there at the station a couple of weeks before I left for Bhutan. It's a nice piece and I want to thank Laura Klivans for doing such a great job on it and for expressing an interest to do the piece in the first place.

Check it out! and enjoy:

http://crosscurrentsradio.org/features.php?story_id=3689

Much love,

Noam

"Deep Listening" On Centennial Radio 101 FM (Bhutan)

2009-10-04T12:16:00.005+06:00

This piece of news is already a little bit old, but i've been so busy updating you on other adventures that I didn't get a chance to update you on my radio work here in Bhutan. I am now hosting a weekly radio show here on Centennial Radio, 101 FM. (one of the four main radio stations in Bhutan). This has been avery exciting development for me. I was delighted when I was asked to do it; little did the owners of the station know that I had always dreamed of doing radio!!!

"Deep Listening" as my show is called, airs every tuesday at 9:00pm with a re-broadcast every morning at 8:00am and every night at 11:00pm. The show features mainly classical music, jazz, indigenous music from around the world (and everything in between) with the goal of bringing music that is not generally heard on the air waves of Bhutan to it's listeners. The music is supplemented with explanations and educational information about the artists and the different styles and types of music aired. In addition the show presents interviews with local Bhutanese musicians and other active individuals in Bhutanese society.

Well, we've already had three shows, with the first show airing on September 15th, and in subsequent weeks. The first show was dedicated to my own music, as Yuki one of the owners of the station asked me to introduce myself by way of my music. The following two shows have been dedicated to a continued introduction of various styles of music, sharing an eclectic mix of some of my favorite music. Starting this tuesday my show will be airing live!

I have started a Facebook group page for the show, to have a place for the listening community here in Bhutan to come and express their thoughts on the show, give feedback, ask questions, make requests, etc. And, i'm also posting my playlists from each show for those of you who are interested in following the show and the music I air.

The group is at the following website:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=176320583676&ref=mf

I guess you have to be a member of facebook to join the group, but you don't have to be a member the view the activity and look at the playlists.

So, you might be wondering, how did such a remarkable thing come about?

Well, Yuki is a Japanese woman married to a Bhutanese man, and their children study at Kilu music school where i'm teaching. I met them these last few weeks. A few years ago, Yuki's husband who works in media started this radio station, and the station was quite successful during the election last year, but since then, he has been appointed Press Secretary for the King and has had to leave the station. As a result, and as a result of some financial difficulties the station had to compress a little bit and is now trying to rejuvinate itself. So, in conversation Yuki asked me if I would have anything interesting to present on a radio show and if I would be interested in doing such a thing. Little did she know that i've always wanted to have a radio show, and that I have a great love for radio in general. I jumped on the offer.

So here we are now - this gives me further opportunity to share my love of music with the broader community here in Bhutan, while simultaneously learning about Bhutan, it's music, culture and society from all the people that i'll be interviewing and interacting with on my show.

For now, signing off -

-Noam