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Gupa Ihabab duechen ritual music (Monpa Ritual music to celebrate the Buddhist holiday of Gupa Lhabap Duechen)

Monks of the Tawang monastery
Audio
Gupa Ihabab duechen ritual music (Monpa Ritual music to celebrate the Buddhist holiday of Gupa Lhabap Duechen)
On the Buddhist holiday Gupa Lhabap Duechen, the villagers of the village Muchot and Samdong Peri organise a special ceremony, where the religious text ‘Lobsong’ is read. This consists mainly of recitation, intercepted by sequences of cymbals and drumming. The atmospheric sounds comprise the turning of the two prayer wheels,the bell which rings as the wheels turn, the sound of the stream underneath the gompa and the voices of the helpers. The two instruments used are the stick drum, dah, and the big cymbals, the bubhjah (called challang here). The resident monk, Lama Dorje recites the text, plays the stick drum, 'nga' and the 'challang', the cymbals. He holds the drum stick and the upper cymbal in the right and the lower part in the left hand.