Free Spirit Festival 2001
DHARAMSALA, India, 27 October 2001
Twenty seventh of October 2001 was exceptionally a fine day and it was the day the second Free Spirit Festival was held at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala.
The festival was opened from 10 a.m. onwards for exhibitions of photographs from four Tibetan photographers, cartoons from three cartoonists and paintings of two painters. A few films were shown during the day. Over a thousand people turned up for the festival.
But the main feature during the day was Lama Mani's story telling. Bhuchen Gyurmey came from Dehra Dun as a participant. The Lama Mani tradition is believed to have originated in the 12th century. A Lama Mani is a person who brings the Dharma to the unlettered people in the remote areas.
As this tradition is slowly dying away, Lama Mani captivated huge interest from the audience.
Geshe Kalsang Damdul, the Director of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectic School, delivered a talk on the basics of Buddhism and Karma Monlam, a scholar working with the Department of Education of Tibetan government-in-exile, delivered a talk on the role of Tibetan language in keeping the Tibetan culture alive.
The evening programme started with the slide show spelling the "Free Spirit Festival". This was followed by the lighting of the free spirit lights by Bhuchen Gyurmey, the Lama Mani and Mr. Lee Ryuji OKA, the guest artiste from Japan. Next came the fireworks and the welcome speech by Lobsang Wangyal, the producer and the director of the festival.
Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan poet, took the stage next with his poetry and a monologue.
A history presentation came next. Fifteen different personalities from Tibetan history were presented in full costumes. Tenzin Paldon and Youdon Aukatsang introduced them in Tibetan and English respectively.
Mr. Lee, a Japanese Butoh dancer and choreographer, followed next. He was the only foreign guest artiste in the Festival.
Designer Kalden Dorjee's fashion clothes took the stage next. Models Passang Lhamo and Tsultrim Dolma came from Bangalore for modelling. Ngawang Phuntsok and Lobsang Wangyal were the man models. There were 10 different clothes in the presentation.
Pasang Tsering came from Dehra Dun for a comedy show. He took the stage for more than half an hour, which sure was not enough for the audience!
The JJI Exile Brothers, the Dharamsala local Tibetan band, took the stage for a melodious song which was followed by a go-go dance by Lobsang Wangyal for the number "You sexy thing", by the Hot Chocolate. The audience jammed until 12 midnight!