Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo will headline a benefit concert at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre in New York City on 17 October. The concert concludes a two-day Tibetan cultural celebration that includes community discussion, food, meditation, and music. The performance, titled “Coming Home,” begins at 7 p.m.
The event is a fundraiser for distressed communities in the United States and other countries, and is being presented by the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and Lhamo’s One Drop of Kindness Foundation. The theatre will host another performance on 16 October titled “Celebrating Compassion: A Gathering of Tibetan Healing, Dance & Fil.”
Traditional Tibetan refreshments, such as butter tea, will be available for purchase along with momos and khapse, deep fried biscuits colloquially known as amjok.
There will be a public screening of a documentary on Tibet’s oracle tradition, Oracles & Demons of Ladakh, which includes an interview with the late Prof. Robert A. F. Thurman. A question and answer session with director Rob McGann will follow the screening.
This will be Lhamo’s first performance at La MaMa. She will be accompanied by guitarist John Alevizakis. The program will explore compassion through cultural and educational activities and will offer attendees an opportunity to learn about Tibetan traditions through stories, music, and conversation.
On 16 October, monks from the Drepung Gomang Center in New York will make a six-syllable mantra of compassion with sand. Geshe Ngawang Thugje will lead a guided meditation, which will be followed by a Dharma talk.
Dr. Kunchok Tseten will host a Q&A session on Tibetan medicine, and attendees will also have the opportunity for private discussions.
Yungchen Llamo will lead a participatory Tibetan dance to close out Friday’s event lineup.
Founded by Llamo in 2004, One Drop of Kindness Foundation supports programs around the world through direct assistance, community outreach, and charitable giving.
Lhamo was born in Lhasa. She left her home country in 1989, traveling to Dharamsala, India. From there she went to Australia, where she sang meditation prayers and made her first recording, “Tibetan Prayer,” which won the Australian Recording Industry Association award for best world music album in 1995.
Building on this success, Lhamo released several albums with Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records label, which was founded in 1989 by WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) and Peter Gabriel with the intention of pairing talented artists from around the world with state-of-the-art recording equipment.
The collaboration resulted in the release of works such as, “Tibet, Tibet,” “Coming Home,” and “Ama.” She has also collaborated with Joy Askew, Annie Lennox, and Russian pianist Anton Batagov.
In September 2023, Lhamo released her seventh album, One Drop of Kindness. She named the album after her organization, marking the connection between compassion, service, and musical expression.
In 2006, Lhamo began the “You Are Beautiful, I am Beautiful” initiative in Dublin. The program works to bring her performances to homeless shelters, retirement homes, and community spaces.
The program’s first performance took place in an assisted living facility for elderly people with dementia. Later, it expanded to Upstate New York where Lhamo set up a base of operations.
Lhamo is not the only performer associated with the One Drop of Kindness Foundation; the organization has also partnered with performers such as Natalie Merchant, who uses simple Buddhist mantras in her performances. She has performed for many audiences, including people with mental illness, the homeless, and individuals with disabilities.
At the time of writing, tickets were available through La MaMa’s website for both the Friday gathering and the Saturday evening concert.
See more
Yungchen Lhamo Live in Concert: A two part celebration of Tibetan culture and tradition through food, education, art (Tibet House US)
Coming Home: Tibetan Singer Yungchen Lhamo (La MaMa)
One Drop of Kindness
La MaMa
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