OFF TO DC
14 June, 2008 - Ap Tsheri is all jittery these days.
The 60-year old former people’s elected representative from Laya has never been near an airplane. But next week he will be boarding for the longest journey of his life, flying to Washington D.C.
Tsheri is in the third batch of Bhutanese artisans and presenters leaving for the United States to participate in the Smithsonian Folk-life Festival, which will showcase Bhutanese folk life at the US capital from June 25 to July 6.
Like the organizers and other artisans, Tsheri is preparing for the visit. “I’m taking showers daily to smell better,” says Tsheri with a big smile. He is excited and worried as well. “When I left my village for Thimphu, my neighbours said that I’ll never return as I was bound for a journey to the end of the world.”
Tsheri plans to wear just ghos during the entire trip and has already bought two thin ghos. “If I wear gho always, it’ll be easy for people to spot me. So no worry of getting lost in America.”
Ap Tsheri and a Layap woman will showcase Layap culture and traditions in Washington D.C. They will pitch a Layap tent made from yak hair and wear Layap costumes at the festival.
In what may be the largest Bhutanese delegation in a foreign place at the same time, 131 Bhutanese will be in Washington D.C. for about two weeks at the festival. A majority of the delegation consists of musicians, dancers, artisans, cooks, carpenters, farmers, and representatives from the monk body.
Earlier this week, the department of culture organised an orientation for the illiterate participants. “We taught them table manners, briefed them not to urinate near trees, and to stay in groups,” said one of the coordinators, Damcho Tenzin. Some of the participants come from as far as Taksar in Mongar and Bomdeling in Trashiyangtse.
The director of the department of culture, Dorji Tshering, who is the focal person for the curatorial committee, said that they are working round the clock because of the time difference for the biggest festival that will portray Bhutan in all its diversity.
The department of culture has shipped six containers to the US containing exhibits ranging from soksums (bamboo darts) to traditional tents, statues, choesums, thri, and kilkhors. Pre-fabricated material to build chortens and temples have already reached DC and are being assembled. “We’re prepared and hoping that everything will go as planned,” says Dorji Tshering.
Dorji Tshering said that participants will multitask in 11 broad festival categories.
According to the director, artisans were selected after a nationwide Zorig competition held last year. “The first and second candidates from the dzongkhag competitions were selected for the festival,” he said, adding that many dzongkhags did not participate.
Yesterday, a smaller group left for the US and 11 mask dancers and 10 officials will leave tomorrow. The group will be in New York for the Asia Society event, a sub-programme of the festival. The last group of the delegation will leave on June 28.
Titled “Land of the Thunder Dragon”, the 10-day festival will be spread over an area of three football fields in Washington D.C. Artisans will demonstrate Bhutan’s 13 traditional arts (zorig chusum), weavers will showcase Bhutan’s complex weaving traditions, sculptors, painters and carvers will demonstrate the arts, and monastic dancers will perform masked dances, which have never before been performed in the United States. More than a million people are expected at the festival.
The Smithsonian festival is an annual festival organized by the Smithsonian Institution, where every year programs featuring a nation, region, state or theme is made the centerpiece of the festival. The Festival will also feature the music, food and wine of Texas and celebrate the 50th anniversary of NASA.
~ Ugyen Penjore, Kuensel, Bhutan's National Newspaper
