Nothing like the promise of quick cash to turn an old-timers’ thing into a hot new fad. An ancient Tibetan dance, on the verge of extinction, has recently experienced a revival among the younger generation.
The Qamo is a folk dance that originated in Tibet hundreds of years ago. It was originally performed by lamas (Tibetan religious teachers) in the Gongbu area in order to subdue the evil spirits that interfered with the other dances performed by members of the local religion called the “Black Sect.” Over time, it came to be danced to celebrate abundant harvests and to pray for good fortune. The tradition was to do so only every 12 years.
Twelve years is a long time for today’s attention-deficient generation to remember a custom, and it doesn’t help that the Qamo is not described in written manuals, but passed down directly from generation to generation. For these reasons, it was in danger of being forgotten by the locals.
Luckily for the dance, more and more tourists started visiting Tibet after the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in 2006, and these visitors were hungry for authentic old-world Tibetan customs. And so, the Qamo was revived, with young people learning it as a way to make some money. As one young folk dance lover, Nyima Cering, describes it, “We simply make more money by performing traditional dances for tourists than we do from farm work….In order to attract more tourists, we must dance better, sing better, and understand our ancestors’ legacy better. What better way is there for the preservation of our traditions?” (Window of China)
The new tourism to Tibet has indeed created a renaissance in traditional arts. Approximately 18 000 Tibetans are now registered as traditional art performers, compared to 3000 just five years ago.
This article was published Saturday, November 17, 2007
