- Asian University Digital Resource Network

Dear all, here is the powerpoint presentation Puhua and I showed on the first day during our poster session.

Download 00 PCI presentation Power Point Presentation

Here is the frontspiece for the journal the Plateau Culture Initiative will soon publish:

Download AHP 1 2009 pp1-6

And finally, below are two stories from our project members about their experience recording music in their villages. They also describe how they spent money from our small grants program that provides funds for members to spend when making recordings.

Hope everyone has arrived home safely.

Y'la (G.yu lha)

I received 1,000 RMB to record songs and stories in my hometown - Siyuewu Village, Puxi Township, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. I spent the money to buy gifts for singers and to rent a car to go to a nearby monastery. Altogether I visited twenty families, but in some families, nobody wanted to sing. I bought such gifts as salt, oil, rice, tea, sugar, and clothes for the people I recorded. They were very happy when they received the gifts and were willing to let me record them.

Some of the people I recorded lived in poverty, and did not even have enough to eat. For example, I recorded an elderly childless couple. I recorded several songs from the woman who was 98 years old. I spent 570 RMB to buy gifts for this family – mostly oil, rice, and other basic necessities.

Also, to thank six villagers for allowing me to record them, I rented a car and took them to a locally famous monastery, which all villagers aspire to visit.

Tashi Zangpo (Bkra shis bzang po)

I went to a village in Bang smad Township, Nyag rong Country, Dkar mdzes Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. I recorded eleven folk songs, three speeches, and five folk tales.

I organized a party to which I invited four singers and two storytellers - five males and one female. I spent 2,000 RMB from the Plateau Music Project on three boxes of beer, and some other food for the party. I also gave fifty RMB to each singer and storyteller.

I spent three days in that village. I couldn’t record during the daytime because there was too much noise outside, so each night for three nights I waited until very late, around midnight, to start recording. Even though it was quiet then, I still faced difficulties. Sometimes a dog would bark and I would have to begin again. When I was collecting information about the songs and folktales the person I was asking often had no idea what I was asking, so I needed to ask many times in different ways. I usually finished recording at around four in the morning.

At the moment I am writing the song lyrics in Tibetan. The next thing I will do is put the songs online. When I return home, I will give all the performers CDs of the materials I recorded.