[Bcma-l] Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing

[bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca]

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 9, 2007*

*CONTACT:

Paul Crawford, Director/Curator
Art Gallery of the South Okanagan
199 Marina Way, Penticton, B.C. V2A 1H3
Phone number: (250) 493-2928 ~ Fax: (250) 493-3992 ~ E-mail: 
agso_curator@shawbiz.ca <mailto:agso_curator@shawbiz.ca> ~ Web: 
www.galleries.bc.ca/agso <http://www.galleries.bc.ca/agso>*

**

Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery will Perform "Sacred 
Music Sacred Dance for World Healing" on Sunday July 22, 2007 at the 
Cleland Theater, 325 Power Street, Penticton, B.C.

**

*(Penticton, British Columbia) – The famed multiphonic singers of 
Tibet’s Drepung Loseling Monastery, whose sellout performances in 
Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center received national acclaim, will perform 
Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing in *Penticton, British 
Columbia in their only Canadian performance in 2007*. *The concert will 
begin at 7:30 p.m. Sunday July 22 at the Cleland Theatre 325 Power 
Street, Penticton, B.C. Tickets for this event are $25. For tickets and 
information on other programming relating to the Tibet exhibition please 
contact the Art Gallery of the South Okanagan at (250) 493-2928**

*The Mystical Arts of Tibet tour is co-produced by Richard Gere 
Productions and Drepung Loseling Institute, the North American Seat of 
Drepung Loseling Monastery, India. Endorsed by His Holiness the Dalai 
Lama, the tour has three basic purposes: to make a contribution to world 
peace and healing; to generate a greater awareness of the endangered 
Tibetan civilization; and to raise support for the Tibetan refugee 
community in India.*

*The performance features multiphonic singing, wherein the monks 
simultaneously intone three notes of a chord. The Drepung Loseling monks 
are particularly renowned for this unique singing. They also utilize 
traditional instruments such as 10-foot long /dung-chen /horns, drums, 
bells, cymbals and /gyaling /trumpets. Rich brocade costumes and masked 
dances, such as the Dance of the Sacred Snow Lion, add to the exotic 
splendor.*

*The monks of Drepung Loseling have a very distinguished modern-day 
musical history. On past tours they have performed with Kitaro, Paul 
Simon, Philip Glass, Eddie Brickell, Natalie Merchant, Patti Smith, the 
Beastie Boys, and the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, to name but a few. In 
addition, two of their recordings achieved top-10 listings on the New 
Age charts: /Tibetan Sacred Temple Music /(Shining Star Productions) and 
/Sacred Tibetan Chants /(Music and Arts Program of America, Inc.). Their 
most recent recording, /Compassion /(Milennia Music), pairs them with 
the Abbey of Gethsemani Schola in an encounter of Gregorian chant with 
Tibetan multiphonic singing.*

*Their music was featured on the Golden Globe-nominated soundtrack of 
the fi lm /Seven Years in Tibet/, starring Brad Pitt (Columbia Pictures) 
and they performed with Philip Glass in Lincoln Center in the live 
presentation of his award-winning score to the Martin Scorsese fi lm 
/Kundun /(Disney). In response to the September 11 tragedies, they had 
the honor of creating special mandalas and leading prayer ceremonies and 
meditations in New York and Washington. Organized in conjunction with 
the Smithsonian Institution, these events were dedicated to the healing 
and protection of America.*

*The Loseling monks have twice been featured artists at the Smithsonian 
Folklife Festival, representing Tibetan culture, and in July 2003 
enjoyed the rare honor of representing Tibet in the Cultural Olympiad of 
Greece, a pre-Olympic celebration of World Sacred Music and Dance. For 
this event the monks toured Greece and performed at venues that included 
the Acropolis and ancient Olympia, the historic site of the original 
Olympics.*

*For more information on this event or to purchase tickets please 
contact the Art Gallery of the South Okanagan at (250) 493-2928 or by 
e-mail at: agso_curator@shawbiz.ca <mailto:agso_curator@shawbiz.ca> For 
more information on the Mystical Arts of Tibet please go to: 
www.*mystical**arts*of*tibet*.org <http://www.mysticalartsoftibet.org> 
To arange a media interview with the monks from the Drepung Loseling 
Monastery please contact: Irene Lee, Assistant Director, The Mystical 
Arts of Tibet Phone: (770) 938-7575 E-mail: irene@drepung.org 
<mailto:irene@drepung.org>*

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