Tsering Wangmo is a second-generation exile Tibetan and was born in a refugee camp in southern India. Educated in a local Tibetan school, she studied traditional Tibetan music, dance and opera for seven years from 1982 to 1989 in the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala in northern India. The institute was set up by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, shortly after China's occupation of Tibet in 1959, to facilitate the preservation of Tibet's unique cultural heritage in exile.
In April 1989, Tsering came with Sonam Tashi and Tashi Dhondup on a performance tour of nine different American cities. Two years later, the three of them founded Chaksam-Pa, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization dedicated to preserving traditional Tibetan performing arts.
In 1995, Tsering opened a Tibetan restaurant, Lhasa Moon www.lhasamoon.com, the first and only one of its kind in San Francisco. She also wrote a Tibetan cook book, Lhasa Moon Cook Book, and was the recipient of the prestigious Chef's 2000 Award and the Gold Medal Chef Award in 2001, conferred by the National American Tasting Institute.
Tsering has performed throughout the world in Europe and Asia beside the United States and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. She has performed at the Lincoln Center in New York, the Warner Theater, Berkeley Greek Theater, and the Marin Civic Center, among others.
In 1999, Tsering founded the Tibetan Cultural Preservation Project through The Cultural Conservancy (www.nativeland.org), a non-profit cultural organization based in San Francisco. Through this project Tsering has organized and hosted dozens of cultural programs including a sand mandala ceremony by Tibetan Buddhist nuns and a Tibetan New Year (Losar) celebration with Tibetan elders from southern India.
Kongpo Songbook Project
The goal of this project is to preserve the Kongpo oral tradition, especially its traditional songs, in a recorded (audio and written) format for present-day and future generations of Tibetans. Objective is to create a booklet and CD to freely distribute to approximately 100 Tibetan organizations throughout the world to have as a special archive and resource for the cultural traditions of Kongo in Tibet.
Kongpo is one of the richest areas in natural resources because it is biologically diverse. The traditional arts and culture of this area are a reflection of the rich agricultural environment. Song and dance are an integral part of the daily life of the Kongpo people. In Tibet, these songs and dances are being eradicated by the Chinese authorities and the distinct cultural and ethnic identity is disappearing. This special region of southern Tibet is renowned for its pastoral beauty and its people famous for their artistic genius.
Urgency: only a handful of Tibetan elders still living know the rich oral tradition of the Kongpo culture. There is no written text about their traditional ceremonial songs and oral history. The last elders are passing away as we speak, and there is an urgency to capture what they know as soon as possible.
