LOCATION:
Pure Land Farms
3265 Santa Maria Road
Topanga, CA 90290
TIME:
Doors open: 4:00pm
Enjoy a tour of Pure Land Farms and Tanaduk Gardens
(Food and refreshments included)
Concert starts at 6:00pm in the Yuthok Ling Temple
Special event, very limited seating
Advance booking required
In accordance with Los Angeles county Covid-19 vaccine ordinance, all participants must show proof of full vaccination in order to attend this event. If you are not able to show proof of vaccine, please do not purchase tickets to this event. Read Pure Land Farms Covid Guidelines
BARDO SONGS IN THE PURE LAND
A unique opportunity to be a part of a rare experience: participants will be guided into a meditative journey through a special concert inspired by the teachings of the Tibetan Book of the Dead: Liberation Upon Hearing in the Between. This quintessential text, attributed to the 8th century Buddhist Vajra master Padmasambhava provides insight and direct instructions on how to navigate through the stages of the Bardo - the intermediary state between life and death. According to the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, the Bardo journey offers a precious opportunity for practitioners to awaken to their own true Buddha nature and be liberated from all suffering.
Internationally acclaimed Tibetan singer/songwriter Tenzin Choegyal will be joined by award-winning composer Simone Giuliani on piano and master artist Tsering Dorjee Bawa, who will be performing the very rare Black Hat masked ritual dance. Narration by Christiana Polites.
*Overnight accommodations at Pure Land Farms available upon request. Limited availability, please email for inquiries: info@purelandfarms.com
About the Artists
Tenzin Choegyal
Tenzin Choegyal is one of the world's finest musicians in the Tibetan tradition. As a son of Tibetan nomads, he feels a particular connection to the music of the high Himalayan plateau.
In a career spanning 20+ years Tenzin has performed at festivals across Australia and curated numerous events and concerts including Brisbane’s annual Festival of Tibet. Internationally he has performed in New Zealand, Japan, India, Germany, Bangladesh, Russia and USA, including performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has also opened many of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Public Talks in Australia, New Zealand and Japan with his musical offerings.
While proudly continuing the unbroken nomadic lineage which is central to his repertoire, Tenzin also embraces opportunities to take his music into more contemporary, uncharted territory, both in the studio and on stage.
Tenzin has nine independent albums, three of them with his fusion band Tibet2Timbuk2, and regularly performs with Camerata Brisbane’s acclaimed Chamber Orchestra. His collaborative albums include The Last Dalai Lama?with Philip Glass, Peradam album by Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith featuring Anoushka Shankar & Charlotte Gainsbourh and the 2021 Grammy-nominated Songs from the Bardo released through Smithsonian Folkways with his longtime friend and collaborator Jesse Paris Smith and Laurie Anderson - a moving interpretation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
An outstanding composer/ performer with a great depth of musical knowledge, intuition and inventiveness, Tenzin continues to bring new sounds of Tibet while strongly holding the essence of ancient Tibetan wisdom. He attributes his art form to the early karmic imprints of hearing his mother and father as a toddler.
Tenzin Choegyal is currently working on a few new music projects and a new album “Dear Ama la” with one of Australia’s finest Camerata Chamber Orchestra.
To learn more about Tenzin: www.tenzinchoegyal.com
Tsering Dorjee Bawa
Award-winning artist, Tsering Dorjee Bawa, has been a Tibetan music and arts performer for almost three decades.
Tsering gained a Master’s degree in Tibetan Perfoming Arts in 2000 at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), Dharamsala, India, where he was privileged to study under some of the most legendary Tibetan artists of our time.
At TIPA Tsering studied Tibetan secular dance and music, first as a student and then as an instructor, and has become a master of Tibetan Opera, central Tibetan Step Dance and Cham, a series of colourful, masked, ritual dances performed at major Tibetan festivals.
Tsering later toured many parts of the world to share this knowledge with others and continues to appear as a guest on major Tibetan media platforms to inspire others to discover Tibetan culture.
Tsering continued his acting training in France, the Netherlands, India and America, and in particular at the Barbizon International School of Acting and Modeling in San Francisco, USA.
He has since worked on several notable films, including the 1999 Oscar-nominated movie Himalaya.
Tsering has collaborated with remarkable composers such as Michael Becker, with whom he created the original soundtrack for the 2009 Emmy-Award winning documentary Women of Tibet – A Quiet Revolution.
In 2003, Tsering appeared in the children’s theater show, Tibet Through the Red Box, by David Henry Hwang at the Seattle Children’s Theatre and in 2006 at the Cape Rep. Theatre, MA
In 2014-2017, he performed at the Lincoln Center Theater, NY in the world premier of the off-Broadway show, The Oldest Boy by Sarah Ruhl, and later at the Marin Theater Company in Mill Valley, the San Diego Rep Theatre, and the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis.
Tsering was nominated for outstanding male performance in a play at the 2015 Craig Noel Awards at San Diego Theater and won the award for Outstanding Choreography at the 2016 The San Francisco Theater Bay Area Awards.
Most recently, Tsering played the lead in an the independent feature film, “My Son Tenzin” produced by Seykhar Films, which portrayed the clash between traditional and modern Tibetan culture.
Tsering has established a community school program of Tibetan language, music and dance for a new generation of Tibetan children in the Bay area to help preserve Tibet’s traditions of music and art in exile.
To learn more: www.tibetartstudio.com
Simone Giuliani
Simone Giuliani is a music director, producer and composer born in Florence, Italy and based in New York and Los Angeles.
Simone has worked for the past two decades with an array of international artists from different musical worlds:
Andrea Bocelli, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tenzin Choegyal, DJ Logic, Wu-Tang Clan, Cibo Matto, Bebel Gilberto, Groove Collective, Jovanotti, Bisan Toron, Monday Michiru, Yuka Honda, Miho Hatori, Jamie Catto (1 Giant Leap), Suzie Katayama (Prince), Lévon Minassian (Peter Gabriel) and many more.
Simone wrote and produced original music for a number of TV films and series: The Handmaid's Tale (HULU), What We do in the Shadows (HULU), Spike Lee's Humanity Project, Blindspot (NBC), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS), True Blood (HBO), CBS News Theme (VH1) among others.
As a Music Director and producer he has been managing and supervising sessions with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios and has arranged for and performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the O2 Arena in London to a sold-out audience of 20,000 for Andrea Bocelli's concert during his “Cinema” tour.
Simone served as Music Director and conductor for “Music for Mercy”, a concert for Pope Francis' Year of the Jubilee. The show was held inside the Imperial Forums in Rome, the first concert in history to happen in that place. The event, telecasted live featured Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Elaine Paige, David Foster, The Tenors, Carly Paoli and other international artists.
Since 2008 he has been joining forces with Grammy Award-winner producer Jason Olaine releasing rare live recordings of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan and more jazz legends for Monterey Jazz Festival Records (Concord Music Group).
He's the Director of Programs of MOMENT NYC, a music education non-profit presenting the history of music in New York City through performances in public schools and co-founder of Yangchenma Arts & Music a community organization celebrating the richness and diversity of human cultures through their artistic and musical traditions.
With Syrian vocal artist Bisan Toron he created the music project Ascent, their debut album “Migrant Songs” will be released in 2022.
To learn more: www.simonegiuliani.com