Tibetannet

The three-stringed dance is a special performing art form that only exists in Chamdo City of the Mangham County in Tibet. This kind of dancing style combines musical instrument playing, singing and dancing. Normally people in all ages and genders gather and dance together delightfully. During the dance, males often carry the three-stringed musical instrument on their hands and sing and dance while playing the instruments; female dancers shake their long sleeves while dancing. The dance is started with the males singing a verse and the females repeat this verse, when there is a verse without lyrics, the three-stringed instrument will be played as an accompanyiment. There are only seven three-stringed verses that have been fully handed down to the newer generations. There are some verses that are recreated by the newer generations who rewrite new lyrics for the melodies.

The 79-year-old Luosongqunze is one of the inheritors  of the three-stringed dance. When he was 25 years old, he studied the dance under Angji who was Daxu Village’s representative three-stringed dance figure. Later on, he continued performing and teaching this kind of special ethnic art up until he was 69 years old. The elderly said man that, nowadays there are not many people in the village who can play the instrument, sing and dance the same time in spite of the fact that the three-stringed dance is still the main method for the villagers to express their feelings on the occasions of weekends, festivals, bumper harvests or celebrations. 

Due to the increase of tourists in the recent years, in 2003, a performing group called Quzika Three-stringed Dance Troupe composed of 22  farmers and herdsmen was established in the village in order to advocate this traditional culture that is known by very few people. The appearance of the performing group has greatly  increased the viewership of the three-stringed dance in Mangham, therein turning this  local self-entertaining activity into a part of cultural tourism that is open to tourists. What’s more, the revenue gained from tourism has also boosted the morale of young people to learn and inherit this folk art. 

Luosongqunze is very happy for this. As he is getting older and older, he is more and more concerned about the possible loss of this  traditional culture. The elderly man said that, as long as the young people want to study the three-stringed dance, he will be happy to keep teaching it without any compensation.