Key Information

Photographer

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Collection

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Date of Photo

January 1st 1937

Region

Lhasa > Dekyi Lingka

Accession number

1998.131.254

Image Dimensions

108 x 161 mm

A Ladakhi musician playing and instrument called dramyen, seated cross-legged on the ground. The group of which he was a part were entertaining the British Mission party and Tibetan officials at the Mission residence in the Dekyi Lingka. He appears to have a cloth tied high around his waist. The right hand, arm and knee of a fellow musician can be seen in the far right hand side of the image. A metal key hangs from the button at the top front of his coat or chuba

Further Information

Activity

Performing

Photographic Process

Print gelatin silver

Date Acquired

Donated 1994

Donated by

Faith Spencer Chapman

Expedition

British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37

Photo also owned by

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Previous Catologue Number

BJ.7 [view film roll]

Previous Pitt Rivers Museum Number

SC.T.2.254

Other Information

Notes on print/mount - 'BJ 7' has been written in pencil on the back of the print in the centre. This relates to the numbering system that Chapman adopted for images taken on the British Mission to Lhasa in 1936-37 [MS 14/2/2005]

Other Information - Related Images

Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'BJ' comprise a group of negatives containing images of the Lhasa band, chang girls, Tibetan officials including Tsarong and Ringang, Finch, Norbhu, Everest Permit and Khampa people, all apparently taken in the first week of January 1937 [MS 16/03/2006]

Other Information - Cultural Background

Other Information - Cultural Background: Most musicians of popular music in Tibet were Ladakhi moslems. [TS 14/2/2005]

Other Information - Location: The statement that this musician is playing in the environs of the Dekyi Lingka is derived from a viewing of the cine film that also constitutes part of the Chapman Collection in the PRM.

Other Information - Dates

Other Information - Dates: Chapman used other images of the band members to illustrate the text of the official Mission Diary for January 1st 1937. On that day the Mission invited some of the leading Tibetan officials to lunch to celebrate the New Year. He wrote: "Out in the garden we had the Lhasa Band and dancers. The former consists of two Chinese fiddlers, one of them blind, a bearded Ladaki, who plays a flute, and a Tibetan with another curious stringed instrument. The blind fiddler, incidentally, enjoys the privilege of being allowed to smoke even in the presence of the Cabinet" [MS 14/2/2005]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Ladakhi lute player in Lhasa Band" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.131.254.html>.

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