China and Tibet

Two traditions at the close of the series.

On 29 May 2016, the fifth and final Accordi di Pace concert brought Loten Namling and Shao Yue Shen together at Teatro Sala Uno in San Giovanni, Rome. The contemporary programme described Namling as a Tibetan musician and singer-songwriter and Shao Yue Shen as a Chinese musician and player of the pipa.

Loten Namling's appearance in Rome was connected to the documentary Tibetan Warrior, screened at Cinema Farnese two days earlier. He came not only as a musician but as a storyteller and activist.

Source: Culture del Mondo announcement and contemporary 2016 event record.

Tibet and China.

Of the five Accordi di Pace encounters, this carried the most explicit political weight. Tibet has been under Chinese administration since 1950, with the Dalai Lama's government in exile established in India in 1959. Loten Namling grew up in that exile community and has lived in Switzerland since 1989.

The encounter did not attempt to resolve this history. It placed two musicians, one from the exiled Tibetan tradition, one from the Chinese classical tradition, in the same intimate space and let them play.

The structure was deliberately the same as every other encounter in the series: two musicians, two traditions, one room. The weight was different. The proposition was the same.

Source: contemporary 2016 programme; artist biographies and archive material.

A locator rather than a political map. Namling grew up in Tibetan exile communities in India and Switzerland; Shao Yue Shen's Chinese classical background is identified in the 2016 archive.