There’s more to Tibet than politics and religion – there’s also art. And this being Montreal, someone has organized a festival to promote it.
In fact, the week-long Tibetan Festival that starts tomorrow (SAT) at a Plateau Mont Royal intercultural centre is billing itself as the first of its kind in Canada.
On the program: Thangka silk painting, sand mandalas, Cham dance, traditional carpets, cuisine, a bazaar and a documentary film about monks called Unmistaken Child (2008), by Israeli writer-director Nati Baratz.
“Montrealers know a lot about Tibet – they identify with the disappearing culture, they’re familiar with the Dalai Lama and many of them practice Tibetan Buddhism,” said festival organizer Deepali Lindblom.
“But not many know about the arts. And the truth is, the arts are dying, both inside and outside Tibet,” said Lindblom, 33, who’s from India and is married to a Swede.
“In Tibet, the regime doesn’t allow people to practice the arts the traditional way, and outside, Tibetans are living in exile, where the traditions get changed or abandoned because no-one’s interested in learning them.”
An artist herself, Lindblom grew up in Darjeeling, where there’s a sizeable Tibetan community. She and her husband, Johan, a manager with a subsidiary of Boeing, the aerospace giant, immigrated to Canada two years ago.
As head of Dung-dkar (The White Conch), also known as the Tibetan Arts Centre of Montreal, Lindblom is paying most of the festival’s expenses out of her own pocket – $2,000. She also got a $1,000 grant from the Dalai Lama Foundation.
Money raised during the event will help victims of the earthquake that struck western China two weeks ago – mostly Tibetans – as well as fund the Tibetan government-in-exile.
An offer of free space at La Maison de l’Amitié on Duluth St. E. made everything possible, Lindblom said. “It was like a gift. The universe just said: ‘You have to do this festival.’ ”
The Tibetan Festival begins at noon tomorrow and runs through May 7 at La Maison de l’Amitié, 120 Duluth St. E. in the Plateau Mont-Royal. Unmistaken Child screens May 8 at Concordia University’s J.A. de Sève Cinema, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W. For details, go to http://dung-dkar.org
Source : http://www.montrealgazette.com
