He Jinmei: Singer of Tibetan "Epic of King Gesar"

“Why is your hair half-combed, why is your face half-washed, and why do you have black and white hands?” The 53-year-old He Jinmei was singing beautifully, facing the sun and standing squarely.

Whenever she sang the Epic of King Gesar, the listeners would be visibly moved, be it a native or a visitor from afar.

The Epic of King Gesar is one of the world's great epics, as significant for Tibetans as the Odyssey and Iliad for the ancient Greeks. In history, the epic used to be widely spread in Tibetan regions from mouth to mouth.  

But now the epic has become an endangered cultural heritage in northwest Yunnan’s Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and only a few inheritors can sing King Gesar.

“At the age of 14, I began to sing King Gesar. The story moved me a lot and I fell in love with it. For decades, I’ve been learning the epic from the master, and now I can sing all 52 episodes." He Jinmei said passionately, smiling.

"In Diqing, I am the only one who can sing the full epic in addition to my master. I’ll go on singing so that the King’s story can be passed down from generation to generation,” she added.

 Jinmei’s master is He Mingyuan, national inheritor of the world-class intangible cultural heritage project of King Gesar. For Jinmei, Mingyuan is both her teacher and a senior whom she trusts and relies on.

To learn the epic, Jinmei almost devoted all her leisure time. “Over the past decades, I have been singing, but finished it only in recent years. The epic covers more than 50 episodes in ten plus tunes, said Jinmei.

At the lively Reba dancing nearby, He Jinmei recalled she used to be good at the dancing like most Tibetans in Tacheng, but now what she want to do is to be the inheritor of the King Gesar epic.

To save this heavily endangered art, He Jinmei and He Mingyuan are now teaching their own offspring, trying to get more people engaged in tradition.

 

 

He Jinmei: Singer of Tibetan Epic of King Gesar

Why is your hair half-combed, why is your face half-washed, and why do you have black and white hands? The 53-year-old He Jinmei was singing beautifully, facing the sun and standing squarely. Whenever she sang the Epic of King Gesar, the listeners would be visibly moved, be it a native or a visitor from afar. The Epic of King Gesar is one of the worlds great epics, as significant for Tibetans as the Odyssey and Iliad for the ancient Greeks. In history, the epic used to be widely spread in Tibetan regions from mouth to mouth. But now the epic has become an endangered cultural heritage in northwest Yunnans Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and only a few inheritors can sing King Gesar. At the age of 14, I began to sing King Gesar. The story moved me a lot and I fell in love with it. For decades, Ive been learning the epic from the master, and now I can sing all 52 episodes. He Jinmei said passionately, smiling. In Diqing, I am the only one who can sing the full epic in addition to my master. Ill go on singing so that the Kings story can be passed down from generation to generation, she added. Jinmeis master is He Mingyuan, national inheritor of the world-class intangible cultural heritage project of King Gesar. For Jinmei, Mingyuan is both her teacher and a senior whom she trusts and relies on. To learn the epic, Jinmei almost devoted all her leisure time. Over the past decades, I have been singing, but finished it only in recent years. The epic covers more than 50 episodes in ten plus tunes, said Jinmei. At the lively Reba dancing nearby, He Jinmei recalled she used to be good at the dancing like most Tibetans in Tacheng, but now what she want to do is to be the inheritor of the King Gesar epic. To save this heavily endangered art, He Jinmei and He Mingyuan are now teaching their own offspring, trying to get more people engaged in tradition.