Bhutan Balladeers – Your Face is Like the Moon, Your Eyes Are Stars (Glitterbeat, 2024)
The Bhutan Balladeers present Your Face is Like the Moon, Your Eyes Are Stars, a performance of Bhutan’s classical Zhungdra music, a tradition that dates back to the early 17th century. This genre deeply rooted in tradition is characterized by elongated vocal lines that form intricate melodic patterns, with sparse instrumental backing.
The instruments used include the drumnyen (a six-stringed lute, also called drangyen); the wooden flute; yangchen (a hammered dulcimer); and the chiwang (a two-string bowed fiddle).
The artists sing in Choekey, an ancient “dharma language” derived from Sanskrit. Meanwhile, the lyrics of Zhungdra are largely inaccessible to modern Bhutanese, aside from Buddhist monks. The collective’s debut album was entirely recorded live in a hilltop forest near Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital.
The album was produced by Grammy-winner Ian Brennan, known for his work with Tinariwen, Ustad Saami, The Good Ones [Rwanda], and Parchman Prison Prayer.
Ian Brennan said about the project: “Bhutan is officially the highest nation on earth and was the first carbon-neutral country, with the only other currently being Suriname. Over 60% of Bhutan’s land is legally mandated to remain forested. In 2020, zero homicides were reported in the entire nation.
“We set up to record in the forest with sixteen singers on a mountain which reportedly has no name, and where the largest sitting Buddha in the world (169-feet tall) kept watch, the top of its head just clearing the ridgeline. When each song was through, the crows appeared in droves, chiming in; more loudly for some performances than others as if critiquing each piece.
“Many songs were entirely a cappella, and the men provided most of the instrumentation when it was utilized. Only one woman, Lemo, accompanied herself. She played the yangchen, a hammered dulcimer, which set the birds particularly aflutter. But as with everywhere on earth, animals are almost never out-of-tune or arrhythmic; instead, they are close listeners responding. The other women worked chorally. Whether duos, trios, quartets or more, they devised a way to make space for every voice. But one elder, Pemo Choden’s song was so rare that no one could join with her since they’d never heard it.
“In total, over thirty-seven songs were recorded. As with so much folk music around the world, the songs often bear mournfully bent notes.”
Songs and singers:
- The Day You Were Born [women’s choir]
- Please Help Me Clear the Obstacles in This Life: Yeshi Zangmo (32)
- I Was Unhappy in My Marriage: Tandin Lhamo (26)
- Homesick for My Village: Tshechu Choden (30)
- Turning Inauspicious Days Good: Lemo (37)
- The Horse is Our Friend: Yeshi (61)
- Our Good Deeds Will Lead to a Better Life for the Next Generation: Pemo Choden, (61)
- Even If You Remember the Home You Left, You Must Remember Where You Are: Zeko Lhamo (53)
- The Sun Has Emerged from the Clouds: Kinley Dorji (29)
- Passing Thanks Down Through Generations: Tshewang Lhamo (27)
- Farewell Song (I Hope We Meet Again) [Bhutan Balladeers chorus]
Musicians: Yeshi on drumnyen (lute with 3 double-strings), chiwang (a 2-string, bowed fiddle), and flute; Kinley Dorji on drumnyen; and Lemo on yangchen (dulcimer).
Buy Your Face is Like the Moon, Your Eyes Are Stars.
Author: Tyler Bennet
