• By Mabel Pais

“We have been lucky to work with Yungchen’s wonderful voice and music, which encapsulate the spirit, understanding and compassion of Tibetan culture.” 

– Peter Gabriel, singer-songwriter-musician

Yungchen Lhamo, as part of the (WMI) World Music Institute’s Women’s Voices Series, performs on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at the First Unitarian Church (info@firstubrooklyn.org), 48 Monroe Place, Brooklyn, NY 11201 . The performance starts at 8 p.m.; doors open at 7 p.m.

Yungchen Lhamo, a critically acclaimed Tibetan singer-songwriter, has been called “The Queen of Kindness”. She was born and raised in Lhasa, Tibet, which she left in 1989 to make a pilgrimage to Dharamshala, India. From there, inspired to share her voice and music with the world, she moved to Australia in 1993 and then to New York in 2000.

Her name, which translates as ‘Goddess of Melody,’ was given to her by a lama at birth. Yungchen’s remarkable voice and message of peace and loving kindness have inspired thousands of artists and audiences around the world.

She has performed and recorded with Natalie Merchant, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lenox, and Bono, among others, and her recordings have been used in the film Seven Years in Tibet and many Tibetan documentaries.

WMI presents Yungchen Lhamo in person after a wonderful WMI Plus At Home Session in 2022. She will perform material from her seventh album ‘One Drop of Kindness’ (Real World). The album is a fresh take on an ancient practice, a work whose seven songs — or better still, seven offerings — are flavored by musicians on everything from piano, flute, drums and electric guitar to didgeridoo, Indian violin, the Turkish cümbüs-oud and the Armenian duduk-oboe. Learn more about Yungchen at yungchenlhamo.com.

This performance is part of WMI’s WOMEN’S VOICES series that celebrates the role that female artists play in the preservation and promotion of their respective cultures and traditions.

The First Unitarian Congregation in Brooklyn (fuub.org)

The First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn is a joyful, caring, religious community that inspires and empowers people to Grow spiritually, Care for one another, and Work for justice and stewardship of the earth. Learn more at fuub.org.

The World Music Institute (WMI)

Founded in 1985, World Music Institute (WMI) has served as one of the leading presenters of world music and dance within the United States. WMI is committed to presenting the best in traditional and contemporary music and dance from around the world with the goal of inspiring wonder for the world’s rich cultural traditions, promoting awareness and appreciation and encouraging cross-cultural dialog and exchange.

For all queries, contact World Music Institute at info@worldmusicinstitute.org / (212) 545-7536

FOLLOW WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE ONLINE!

Facebook:  @worldmusicinstituteNYC

Twitter:     @WMInyc

Instagram: @worldmusicinstitute

Youtube:    bit.ly/WorldMusicInstitute-YouTube

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RACHNA NIVAS RECLAIMS THE DIVINE FEMININE

  By Mabel Pais

“Rachna is one of the most accomplished Kathak practitioners working in the U.S. today. A radical artist whose practice is both deeply respectful of tradition but also interrogative, she keeps alive one of the most important lineages of Indian classical dance and is a crucial figure for understanding the integration of Indian culture into the American dance mosaic.”

– Linda Murray, Curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Rachna Nivas performs ‘Reclaiming the Divine Feminine’ on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2, 2024 at 7:30pm at New York Live Arts, 219 W. 19th Street, New York, NY 10011.

RECLAIMING THE DIVINE FEMININE

Rachna Nivas’ ‘Reclaiming the Divine Feminine’ takes audiences into the dark and mystical realm of tantra and its radial hailing of supreme feminine power as the primordial energy that pervades all things in time and space.

Through classical Indian kathak dance, live music, and special lighting and prop design, Nivas embodies the wildness of Kali – Goddess of time and death who represents the bold paradoxes of feminine wholeness: she is intoxicating and terrifying, beautiful and grotesque, ascetic and erotic, loving and rageful; she is the force that binds us and the force that sets us free.

According to Nivas, the tantric wisdom goddesses (mahavidyas) are some of the most radical yet invisible iconography of South Asian civilization. She says, “Tantra, which was birthed in tribal India, has been highly denigrated and stereotyped in the West to be about sex and freakish practices. It’s tragic how little folks know about this powerful paradigm, even in India itself due to its unorthodox departure from patriarchal structures and what we consider ‘wild’ and ‘horrific’ imagery of a woman.”

The phrase “divine feminine” has been gaining popularity recently, but Nivas hopes to expand and deepen its understanding. She says, “Tantra’s ‘divine feminine’ is a rare concept in that she is not just a revered nurturing consort to a male deity, but rather an entirely independent and autonomous power, not depicted with a partner or even as a mother. My own life has taken me to deep self-inquiry and brought me to discover how profound and liberating these goddesses are. They have the power to transform and reclaim a woman’s wild limitlessness nature.”

How Did Nivas Start This Journey?

‘Reclaiming the Divine Feminine’ is a project that germinated from Nivas’ 6-month research journey for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division prestigious Dance Research Fellowship at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The 2022-23 theme being Dance and Ecology, Nivas presented a culminating talk and dance with live music titled ‘Nature, Woman, and the Macrocosm: How Indian classical dance transmits a consciousness of indivisibility.’ It showcased the intersectionality of Indian classical dance with ecofeminism, interconnectedness, and non-duality.

Dispelling western myths of tantra and elevating the intersections of ecofeminism, interconnectedness, and Eastern principles of non-duality, ‘Reclaiming the Divine Feminine’ illuminates a woman’s treacherous path to transforming her shadows and reclaiming her wild limitless nature.

With an opening act by Nivas’ apprentice company dancers, and original musical score composed by India-based composer Jayanta Banerjee, this performance promises to haunt, provoke, and enchant.

Live Musical Artists: Jayanta Banerjee, sitar; Satyaprakash Mishra, table; Neha Tummala, vocals; Varshini Narayanan, Bansuri flute

Rachna Nivas

Rachna Nivas is a performing artist, choreographer, educator, community organizer, scholar, and activist of Indian classical art. She is one of the most accomplished kathak dance practitioners of her generation. For more information, visit rachnanivas.com.

Leela Dance Collective

Leela Dance Collective is a bi-coastal artist-led and women-led internationally touring dance company bringing the richness and depth of kathak, Indian classical dance to contemporary audiences worldwide through traditional works and cross-genre collaborations. Learn more at leela.dance/the-collective.

TICKETS

Regular-priced tickets, and student-discount tickets are available online at newyorklivearts.org/event/independent-works-reclaiming-the-divine-feminine.

(Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Spirituality, Education, Cuisine, Health & Wellness, and Business)