Track #11 from Howard K. Kaufman’s field recordings, released in 1962 as Songs and Music of Tibet.
From the Smithsonian Folkways website description: “From a camp in the outskirts of Kathmandu, Howard Kaufman captures the essence of Tibetan chants. Kaufman gathers songs that are “excerpts from much longer versions of both Eastern and Western Tibet.” While some of the songs are religious in subject, others praise the beautiful land, food, herding and other aspects of rural Tibetan life. Liner notes include a brief introduction by Kaufman along with song explanations.”
From the original liner notes: “This is played as a guitar, tratnien, solo. The mountain bearing this name is in eastern Tibet – Its peaks are so high that the crows cannot pass over, and must return. The sides are so steep and the snows so deep that the shepherds must turn back.”
John Lai’s annotated transcription of Tangsulangga
Cyclic template of Tangsulangga
Observations and some analysis
- Consider the second part of the cycle. Cycles 2 and 3 invoke a 3+3 hemiolic figure (dotted blue box) instead of the 2+2+2 figure that occurred in Cycle 1 (solid blue box). The subsequent rhythmic motives restore the duple meter (bracketed in red)—the alternation between the pedal notes F3 and G3, which did not happen in Cycle 1, strengthens the duple restoration.
- The introduction of G3 here may foreshadow a “new” event that occurred afterward—the unexpected Db4 in the melody. Here, the whole gesture might have suggested a temporal suspension or augmentation.
Regarding the structural template:
- The transition in the first part of the cycle features aspects of both parts of the cycle: pitches F3, Db4, C4 are structural pitches in the main body of the first part, while the repeating C4 resembles the rhythmic motive in the second part. Also, the neighboring pedal gesture F3-G3-F3 characterizes the transition (e.g., see the fourth and fifth quarter-note beat of Cycles 2 and 3).
- The main body of the first part features a structural pitch sequence of Db4–F3–Db4–C4, where F3 and C4 usually enjoy longer durational spans. Also, the first pair of structural notes (Db4–F3) is generally played as single notes, while the second pair (Db4–C4) is usually accompanied by the pedal note F3. Each cycle features two rotations (marked as “R” in the score) of the main body (boxed in orange).
Regarding grouping boundary:
- There are several ambiguities concerning grouping boundaries.
- The ending marker of Cycle 3 is seemingly absent. Hence, is the beginning of Cycle 4 too early? Is it a syncopated opening with a wrong note? Or, does it overlap with the end of Cycle 3 as the ending marker of Cycle 3 is truncated?
- Does the Db4–F3 descent at the fifth quarter beat of Cycle 4 suggest the beginning of the main body? However, the long repetition of F3 and the neighboring turn (F3-G3-F3) at the end of this gesture suggest traits of the transition.
- In Cycle 3, is the instance bracketed in orange an elaboration of R5, or is it the start of R6? The analogous point to R4 and the Db4–F3 descent may suggest it is the start of R6. However, adding the pedal F3 at this point and the replacement of the C4-F3 dyad afterward may indicate that it elaborates the ending of R5 instead.