The Song Collector
Directed by Erik Koto.
2016. 54 minutes.
Introduction and post-screening discussion with Stefan P. Fiol
Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 7pm
Spurlock Museum, Knight Auditorium, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana, IL
Description:
Set high in the Indian Himalaya, Ladakh is home to a rich Buddhist culture and an ancient tradition of folk singing. In the 1960s as economic development thrust change upon Ladakh, Morup Namgyal, Ladakh's greatest folk artist, began his lifelong efforts to preserve his beloved folk songs.
Through the lives of three generations of the Namgyal family, The Song Collector explores the uneasy relationship between culture and development and ultimately offers a new vision, inspired by the Buddhist concept of the ‘middle path’, that seeks to find a beneficial coexistence between tradition and modernization.
Resources:
View a trailer of the film here.
The Song Collector website