Learning from a Monastic Musician

This book not only offers valuable ethnomusicological insights into the ritual music of the Tibetan Yungdrung Bon tradition. At the same time, it is an extraordinary case study in which Christiane Strothmann captivatingly describes her many years of collaboration with the Tibetan monastic musician and scholar Geshe Dawa Namgyal Kharnatsang in the Indian exile monastery of Menri. The book offers insights into the workings of Bon ritual melodies and includes culturally sensitive, personal accounts of Strothmann's journey to discover her method of 'reading ritual', which developed from her research partner's invitation to 'just look at it!'.