“Wrong direction, come around again!” At the Tibet Hotel in Lhasa, the 39-year-old Losang Tashi plays the cymbals in his hands while simultaneously correcting the moves of the dancers on stage. The sonorous power of the drum beat can be heard while the air in the room is overflowing with the ancient sounds of Tibetan Opera vocal music.

This describes the sights and sounds of the Lhasa Guyun Tibetan Opera Troupe rehearsing Padma Obar, one of the eight Tibetan Operas a few days ago. Losang Tashi, the head of the Tibetan Opera Troupe, believes that, carrying forward the traditional Tibetan Opera is destined to be his lifetime calling.

Tibetan Opera is a composite art that originated in the 14th-century encompassing song and dance that embodies literary contents, borrowing from folklore, historic legends, Buddhist classics and more. This ancient theatrical work has gained broad admiration amongst the Tibetan people. In 2009, Tibetan Opera was enlisted on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list.

Losang Tashi was born in the Lhoka City of Tibet to a family influential in Tibetan Opera for generations. He is short with dark colored skin. All of his ancestors were famous local Tibetan Opera instructors, every Tibetan New Year, Tibetan Opera would be performed in the village, the elders would always take him along and let him perform a character such as a little prince.　

At the age of 12, he for the first time switched into opera costume and went onto the stage in style. “From an early age, I had definite interests in opera, performing again and again allowed me to have an orthodox understanding and recognition of traditional Tibetan Opera.  Losang Tashi explained that “At the time, I hoped that I could one day become an outstanding teacher of Tibetan Opera”.

At the age of 16, Losang Tashi went to Lhasa by himself, at first, to sell Thangkas in order to survive, later on, on the basis of his affinity for Tibetan Opera, he continued to sell Thangkas while also going to participate in some Tibetan Opera performances, relying only on himself to master his skill he started to make a little bit of a name for himself. 

In 2000, he joined the Niangre Tibetan Opera Troupe, serving as a teacher, during this time, he found that there were some strange stylistic changes, a gradual divergence between the stage performance mode as traditional Tibetan Opera. 

In 2007, persistent in maintaining traditional Tibetan Opera, Losang Tashi went to be an instructor within Juemolong Tibetan Opera Troupe, he mentioned that “Traditional culture should maintain its original look and feel!”.

As a representative inheritor of the regional-level intangible culture heritage, Losang Tashi guides students concentrating with all his heart and mind on the rehearsals. He has for three consecutive years earned excellent marks in the Tibetan Opera contest along with the Juemolong Tibetan Opera Troupe for which he serves as an opera instructor.　　

In 2014, Losang Tashi used his small amount of savings to establish the Lhasa Guyun Tibetan Opera Troupe . He said, “It will be possible to preserve this tradition and teach the new generation orthodox techniques only if I start my own group”.　

There is a Chinese proverb that “fragrant wine fears no dark alley” meaning that quality goods need no advertising. Little by little young people highly interested in Tibetan Opera from the hometown area in Lhoka started to hear about Losang Tashi’s self-initiated Tibetan Opera Troupe, and one by one they have been attracted based on its reputation. Losang Tashi giggled as he explained that, “I created this because I want to make sure that traditional Tibetan Opera will be passed down, and for this I will teach them with all of my energy, looking unto these hardworking youngsters, I know that traditional Tibetan Opera has a future”. 

He also stated that I am currently producing a new Tibetan Opera titled Tsangyang Gyatso (the 6th Dalai Lama), and it will start being performed in the middle of May this year.