(b Dvags-po Glang, 1894; d Lhasa, 1942). Tibetan traditional folk singer. He came from a poor wood-logging family and lost his eyes after he was attacked by a raven at the age of one; he was nicknamed Ko-stong rNam-rgyal (‘blind Namgyal’). Like his father, he was a talented musician and was first noticed while busking with his sgra-snyan lute in Lhasa shortly after arriving in 1914. He was subsequently invited to join the Nang-ma’i sKyid-sdug society, of which he became the last teacher, and to play at the banquets of high society. He created the style of lha-sa’i stod-gzhas by adapting folksongs from western Tibet into the Lhasa musical style. According to legend he knew 70 stod-gzhas and created many new ones, of which only ‘Gya-gling sras’ and ‘A-jo bSod-nams Thob-rgyal’ remain in contemporary Tibet. He also made many melodic changes, especially in ornamentation. Two stod-gzhas songs pay homage to him: ‘A-jo de’ and ‘Tambura’i mkhan-po’. His students came from many different backgrounds and included bSod-nams Dar-gyas Zhol-khang.
S.D. Zhol-khang: ‘sKad-grags yod-pa’ dmangs-khrod rol-cha mkhas-can dge-rgan rNam-rgyal la dran-gso zhu’ [Remembering the famous folk musician and teacher Namgyal], Bod-kyi mang-tshogs rig-rtsal [Tibetan popular arts] (1980), no.2, pp.46–51
ISABELLE HENRION-DOURCY