(fl Kyomolung, near Lhasa, early 20th century). Tibetan lha-mo (musical theatre) director. With her husband Padma bsTan-‘dzin, she directed a Tibetan lha-mo performing group that became so successful that it supplanted the sKyor-mo-lung official troupe of the zho-ston festival while keeping its name. She brought many improvements to the theatrical genre, particularly in singing style, movements and jokes on the stage. The new sKyor-mo-lung troupe soon acquired immense popularity throughout Tibet and became the first professional opera troupe of the country, transforming the life-style of actors from that of peasants to that of performer-beggars roaming all over Tibet. According to legend she is the only woman to have performed on the stage of Norbulingka for Zho-ston in front of the Dalai Lama. Images of her large size, unconventional demeanour and facial pilosity are evoked in folk tradition.
Bod-ljongs lha-mo tshogs-pa [Tibet opera troupe], Bod kyi lha-mo ’lugs-khag ngo-sprod byed-pa [Introducing the different schools of Tibetan opera] (MS, Lhasa, 1980), 3
‘lHa-mo mkhas-can A-lce Dvangs-bzang’ [The lha-mo expert A-lce Dvangs-bzang], Grong-khyer lHa-sa ’lo-rgyus rig-gnas deb gsum-pa : sTod-lung bDe-chen rdzong [History and culture of Lhasa City, iii: Tölung Dechen County], ed. Grong-khyer lHa-sa srid-gros lo-rgyus rig-gnas dpyad-yig rgyu-cha rtsom-‘bri [Lhasa CPCC compiling office for materials on history and culture] (Lhasa, 1995), 92–3
ISABELLE HENRION-DOURCY