Mundgod: The 26th edition of Shoton festival was held in Mundgod on 19th March in the presence of Kundeling Tatsak Rinpoche as the chief guest. The 10-day opera festival was participated by 11 troupes and attended by around 2000 people.
Dhondup Tsering, director of TIPA read out the names of donors and former opera artistes for felicitation by the Chief Guest. He emphasised the importance of the Ache Lhamo tradition in his speech to the participants and audience. The day was blessedly brought to a close with the closing performance by TIPA artists following the vote of appreciation proposed by the assistant artistic director Tenzin Phuntsok.
The chief guests, Kundeling Tatsak Rinpoche and Tsering Wangmo, director and co-founder of Chaksampa, made generous donations of one lakh Indian rupees each. The monastic community and the laity also contributed to TIPA’s efforts to preserve this centuries-old art in exile. The Chaksampa contributed $1500 USD.
The 26th Shoton Festival turned out to be the biggest to date because it has unprecedentedly drawn the largest number of participants since its inception in 1993. The fact that today was the 25th anniversary of the Mundgod Tibetan Opera Society added to the day’s bounty and auspiciousness.
-Reported by TIPA