“Women With Wisdom- A Night of Music & Inspirational Conversation” with Tencho Gyatso (daughter of Jetsun Pema), Kerry Armstrong and Meshel Laurie. Music by Tenzin Choegyal & Tarella Strings.
Thurs, 29th January 2015 @ 7:30 pm
Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne
Dear friends, we have had contact from Jetsun Pema, and she has advised us that due to her role in service to His Holiness Dalai Lama, she is now not able to attend Melbourne evening ‘Women with Wisdom’. She has suggested in her place, her daughter Tencho Gyatso, who lives in Washington DC. We are delighted that Tencho La is willing and able to join us for our evening Women with Wisdom. The rest of the line up remains the same, and we would like to thank Kerry Armstrong, Michel Laurie, Tenzin Choegyal & Tarella Strings and our moderator Gabriel Lafitte to continue to offer a brilliant evening. We look forward to meeting you on 29th January 2015!
Tencho Gyatso
Tencho Gyatso, is the daughter of Jetsun Pema. Born in Dharamsala, the seat of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the exile Tibetan administration, Tencho was educated at the Tibetan Children’s Village school and St Bede’s College in Shimla, India. She served as an elected member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile for two terms during which, among her other work, she traveled widely to Tibetan settlements in India, and to speak on Tibet to various governmental and NGO groups in Europe and the United States.She moved to the United States in 1999 to join her husband, Losang Gyatso, a contemporary Tibetan artist. She and her family currently live in Washington DC, where she oversees the Tibetan Empowerment and Chinese Engagement programs at the International Campaign for Tibet, an organisation which works to promote human rights and democratic freedoms for the Tibetan people. Along the way, Tencho also acted in Martin Scorsese’s film Kundun, playing the role of the Dalai Lama’s mother, and started the popular Tibetan food blog, Simply Tibetan.
Tencho Gyatso, is the daughter of Jetsun Pema. Born in Dharamsala, the seat of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the exile Tibetan administration, Tencho was educated at the Tibetan Children’s Village school and St Bede’s College in Shimla, India. She served as an elected member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile for two terms during which, among her other work, she traveled widely to Tibetan settlements in India, and to speak on Tibet to various governmental and NGO groups in Europe and the United States.She moved to the United States in 1999 to join her husband, Losang Gyatso, a contemporary Tibetan artist. She and her family currently live in Washington DC, where she oversees the Tibetan Empowerment and Chinese Engagement programs at the International Campaign for Tibet, an organisation which works to promote human rights and democratic freedoms for the Tibetan people. Along the way, Tencho also acted in Martin Scorsese’s film Kundun, playing the role of the Dalai Lama’s mother, and started the popular Tibetan food blog, Simply Tibetan.
Meshel Laurie
Meshel is a stand-up comedian of some 20 years’ experience, a radio and television broadcaster and writer. She is currently co-host of Nova’s breakfast show in Melbourne with Tommy Little, broadcasting weekdays on the Nova Network from 6-9am. She is a regular panelist on TEN’s The Project. Other television credits include Spicks and Specks, Can of Worms, Rove, The Circle, ADBC, Adam Hills: In Gordon Street Tonight and This Week Live to name but a few.
Kerry Armstrong
Kerry is an acclaimed award-winning actress who landed her first television role at just fifteen, before appearing in The Sullivans, The Getting of Wisdom and Prisoner. Kerry moved to New York in the early 1980s to study at the Herbert Berghof School. In 1987, Kerry returned to Melbourne and has established herself an actor winning two AFI Awards in 2001 (for ABC drama series Sea Change and for the feature film Lantana). She became the first actress in Australia to win the Best Performance by an Actress award in both a feature film and television category in the same year.
Tenzin Choegyal
Singer songwriter Tenzin Choegyal draws on his Tibetan roots to create original compositions which uniquely express his cultural lineage and the contemporary challenges faced by his people. Tenzin was born to a nomadic family in Tibet, escaped the Chinese occupation with his family in the early 1970s and was raised in a Tibetan refugee community in Dharamsala, India. There, where His Holiness the Dalai Lama actively encourages his people to preserve their culture, Tenzin first began to explore his musical talents. Tenzin feels a particular connection to the music of the wandering people of his homeland. He recalls his father’s mastery of the lingbu (bamboo flute) and his mother’s beautiful singing, and attributes much of his musical passion to those early influences.Tenzin’s award winning songs have found a place in the complex tapestry of global sounds while collaboration with numerous Australian and international performers have allowed him to experiment with rhythm and structure and challenge traditional Tibetan musical norms. Tenzin Choegyal plays the Dranyen (Tibetan lute) and Lingbu (transverse bamboo flute). His most outstanding instrument, however, is his voice. His music has been described as beautifully evocative, healing, and transcendent.Gabriel Lafitte (Moderator)
Gabriel is a retired researcher and environmentalist, the author of Spoiling Tibet: China and Resource Nationalism at the roof of the world, which details how Tibet is currently on the cusp of rapid industrialisation, as copper, gold, silver and other minerals, which are abundant in Tibet are being mined in large quantities for the first time. He has worked on Tibetan issues for over 35 years including environmental, natural disasters, development and stories of the displaced nomads from their ancestral lands. After five years living in the Himalayas, he is now retired to an extremely steep block in the foothills of Victoria’s great forest and is growing native flowers.
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