a man and his grandson sit on a rockface overlooking a large, flat city

AsiaLENS: AEMS Documentary and Independent Film Series at the Spurlock Museum: The Song Collector

The Song Collector
Directed by Erik Koto.
2016 / 54 minutes
English subtitles

Set high in the Indian Himalaya, Ladakh is home to a rich Buddhist culture and an ancient tradition of folk singing. In the 1960s as economic development thrust change upon Ladakh, Morup Namgyal, Ladakh's greatest folk artist, began his lifelong efforts to preserve his beloved folk songs. Using song as the medium, Morup and his peers sparked a social movement that would bring about profound and enduring change in Ladakh. It was a movement built on education, tradition, and preservation.

What Morup could not imagine at that time was that he would ultimately embrace development and modernization.

Morup lives with his wife, daughter and ten year-old grandson, Nono. Just as Morup learned the traditional songs from his grandfather, he is now teaching them to Nono. They practice in the living room, perform at wedding ceremonies, and visit Ladakh’s monuments to learn the history behind the songs. Despite the intrusions of modern technologies and entertainments, Nono loves learning the folk songs, and to Morup’s great delight, he is emerging as a talented young artist. However, none of this would be possible without the advantages of development, and Nono is only alive today thanks to the advances of modern medicine.

​Through the lives of three generations of the Namgyal family, The Song Collector explores the uneasy relationship between culture and development and ultimately offers a new vision, inspired by the Buddhist concept of the ‘middle path’, that seeks to find a beneficial coexistence between tradition and modernization.

AsiaLENS Film Series

AsiaLENS is a series of free public film screenings and discussion programs—organized by the Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS)/Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies (CEAPS) in collaboration with the Spurlock Museum—presenting recent documentary and independent films on issues reflecting contemporary life in Asia. Local and visiting experts introduce the films and lead audiences in post-screening discussions.

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Contact

For further information on this event, contact AEMS (external link) at (217) 333-9597 or .

To request disability-related accommodations for this event, please contact Brian Cudiamat at or (217) 244-5586.