01/10/2022
Rest in Peace
𝗔𝗽 𝗗𝗮𝘄𝗽𝗲𝗹 - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘰
At a very young age, Ap Dawpel was enrolled into the monastic body by his parents at Talo Goenpa, but he left his red robes and took to playing music when he turned 23.
Though enrolled at the Talo Goenpa as a boy, the humid cloisters of the monastery or the holy vows that he took when he clad the red robes could not contain Dawa Peljor.
When alone, he played his plaintive flute and at the age of 23 walked out of the monastery.
Bhutanese talked about him as he sang for them.
Dawa Peljor is now 76 years old (in 2008) Ap Dawpel, the master of Zhungdra (traditional) songs, and Boedra (court) songs.
Some of his first compositions like Choki Tsawa Mitsu, Dranyen Ludra, and Berma Bermo are popular even today.
He was a connoisseur of Gur (devotional songs), Drunglu (epic songs), Tshoglu (propitious songs), Mani (Buddhist mantras), Tsangmo (reciprocal songs), Lozey (ornaments of speech, only recited), and Chham (mask dance).
The turning point in his life was, at the age of 25, when he was asked by his teacher to help renovate the Tashichhodzong in the 1960s. He was appointed master painter and continued painting for about 25 years before he finally retired.
Ap Dawpel played an amazing variety of musical instruments. His favorite was his family's five generations old dranyen.
He also played the Lim (flute made of bamboo), piwang (two-stringed fiddle), pili/pipi (tiny reed flute), dung (long trumpet-like horns), jaling (oboe-like reed instrument), roelm (cymbals), nga (double-sided drums), drib tangti (handbell and hand drum), dungkar (conch shell), and kangdu (human thigh bone trumpet).
Ap Dawpel's musical life reached its peak on June 2, 1999, when His Majesty the fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck awarded him with the Druk Thugsey Medal for his contributions to Bhutanese music.
