MEDIA
Ladakhi Zhung Lu
We love Ladakhi folk songs: they are full of story and meaning and beautiful language. We learned a lot of language from these songs.
We were fortunate enough to arrive in Ladakh in 2015 at SECMOL, where teenage Ladakhis learn Zhung Lu and together sing loud after dinner each night. Achay Thukjey Dolma has graciously taught the students and us many songs.
This first video was recorded on our third day in Tar, and it was the one song we knew at the time. This traditional song is the story of a queen of Ladakh, Nilza Wangmo.
This second video was taken in the fall of 2022 at SECMOL, shortly after we returned to Ladakh. Posted by our dear friend Padma Otshal. It is a popular song by Morup Namgyal, a wonderful singer, songwriter, and tradition-bearer of Ladakh.
snow leopard Film and celebration
Here is a video from Ka Sonam Wangchuk about a Snow Leopard Day celebration we held here in Tar in late October 2023.
Click this button below for an article in English about the event.
Lundup Dorje — a young organizer of Tar village — invited many collaborators to come celebrate International Snow Leopard Day. We gathered in the evening to watch an amazing new film by Mohammed Imran and an excellent team of indigenous filmmakers and snow leopard spotters. This is the first film about snow leopards made by Ladakhis for the people of Ladakh.
Follow the filmmaker on Instagram:
We were overjoyed to enjoy a screening of the film in Tar, which focused on the life of one mother snow leopard near the town of Ulley, who raised three sets of cubs over the course of their filming — over six years of dedicated effort! The film also explores the relationships of villagers in Ulley with the snow leopards. It was amazing and beautiful to see.
Villagers also took this opportunity to showcase the village efforts to revitalize homestays, toward an increase in village income via conscious eco-tourism.
Thanks to all our guests!
We greatly appreciate your encouragement and support, as well as your expertise in conservation and tourism.
DOCUMENTARY - SOUTH KOREAN EBS
Part 1
In February of 2019, director Moon Chang-Yong met us in Tar to film for fifteen days and tell a story about foreigners living in Ladakh, a place already dear to his heart.
Part 2
Part 3
This Year's plowing
Here, sisters and grandmothers of Tar Yul help us flood a field, the day before plowing and planting wheat.
Short Films
of Harvest Time
by Ayan Biswas
In September 2020 Ayan worked in Tar alongside our dear friends at harvest time. Check him out on instagram:
Films By Ayan -- Part 2
Pictured here is Abi Yangchan Lhadzom, a woman who taught us a lot. I got to sit with her after shepherding each day. In her twenties she came to Tar for the first time on foot over a 5000m pass from her home. She married Azhang Tundup and took care of so many fields, animals, and people. She passed in 2021.
Flashback to 2019
Plowing time. Yokangpey Konchok is leading the dzo, Jason has the shol, and together they are plowing one of Achey Tashi’s fields down near the stream. That wall is one of the tallest in the village.
Skyin - the Ibex
This group of five males came by the orchard one day this spring.
Along the Indus
Winter 2023, walking along Sengye Tsangspo, (the Indus River).
Ahead in the distance, the ice rink and buildings up on the plateau are a glimpse of SECMOL.
SECMOL -
Inside View
Here’s a glimpse of the inside of one of SECMOL’s dorms, showing the south-facing greenhouse, Naktik (the cat), the thick earth walls and beautiful construction. All rooms are on the sunny side, and the hallways and store rooms are on the back side. The rooms gather all the heat they need from the sun. These rooms range from pleasant to toasty all through the winter.
Interviews with Lars Lidstrom
Part 1
Our friend Lars came to interview us in SECMOL’s big greenhouse in December of 2022 just after we returned.