The weekend of August 27th and 28th, downtown Seattle will be taken over by TibetFest, a free celebration of Tibet’s unique cultural identity. 2011 marks the 16th anniversary of this celebration, which will include rhythmic dance, the telling of centuries-old stories, elaborate costumes, symbolic masks, a Tibetan-style bazaar, children’s activities and delicious food all weekend long.
This year’s festival will include local talent; including performances by students from the Tibetan Language and Cultural Class, Mr. Tsering Lodoe, who is a graduate of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) based in Dharmasala, India, and “Semshung Phunda”, a traditional and contemporary Tibetan musical group from San Fransisco.
Though the festival is free, tickets to the concert Saturday night are $15 and include food from the Tibet Cafe. The concert will be held in the Baxter Student Event Center at North Seattle Community College. Doors open at 7pm and the concert will run until 11:30pm. There will be performances from both the Culture Brothers and Semshung Phunda.
During both days of the festival, you and your family can enjoy perusing the booths, which will feature beautiful hand-made crafts from India, Nepal and Tibet, delicious Tibetan food, a photo exhibition, and an information booth. There will also be great raffle prizes to win; and you can even RSVP for this event on Facebook. Don’t miss out on one of the largest Tibetan annual gatherings on the entire West Coast.
