In a rare fashion and much with great pomp and show, the formerly resettled Bhutanese Gurung families in Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania, Saint Paul-Minnesota, Nashville-Tennessee celebrated Tamu Losar on January 2 and January 3, 2016 respectively.

This is observed ushering in the new Gurungs’ calendar. The literary meaning of Losar comes from two parts of a word, Lo means Year and sar means New, the new year that is in parallel with the English Calendar. The Tamu Losar marks the beginning of the Tamu Sambat or Gurung Calendar Year. Interestingly, according to the Tamu (Gurung) calendar, it is their 2599^th year of Losar. The Gurung people divide their years into 12 cycles, with a special name of one of the 12 animals for each year. The day of Tamu Losar indicates the end of winter and start of Spring season, which is another reason to fill the joy in the community.

In Tennessee:

The celebration was held at a party hall in Antioch, Tennessee with active initiation of Bhakta Gurung and Padam Gurung from the community. Gurung women volunteers groomed in their traditional attires were engaged in welcoming guests, serving foods, and exchanging New Year greetings.

R N Bista, one of the seniors in the community extended the greetings and best wishes of the New Year 2016 in the Losar. He stressed that it was the duty of one and all to preserve and give continuity to each of the major festivals irrespective of all faiths and worships. He reiterated that doing this from time to time, would pave the way for younger generation to easily adopt and live with social norms, values and an art of living through the guidelines of each origin, religion and culture.

Jitu Basnet,Bhutanese sportsman and soccer player, informed that there is a sizable chunk of thriving youths in the community inclined to alcohol and tobacco abuse on daily basis. He expressed concern on it as it can jeopardize the community health as a whole and requested all to play a role to timely manner to educate youths beginning from home.

The organizer informed BNS that the celebration began at 11am with the presentation of songs and dances from the local artists. Large number of people followed by Bhutanese artists, from around the Nashville and the adjoining states attended the event. The function initiated a trend to honor seniors and socially active community members. Few seniors and volunteers were honored with shawls.

Umesh Magar from Tennessee and Agom Gurung from Georgia refreshed the audience with jokes and comedies. The celebration concluded with the grooving and swaying crowd on the floor with some solo folk songs by Binod Gurung from Georgia.

In Pittsburgh:

The Gurung community of Pittsburgh celebrated the Tamu Losar, 2016 (the year of the monkey) on Saturday, the 2^nd of January.

The day started with a special ceremony and prayers by the lamas Bhim Gurung (Namgyal Lama), and Lal Bahadur Gurung (Sonam Lama) for eliminating bad fortune and evils of the past year and wishing for a prosperous new year. It then followed by wang (Blessings) offering by the lamas. Various musical shows and dances were performed.

Losar celebration is characterized by the get-together of all family members of all generations to exchange love and good wishes. On the occasion, many men were attired with Bhangra, white cloth shirt-like apparel tied across the chest and open like a bag at the back (for carrying things). The Gurung women, both children and adolescents were seen wearing Ghalek (blouses).

Usually, Losar celebration by the Gurungs in Pittsburgh lacked space to organize in the past. Fortunately, the management of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Brentwood, PA, was very kind this time to avail the space to observe the event. The Church has a big area for kitchen and dining where over 400 individuals were served with cultural foods on the day.

Speaking to BNS, one of the organizers, Mr.Chitra Gurung told  that the number of attendees increased this year way higher than previous years. He thinks that it is because of the location, which is closer to their homes and a better space. The celebration was filled with some live musical performances, and dances, in Nepali, and in Gurung songs. A group of Dancers also performed a dance in Dzongkha (Bhutanese Official Language), which was emblematic and unique in its own. Some attendees expressed nostalgia in watching the dance.

Meanwhile, President of Pittsburgh based Gurung Community, Mr. Laxman Gurung informed BNS that the history, culture, tradition, language, dress and religion are the substance of ethnicity: the grand Tamu Losar – 2016 celebration on January 2, 2016 in Pittsbrugh exhibits our community’s strong solidarity and respect for the ethnic cultural heritage. We, are not only committed to preserve, develop and cherish our cultural identity; we also share common moral responsibility, inculcating this unique cultural norms and values to the upcoming younger generation and gradually passing it down to them.

“This Losar was comparatively a better and more successful than the ones of the past years, and we’ll strive to make it better and bigger in the coming years passing on the cultural values to our forthcoming generation,”Laxman added.

Pittsburgh is a home of approximately one hundred Gurung families. Some of them are resettled directly and some of them came as secondary migrants in the course of uniting with their families and relatives. Many Gurungs’ preference to live in Pittsburgh is due to the topography of the land, as Pittsburgh is hilly, partly like Bhutan, and the friendliness of the people.

In Minnesota

The Druk Buddhist Society of Minnesota organized ‘Tamu Pra Losar‘ on Saturday January 2, 2016 at Como Park Senior High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The event began with the chief guest Rachele King (the Director of Refugee Program Minnesota) lighting the butter lamp on the stage. Chimi Wangchuk, the president of Druk Buddhist Society of Minnesota and Pamphamaya Gurung, one of the senior women of the community received the chief guest and the special guests.

Letter from the Mayor of Saint Paul, Christopher Coleman was read in the inaugural session of the event. The program included various talented artists from South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Georgia, Maryland and Minnesota performing cultural dances, songs to entertain a crowd of around 1100 people.

Roshan Gurung, a popular Nepali singer’s live performance was of different taste to the listeners.  Birano tyo thauma…, Resammaiko paccheuri…., Ilam le samjhayo…. brought many people on the stage for dance. Krishna Tamu’s debut album-“Iinicio-musical Journey” was officially launched by Roshan Gurung. Artists like, Bhim Gurung, Niraj Ale, Yogen Chhetri, Kishor Biswa and Ram Gurung performed live in the function.
It is announcement that DesMoines, Iowa is hosting Tamu Lhosar amidst a grand function next year.

Rom Bista from Tennessee, Ashok Gurung from Pittsburgh and Thakur Kharel from Minnesota   

                                         contributed to this report.

The grand finale of the Barsha Best Performer-2015 was held this Saturday, December 26, 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This event was conducted in search of talents in singing within the Bhutanese Americans. Forty aspiring resettled Bhutanese singers from different states in the US participated in the event among whom Ramesh Kadel from Richmond, VA is declared the Best performer. The other three contestants Sahara Rai from Illinois, Jeetendra Giri from Harrisburg, Gopal Magar from Utha declared 3^rd, 2^nd and 1^st runners up respectively. They all were awarded with trophies and offered to sing in a new album in the making.

Having a talent is not appreciated unless there is a platform for them. There were numerous brilliant singers, and many talents in different fields of art but they all had a common barrier of not having a platform. It was just because of the status of being refugee expelled from Bhutan. The identity crisis and poor financial situation were some crucial barriers for talent hunts. The talents were just limited and known within the refugee camps they lived. However, after the generous offer of resettlement from the US government, Bhutanese refugees began to uncover the talents that remained suppressed for over two decades. Thus, Barsha Best Performer contest is one such platform produced by Sakchayam (Adept) group, a Bhutanese youth group based in Pittsburgh sponsored by Barsha Jwellers.

The setting of the contest was entirely unique of its own kind comparing to any such program conducted ever around the world. The first episode of audition started in last July with the participants sending their recorded voice for the initial selection. The fourteenth episode came up with the top four contestants. Three judges were: Pramod Kharel from Kathmandu, Nepal, Damber Khapoong from North Dakota, and Balaram Gurung from Pittsburgh working from their own location. The Judges selected the top ten contestants and then audience voted them online and through SMS. It is worth noting that the two Bhutanese judges in the US were working on voluntary basis whereas Mr.Pramod Kharel from Nepal wasn’t paid enough to compensate for the service. The organizer expressed appreciation for their commitment and contribution towards producing new artists.

The sponsor of the event Mr.Bhanu Phuyel said, “All the contestants were very disciplined that they did not miss any of our rules and regulation. This year Bersha Jewelers supported the Sakcham Group, I am optimistic that someone or a group from any place would come forward to assist Sakcham to continue its second season.” He further added that the top four contestants were offered to give their voice in a new music album that is in the making. The revenue generated by selling the new album will be used for the Best Performer event in 2016. In addition, Mr.Phuyel being one of the co-producers of a new Nepali movie, ‘Dreams’ announced that five percent of the revenue collected in the screening of the movie in the US would go towards 2016 Best performer management. The movie is scheduled to screen in the US from 4 March 2016. The movie is co-produced by Bhuwan KC, Dr. Kapil Rizal from Kathmandu and Bhanu Phuyel from Pittsburgh.

Speaking during the finale, Robin Bista, one of the anchors of the show and member of Sakchayam Group said, “this is the initiative to bring all the Bhutanese youths with multiple talents in a platform, whereby, their unexposed skills and gifted abilities get due attention.” He also mentioned that he was happy for his group because within this very short span since inception, more than ten countries outside the US have known his group through this program. He credited this progress to the helping hands of thousands of their well-wishers.

Meanwhile, Dev Gautam, proprietor of the Nepali clothes and cosmetics, based in Pittsburgh awarded Ramesh Kadel, the winner of the event with an opportunity to have one week long trip on Caribbean cruise. The award includes sponsorship for one additional individual that the winner can take. He added, “It is my utmost pleasure to be a part of such an event. Those young brothers and sisters from the community I grow get chance to reveal their talents that would otherwise remain unknown. At least, those who believe in having talents in them shall now get

motivated. The program dedicated solely to uplifting those young ones encouraged me to sponsor this trip.”

The final winner declaration was made based on the number of votes the contestants received via online and SMS voting. Among the trio judges Pramod Kharel from Kathmandu could not attend due to his pre-scheduled program. Damber Khapoong from Fargo and Balaram Gurung from Pittsburgh interacted with the contestants and shared their experience among the audience.

On the occasion, a new music album ‘Yo Maan’, was released for public. Damber Khapoong thrilled the audience with some of the songs from the album. Khapoong has given vocal in the album and all lyrics by Prakash Ghimirey from Fargo. Yo Maan is the fourth music album brought to the audience by Khapoong since 1994.

Rup Pokharel, president of Bhutanese community Association of Pittsburgh (BCAP) appreciated the role played by the young students in creating such a praiseworthy platform. He encouraged the parents to assist their children in the course of exceling their skills starting from home. Applauding the generosity extended by the sponsors, Barsha Jewelers and Dev Gautam in respecting the desires of the students, he said, “this is an example of how a small effort made by the willing hearts makes a big difference in the community. It is always good to invest, big or small, for the good cause.”

Bhola Dhungana, the leading anchor of the entire season, thanking  everyone involved said, “The encouragement, suggestions and criticisms from you all- helped making the season successful one than we had expected. The remarks Sakchayam Group has received from different sectors are the invaluable assets and we will be guided per those remarks as always to launch other programs in future.”

Guest artists from various cities in the US entertained the audience with melodious songs. Audience from various cities in the US attended the finale.