Lobsang Wangyal
{{Short description|Indian writer, social activist and photojournalist}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lobsang Wangyal
| image = Lobsang wangyal-2006.jpg
| caption = Lobsang Wangyal, 2006
| occupation = Photojournalist, Events producer, Web producer
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1970}}
| birth_place = Orissa, India
| education = BA 1995, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
| website = {{URL|lobsangwangyal.com}}
}}
Lobsang Wangyal (born 1970) is a writer, social activist, photojournalist, and events producer, based in McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala, India.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQ2bLT9dAwMC&dq=%22Lobsang+Wangyal%22&pg=PA66 |title=Little Lhasa: Reflections on Exiled Tibet |page=66 |isbn=9788188569106 |accessdate=2017-03-09|last1=Namgyal |first1=Tsering |year=2006 }} He has been a stringer reporter and photographer for Agence France-Presse for many years.
Through his eponymous company, Lobsang Wangyal Productions, he has been producing Tibetan cultural events since 2000, the best-known of which is the yearly Miss Tibet Pageant. He also maintains a news website, Tibet Sun, beginning in 2008.{{cite web |url=http://www.lobsangwangyal.com/productions/ |title=Archived copy |website=www.lobsangwangyal.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060303132019/http://www.lobsangwangyal.com/productions/ |archive-date=3 March 2006 |url-status=dead}}
He is considered an icon in Tibetan exile popular culture.
Biography
Lobsang was born in 1970 in Orissa in east India, in a small Tibetan refugee village. His father, Tsering Tendhar (late), was from Kham (Tehor), in eastern Tibet and his mother, Tsering Dolkar, from southern Tibet. They were in their teens when they escaped the Chinese suppression of an uprising in their country in 1959.
He was graduated from Central School for Tibetans, Mussoorie, and attended college in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, for his BA degree, which he obtained in 1995. He has been working as a photojournalist since 1994.{{cite web |url=http://lobsangwangyal.com/about/ |title=Archived copy |website=lobsangwangyal.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615165734/http://lobsangwangyal.com/about/ |archive-date=15 June 2006 |url-status=dead}}
He was a founding member of the Association of Tibetan Journalists in 1997, and was president of the organisation for two terms, from 2004 to 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.tibetanjournalists.org/about/background.html |title=Background - the Association of Tibetan Journalists |website=www.tibetanjournalists.org |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050317112704/http://www.tibetanjournalists.org/about/background.html |archive-date=17 March 2005 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.tibetanjournalists.org/about/members_directory.html |title=Members directory - the Association of Tibetan Journalists |website=www.tibetanjournalists.org |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223021400/http://www.tibetanjournalists.org/about/members_directory.html |archive-date=23 December 2008 |url-status=dead}}
He became a producer in 2000 with the Free Spirit Festival,{{cite web |url=http://www.freespiritfestival.com/ |title=Free Spirit Festival |website=www.freespiritfestival.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041015171406/http://www.freespiritfestival.com/ |archive-date=15 October 2004 |url-status=dead}} and produced the first Miss Tibet Pageant in 2002. He has gone on to produce more events, mostly in McLeod Ganj, and a film festival in Hawaii. His productions are mostly funded by himself through his photojournalism. He reached a high point in his career as a showman when he produced a show for Prince Charles in October 2003.
He is in addition a dancer, graphics designer, and website producer.
Photographer and journalist
Lobsang has been working as a photojournalist since 1994. Except for a crash course in journalism, he is self-taught in both this field and photography. He was taught photography by friends and visitors in McLeod Ganj, and went on to make news photography his day job, with many unattributed photos in stories for Agence France-Presse. His photos appear in the books Little Lhasa: Reflections on Exiled Tibet, by Tsering Namgyal, and Tibet in Exile, published by Friedrich Naumann Stiftung in 2002, as well as "Beyond Shangri-La" in the "Five Candles Photography Exhibition" in 2000 in the Prince of Wales Museum, India.{{cite web|url=http://www.friendsoftibet.org/sofar/bombay/20000312-festival_of_tibet/candles.html |title=Five Candles: Festival of Tibet 2000, Bombay | Friends of Tibet (INDIA) |publisher=Friends of Tibet |date=2000-03-14 |accessdate=2017-03-09}} Lobsang Wangyal photography is also on the web at LobsangWangyal.com Photography,{{cite web |url=http://lobsangwangyal.com/photography/ |title=Archived copy |website=lobsangwangyal.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615165857/http://lobsangwangyal.com/photography/ |archive-date=15 June 2006 |url-status=dead}} in various news stories at TibetSun.com, and unattributed in AFP stories.
Producer and director
Lobsang Wangyal began his producing career in 2000, when he started an eponymous company, Lobsang Wangyal Productions] and produced the Free Spirit Festival — an event to celebrate contemporary Tibetan arts and culture.
His longest-running production started in 2002: the Miss Tibet Pageant, a platform for young Tibetan women to showcase their talents and aspirations. This event has continued yearly.
Lobsang conceived the idea of the Miss Himalaya Pageant in early 2010 and produced the inaugural event in October 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailypostindia.com/news/29611-first-miss-himalaya-pageant-in-october-at-mcleodganj.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130120065644/http://www.dailypostindia.com/news/29611-first-miss-himalaya-pageant-in-october-at-mcleodganj.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 January 2013 |title=First Miss Himalaya pageant in October at McLeodganj |date=24 September 2012 |author=Suresh Khatta |publisher=DailyPostIndia.com |accessdate=2 December 2012 }}
The Tibetan Music Awards (held every two years) and Free Spirit Film Festival followed. He started the Free Spirit Award in 2003, to honour the works of artistes and individual supporters of the Tibetan cause in particular, and world peace, social and environmental issues in general.{{cite web |url=http://www.freespiritfestival.com/awards/ |title=Awards at the Free Spirit Festival |website=www.freespiritfestival.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041015223848/http://www.freespiritfestival.com/awards/ |archive-date=15 October 2004 |url-status=dead}}
He has also produced one-time events such as a film festival in Hawaii, US, in January 2007.{{cite web |url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3807925580361602870 |title=Tibet Film Festival Hawaii - Google Video |website=video.google.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070320072047/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3807925580361602870 |archive-date=20 March 2007 |url-status=dead}} In October 2003 he produced a show for Prince Charles at the Tibetan camp Majnu ka Tilla in Delhi. His most ambitious production, in 2008, was the Tibetan Olympics 2008 in Dharamshala, India.
His productions have expanded world-wide, with Sing for Tibet,{{cite web |url=http://singfortibet.com/ |title=Sing for Tibet :: Home |website=singfortibet.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202121656/http://singfortibet.com/ |archive-date=2 February 2011 |url-status=dead}} first held in McLeod Ganj, Brussels, and New York on 10 October 2010, and yearly in various cities thereafter, and Tibet Fashion Week{{cite web |url=http://www.fashiontibet.com/ |title=Fashion Tibet |website=www.fashiontibet.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822233233/http://www.fashiontibet.com/ |archive-date=22 August 2008 |url-status=dead}} being planned for Paris.
All productions are mostly funded by himself through his own works.
{{anchor|Other activities}}Other works and appearances
=Writing=
- [https://sniwire.com/china/choosing-the-next-dalai-lama-chinese-checkers-over-reincarnation/ Choosing The Next Dalai Lama: Chinese Checkers Over Reincarnation] 2 April 2019 at SNIWire.com.
- [https://www.google.co.in/search?q=%E2%80%9Cby+Lobsang+Wangyal%E2%80%9D+site:tibetsun.com Opinion pieces, features, and interviews] at TibetSun.com.
=Film=
- Lobsang Wangyal appeared as the "Love Guru" in the first production of the movie Richard Gere is My Hero by Tashi Wangchuk, 2007.{{cite web |url=http://www.seykharfilms.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=131910491 |title=Lobsang Wangyal (Love Guru) with Sonam Tshering (Tsering) |website=Seykharfilms.com |date= |accessdate=2017-03-09 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- As a "long-haired sweater-seller" in Dreaming Lhasa by Tenzing Sonam and Ritu Sarin, 2005.{{cite web |url=http://www.dreaminglhasa.com/crew/credit.html |title=Dreaming Lhasa Crew List |website=www.dreaminglhasa.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060701074613/http://www.dreaminglhasa.com/crew/credit.html |archive-date=1 July 2006 |url-status=usurped}}
- As himself in Tibetan Warrior,{{cite web |url=http://www.tibetanwarrior.com/index.php/29.html |title=Synopsis - TIBETAN WARRIOR – the true story of one man's fight for freedom |website=Tibetanwarrior.com |date= |accessdate=2017-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113185958/http://www.tibetanwarrior.com/index.php/29.html |archive-date=13 January 2015 |url-status=dead }} a film about Loten Namling's quest, by Dodo Hunziker, 2015.{{cite web |url=http://www.tibetanwarrior.com/index.php/35.html |title=Cast & Crew - TIBETAN WARRIOR – the true story of one man's fight for freedom |website=Tibetanwarrior.com |date= |accessdate=2017-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105212735/http://www.tibetanwarrior.com/index.php/35.html |archive-date=5 January 2016 |url-status=dead }}
- As himself in Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile{{cite web|url=http://www.misstibetbeautyinexile.com/ |title=Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile—a documentary by Flying Pieces Productions |website=Misstibetbeautyinexile.com |date= |accessdate=2017-03-09}} by Norah Shapiro, 2014.{{cite news|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/hindi/Of-Beauty-Struggle-and-Personal-Journeys/2016/01/09/article3217487.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915170814/http://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/hindi/Of-Beauty-Struggle-and-Personal-Journeys/2016/01/09/article3217487.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 September 2016 |title=Of Beauty, Struggle and Personal Journeys |newspaper=The New Indian Express |date=2016-01-09 |accessdate=2017-03-09}}{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/miss-tibet-beauty-exile-doc-753356 |title='Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile': DOC NYC Review |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=1969-12-31 |accessdate=2017-03-09}}
=Interviews=
- Has conducted many interviews with Tibet-related figures, among them Samdhong Rinpoche, TYC President Tenzing Jigme,{{cite web |url=http://www.tibetanyouthcongress.org/current-centrex-2013-2016/ |title=Tibetan Youth Congress | Current Centrex 2013 – 2016 |website=www.tibetanyouthcongress.org |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114070804/http://www.tibetanyouthcongress.org/current-centrex-2013-2016/ |archive-date=14 January 2015 |url-status=dead}} and author/photographer Vijay Kranti, all published on TibetSun.com.
- Has been interviewed and presented several times on Voice of America.{{cite web|url=http://www.voatibetanenglish.com/s?k=lobsang+wangyal |title=Lobsang Wangyal versus The Union of India |website=Voatibetanenglish.com\accessdate=2017-03-09}}
=Quotes and citations=
- Cited in acknowledgements, quoted, and referenced, in a book regarding Tibetan self-immolations, Tibet on Fire, by John Whalen-Bridge, 2016.{{cite book
| last = Whalen-Bridge
| first = John
| title = Tibet on Fire
| publisher = Palgrave MacMillan
| date = 2015
| pages = xxi, ??, 182
}}
- Cited throughout book Little Lhasa: Reflections on Exile Tibet, by Tsering Namgyal, 2006, with focus in Chapter 5, "Miss Tibet",{{cite book
| last = Namgyal
| first = Tsering
| title = Little Lhasa: Reflections on Exile Tibet
| publisher = Indus Source
| date = 2006
| pages = multiple
}}
=Social service=
- Speaking: Speaks on environmental and social issues at his events.
- Free Spirit Award : Presents a [http://freespiritfestival.com/awards/ Free Spirit Award] annually to selected social/environmental activists.
- Indian Passport for Tibetans: In 2016 initiated a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) for implementation of the Indian Citizenship Act for Tibetan refugees in India, which was joined by Phuntsok Wangyal and Tenzin Dhonden.{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.legalindia.com/news/tibetan-moves-delhi-hc-get-indian-passport |title=Tibetan moves Delhi HC to get an Indian passport - Legal News India - News Updates of Advocates, Law Firms, Law Institutes, Courts & Bars of India |website=Legalindia.com |date= |accessdate=2017-03-09}} On 22 September 2016 the case was won, with the Delhi High Court agreeing, and ordering all Tibetans who meet the criteria of being Indian citizens by birth to be treated as Indians, and to be issued passports upon applying.{{cite web |url=https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2016/09/22/delhi-high-court-issue-indian-passport-to-tibetans-as-per-citizenship-act |title=Delhi High Court: Issue Indian passport to Tibetans as per Citizenship Act .:. Tibet Sun |website=www.tibetsun.com |access-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320170313/https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2016/09/22/delhi-high-court-issue-indian-passport-to-tibetans-as-per-citizenship-act |archive-date=20 March 2022 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.asianage.com/india/delhi-hc-clarifies-citizenship-tibetans-558 |title=Delhi HC clarifies on citizenship to Tibetans |website=Asianage.com |date=2016-09-23 |accessdate=2017-03-09}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wangyal, Lobsang}}
Category:People from Dharamshala
Category:Nonviolence advocates
Category:Tibetan diaspora in India
Category:Tibet freedom activists