Salisbury Medieval Hall
To mark the centenary of the release of The Epic of Everest the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery UK Trust is staging a special screening of the British Film Institute’s restoration of the film (with an audio soundtrack recreating the 1924 score) at Salisbury Medieval Hall, introduced by acclaimed author Mick Conefrey and featuring a live prologue of Tibetan music by the Monks of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.
In 1924, Captain John Noel’s classic documentary film The Epic of Everest captured the Edwardian adventure of the second Mount Everest summit attempt during which British Mountaineers George Mallory and Sandy Irvine tragically lost their lives.
To promote the release of the film one hundred years ago, Captain Noel arranged to bring six Buddhist monks from Gyantse Monastery in Tibet to Europe for the first time. The monks performed a prologue of Tantric music and chants when the film premiered in London, Paris and Berlin before undertaking a national tour of UK Cinema halls in 1925.
The visit of the monks generated widespread press coverage at the time, and they made a number of radio broadcasts for the fledgling BBC radio network as audiences in the 1920s, gripped by Tibetmania and legends of a forbidden kingdom of snow, Lamas, Shangri-La and Yetis were astounded by the sights and sounds of Tibetan Buddhism.
A diplomatic incident, referred to as ‘The Affair of the Dancing Lamas’ ensued between the UK and Tibet when news of the performances at London's New Scala Theatre reached the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, and it transpired the monks had not been granted permission to perform in the west. Further attempts by the British to climb Mount Everest were banned by the 13th Dalai Lama for nearly a decade and debate over the fate and legend of Mallory and Irvine continues to this day.
