Mengyidama

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He is a grandnephew of the national hero Gada Meilin. In 1958 he became a disciple of Tubu Wuliji, a renowned folk artist of Horqin, and systematically studied sihu performance, becoming an outstanding representative of the Danba Renqin school of Horqin sihu art. During the six years he followed his teacher, he systematically mastered the performance techniques of this school and a large repertoire of traditional sihu pieces. Within the regional tradition and school record of Mongolian Sihu Music in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia: The Mongol four-string fiddle circulates mainly in the Mongol areas of settlement of Tongliao city and the Horqin grasslands of Inner Mongolia, and is also current in the Mongol villages of the three eastern leagues and of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang; Tongliao is the area where the art of the Mongol four-string fiddle is most flourishing. The Mongol four-string fiddle of Tongliao is called “houle”, “huwuer” and “huer” in Mongol, and was called the “tiqin” in the Lü Lü Zheng Yi Hou Bian compiled in the Kangxi reign. After the Yuan dynasty four-string fiddle art circulated widely and was once all the rage in Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and the Han areas of settlement of north China, exercising a far-reaching influence on Han folk narrative-singing.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Also known as Yidan Zabu, male, of Mongolian ethnicity, born in July 1948 in Horqin Left Middle Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. By the age of fourteen he had mastered the performance techniques of traditional pieces such as the folk tunes Modeleima, Nan Hua (Southern Flower), and Bayin (Eight Tones), as well as the Han Chinese paizi qu (labeled tunes) Su Wu Mu Yang (Su Wu Herding Sheep), Desheng Ling (Victory Command), and Yuanyang Kou (Mandarin Duck Knot). Through persistent and diligent study, he gradually acquired superb sihu performance skills; on the low-, middle-, and high-register sihu alike he displays an artistic style that is agile and ornate yet full of passion. Within the documented technical tradition of Mongolian Sihu Music in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia: The Tongliao Mongol four-string fiddle is one of the instruments most marked with Mongol character and is divided into three kinds, the treble, the alto and the bass. The treble fiddle has a bright, crisp tone and is mostly used for solo, duet and ensemble; the alto and bass fiddles have rich, round tones, are good at lyrical pieces and are mainly used to accompany the Horqin narrative-singing arts of uliger and holboo. They play a very important part in the cultural life of the Mongol people. Representative pieces of the Mongol four-string fiddle include Hurrying on the Road, Eight Tones and Asir (the above for the large fiddle) and Modeleima, The Winding Grape Vine and He Ying Hua (the above for the small fiddle). Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Hurrying on the Road": Representative pieces of the Mongol four-string fiddle include Hurrying on the Road, Eight Tones and Asir for the large fiddle and Modeleima, The Winding Grape Vine and He Ying Hua for the small fiddle. "Eight Tones": A representative piece for the large four-string fiddle, also among the traditional Mongol court music. "Asir": A representative piece for the large four-string fiddle, formerly indispensable in the performance of large court music. "Modeleima": A representative piece for the small four-string fiddle of the Horqin area.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a representative bearer of Mongolian Sihu Music, a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Mengyidama · National Representative Bearer Archive