Fang Shaobao

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Fang Shaobao, Female, Miao, from Taijiang, Guizhou, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Polyphonic Folk Songs (Ⅱ-30). The tradition is documented in Taijiang, Guizhou. Within the regional tradition and school record of Polyphonic Folk Songs in Taijiang, Guizhou: The Miao multi-part folk song is the most important component of the surviving traditional culture of the local Miao. The Miao multi-part folk song circulates mainly in the Miao villages of Taijiang county, Jianhe county and other places in Guizhou; by the reckoning of the old singers this folk song, sung by young men and women, has a history of more than seven hundred years, and its emergence and development are closely bound up with the history of the Miao migration and settlement in the Qingshui river basin and with Miao ethnic history, cultural history and folklore.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Miao ethnicity, born in September 1973 in Taijiang County, Guizhou Province. Her grandmother and mother were both well-known local song masters, and through constant exposure she mastered the singing techniques of Miao folk songs from childhood. As a small child she learned many Miao songs, and in her singing she applies natural voice, falsetto, flung tones and vibrato with flexibility, with a delicate emotional expression that is deeply loved by the local people. Within the documented technical tradition of Polyphonic Folk Songs in Taijiang, Guizhou: Multi-part folk song refers to folk songs whose texture and structure take a multi-part form; China's multi-part folk songs are concentrated chiefly among the dozen or so minority nationalities of the Zhuang, Dong, Bouyei, Gaoshan, Maonan, Qiang, Miao and Yi, most of them adopting the two-part form and a small number being three-part and four-part art. The Miao multi-part folk song is an original-ecology folk song current in the Miao villages of Taijiang county, Jianhe county and other places in Guizhou; by the reckoning of old singers this folk song, sung by young men and women, has a history of more than seven hundred years. Its principal tone series are the gong, shang, yu, zhi and jue notes, its harmonies the perfect fifth, the perfect octave, the major third and the major sixth, and its metre relatively free, mostly mixing 3/4, 4/4, 2/4 and 6/8; its tune is beautiful and pleasing and its feeling finely moving, showing a clearly marked ethnic and regional character. The Miao multi-part love song is sung in two ways, antiphonal singing of the main melody between man and woman and choral singing of the main melody by men and women, and has a distinctively ethnic character. A complete multi-part love song generally runs from six to sixteen musical phrases; taking an eight-phrase love song as an example, the first to the sixth phrases at the beginning are a single male part, and from the seventh phrase the female part joins in harmony to form multiple parts; after the male part has sung the eighth phrase the female part leads the second section while the male part harmonises to form polyphony, and from the third phrase there is a single female part, until in the seventh phrase of the second stage the male part joins in harmony to form multiple parts. Repeated in this way in mutual answer, they constitute the embryo of Miao polyphonic music. The content of the multi-part love song mostly reflects the course of young men and women from first acquaintance to marriage, including the “meeting song”, the “praise song”, the “single song”, the “youth song”, the “courtship song”, the “mutual-love song”, the “parting song”, the “wedding song”, the “marriage-fleeing song” and the “divorce song”, each sung to a different tune, and at the singing there are generally more than two men and two women. Representative works of the Miao multi-part folk song include If You Were a Flower and Fine Scenery in the Third Month of Spring. Its emergence, development and final formation are closely bound up with Miao ethnic history, cultural history and folklore. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "If You Were a Flower": One of the representative works of the Miao multi-part folk song. "Fine Scenery in the Third Month of Spring": One of the representative works of the Miao multi-part folk song. "The Series of Love Songs: Meeting, Praise, Courtship and So On": A complete set of love songs reflecting the whole course of young men and women from first acquaintance, praise, courtship and mutual love to parting and marriage, each sung to a different tune.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

She is a representative bearer of polyphonic folk songs (Miao polyphonic folk songs), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. After completing her training she has taken an active part in artistic activities of various kinds organised by folk groups, assisted the cultural and educational departments in carrying out activities bringing traditional Miao culture into the classroom, and conducted training for primary and secondary school pupils. She has passed on all the skills she possesses to her disciples without reservation, brought up group after group of young singers in the original folk style, and recommended some of them for further study at higher music conservatories.

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. Fang Shaobao · National Representative Bearer Archive