Chentangxiaerbage Dance
01 · Historical Records
Chentang Sherpa song and dance is an amateur collective song-and-dance form handed down through generations among the Sherpa people of Chentang town in Dingjie County, and its history is long. Chentang lies in a valley on the southern foothills of the Himalayas and faces Nepal across the mountains; residents of the two places keep close contact, and the song and dance has passed back and forth together with kinship and trade ties. Those who take part are mainly women, who link arms and waists to form a circle or a semicircle, singing antiphonally to one another; the dance begins with gentle singing and slow movement, then moves around the circle to the melody of a slow tune, gradually accelerating into a moderate tempo, then immediately into a fast tempo, reaching its climax amid the dancers' shouts and finally ending in a joyful and ardent atmosphere. Such a structure is used repeatedly at weddings, festivals and the welcoming and seeing off of guests in the villages of Chentang. The lyrics are largely improvised on the spot; whichever girl has a bright voice and steady steps is pushed forward in the circle to lead the singing.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Chentang Sherpa song and dance is an amateur folk collective song-and-dance form with a long history, dearly loved by the Sherpa people of Chentang town in Dingjie County. Those who take part in the song and dance are mainly women. When performing, everyone links arms and waists to form a circle or semicircle, singing antiphonally to one another. It begins with gentle singing and slow movement, then moves around the circle to the melody of a slow tune, gradually accelerating into moderate-tempo dancing, then immediately into a fast tempo; at that moment, accompanied by the dancers' shouts, the dance reaches its climax, and finally ends in a joyful and ardent atmosphere. Whenever they sing and dance, the women dress in their finest: they wear black "pulu" cloth, on their heads hats adorned with fresh flowers and peacock feathers, around their necks necklaces formed of more than two hundred linked silver rings, on their chests six small silver pendants, at their waists silver belts, on their wrists large white conch shells, in their ears "Along" (gold earrings), and on their chests "Gawu" (gold and silver ornaments); as they dance these ornaments flash and jingle, which is extraordinarily moving.
The linked-arm circle dance
Dancers link arms around the waist in a full or half circle and answer each other's singing, women forming the majority of the participants.
From slow to fast
It begins with light singing and slow circling, then accelerates through medium to fast tempo, rising to a climax with shouts before ending in high spirits.
The silver costume
Women wear black woolen cloth, caps trimmed with flowers and peacock feathers, a necklace of over two hundred silver rings, six silver pendants and a silver belt.
Langga and the protection proposal
Langga, born in 1964 in Dinggyê county, has submitted a proposal for the dance's protection at the regional consultative conference every year since 2007.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Chentang Sherpa song and dance is deeply rooted among the local people and is a song-and-dance genre popular in the Shigatse Prefecture, rich in distinctive local character.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Langka (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Tibetan ethnicity, born in August 1964, from Dingjie County, Tibet Autonomous Region. From childhood he has been passionately fond of performing Sherpa indigenous song and dance. He is a representative figure of Chentang Sherpa song and dance, enjoying a certain renown locally and throughout the autonomous region. He apprenticed under local folk artists and elders, absorbing the essence of each master's performance and integrating and innovating upon it, so that the Chentang Sherpa song and dance he performs is distinctive in style and unique in bearing. Representative inheritor of Chentang Sherpa song and dance, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fifth national-level batch. Since 2007 he has submitted a proposal on protecting Chentang Sherpa song and dance at every session of the Tibet Autonomous Region's Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He has trained a group of young successors, laying a foundation for the transmission and promotion of Chentang Sherpa song and dance.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Langga 05-2292
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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