Mang Drum Dance
01 · Historical Records
The movements of the changgu drum dance derive from the Hani people's cultivation of terraced fields.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The changgu drum dance is a folk traditional dance performed by Hani men and using the chang and the drum as its props. It is circulated among eight Hani villages in Potou Township and Puxiong Township in the southern part of Jianshui County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and extends to surrounding areas such as Yuanyang County and Jinping Miao, Yao and Dai Autonomous County. The chang is made of bronze and comes in male and female kinds. The female chang has a dull sound and serves only as accompaniment for the dance; the male chang has a clear, bright sound and is a dance implement in its own right. The drum, also a dance implement, is made by a strict procedure accompanied by a solemn ceremony. When the drumhead is fitted, grain, beans, silver vessels and the like are placed inside the drum, a chicken is killed as an offering, the body turns its back, and the cowhide is stretched by the reverse hand over the drum hoop. The changgu drum dance is generally passed on by apprenticeship, taught by a greatly respected old man to the young. The changgu drum dance is an important component of the sacrifice to the village god "Angma". On the first day marked with the Dragon in the first lunar month each year, the village head leads the young men to sacrifice to the dragon tree; afterwards, on the changgu dancing ground in the village, a solemn chang-and-drum salutation rite is held: the chang is sounded three times, carried as the holder begins to dance, and three circuits are made round the table before bows are made to the four directions of east, south, west and north. The men then press forward together, beating the chang and the drums, and a changgu carnival lasting three nights begins. In performance the dancers form a circle, with the drummers on the outside and the chang players at the centre; the chang and the drum are danced together, and the dancing of each has its own separate content. When the chang players perform, they form a circle, holding the chang in the left hand and pressing a beater against the middle of the chang's nipple with the right hand, dancing with the swaying of the body. Their movements include "plastering the field ridge", "kneeling in homage" and "standing on the head". There are more than a dozen basic steps, including walking step, toe-pointing step, pushing-off step, standing on the toe tips, kneeling in homage, standing on the head, bow-step with circling arms, small retreating step, squatting twist step, forward dragging step, backward shifting step, stamping step and striding leap. When the drummers perform, they carry the hide drum on a cord over the left shoulder, hold the body of the drum with the left hand and strike from below upward with a drumstick in the right hand. At the same time they draw up the left leg, tilt the upper body slightly to the right, and as the left foot lands, draw up the right leg and thrust it out diagonally downward to the right of the body, the whole body rising and falling accordingly. When drumming while rubbing the step forward in a straight line, the body rises and falls with supple, resilient force. The formations change between straight lines, lateral lines, diagonal lines, circles and the like, set off one another against the chang dancing to compose together a rich and colourful array of patterns. The changgu drum dance testifies to the traditional religious beliefs and customs of the Hani people. As an important component of the sacrificial activities of Hani village communities, it can even today give people insights into living in harmony with nature and with society.
Male and female cymbals
The bronze cymbals come in a duller female pair for accompaniment and a brighter male pair danced with.
The Angma rite and the cymbal-drum salutation
On the first dragon day of the first lunar month the village head leads the young men to the dragon tree, then strikes the cymbals and opens three nights of dancing.
Plastering the ridge, kneeling, standing on hands
The cymbal dancer's repertory of paces, from walking and toe-pointing to kneeling and hand-standing, drawn from terrace farming.
Covering the drum head
The drum maker puts grain, beans and silver inside the shell, offers a chicken and then covers the frame with ox hide backwards.
Li Shengfang and his master
The fifth-batch national inheritor Li Shengfang studied under Cao Defa and became the principal dancer at the sacred tree ritual.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The changgu drum dance is circulated among eight Hani villages in Potou Township and Puxiong Township in the southern part of Jianshui County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and extends to surrounding Hani settlements such as Yuanyang County and Jinping Miao, Yao and Dai Autonomous County. The dance is generally passed on by apprenticeship, taught by a greatly respected village elder to the young, and forms part of the rite of sacrificing to the village god "Angma"; Hani villages around Yuanyang and Jinping still maintain their own changgu drum teams today.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Li Shengfang (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): a male of the Hani ethnicity, born in December 1955, a native of Jianshui County, Yunnan Province. Influenced by his father and elders from childhood, in 1975 he formally became a disciple of the noted changgu drum dance artist Cao Defa and studied the dance comprehensively and systematically, becoming the leading performer in the changgu drum dance offered to the god tree. The dance movements are simple and ancient yet deep, bold and unrestrained, with novel rhythmic patterns, and they are deeply expressive. He has taken part in performances at large-scale events including the Yunnan Province Ethnic Art and Culture Festival, the Fourth National Ethnic Games, the Third China Arts Festival and the Shanghai World Expo. From the 1990s to the present he has widely taken on disciples to teach the skills of the changgu drum dance and has carried out transmission teaching in local primary and secondary schools. He is the representative inheritor of the changgu drum dance, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fifth batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Shengfang 05-2301
- Li Jianguang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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