Dai Zhangha
01 · Historical Records
The early history of Zhangha can no longer be traced in detail; many of its song texts were preserved together with the Buddhist scriptures used in the dan fa rite, and singers also often copied palm-leaf scriptures such as the Danna Sutra.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Dai Zhangha, also called "Zanha", is a traditional form of sung quyi among the Dai people, handed down in the Dai villages of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and of Jiangcheng, Menglian, Jinggu and other places under Simao City on the southern frontier of Yunnan Province, as well as among the Blang who live alongside the Dai. Zhangha is both a title given to a singer and the name of the genre as a form of quyi performance. According to the accompanying instrument, performances also fall into two forms: one is accompanied by the Dai bowed string instrument called the ding, and its repertoire is mostly mountain songs and love songs pouring out the young man's admiration for the girl, called "hasai ding"; the other is accompanied by the single-reed wind instrument called the bi, and is called "hasai bi". Zhangha singing includes both improvisation and formalised blessing songs and prayer songs, as well as long narrative songs performed from fixed texts. Its melodies are closely bound up with the tones of the sung words, combining recitation and song in an organic way, and are characterised by a soft and lyrical beauty. Zhangha plays an irreplaceable role in the social life of the Dai people, and its performances are extremely widespread: at the Dai New Year, the Door-Closing Festival, the Door-Opening Festival, the sacrifice to the village guardian spirit, dan fa rites, house-raising celebrations, wedding and marriage rites, a child's first-month celebration and many other festive occasions, singers are always invited to perform Zhangha. Zhangha has a large repertoire and preserves many of the oldest and most primitive Dai ballads, myths and legends. In its heyday it produced nationally renowned singers such as Kanglang Shuai, Kanglang Ying and Bo Yuwen.
Two accompanied modes
One mode is accompanied by the bowed ding, the other by the single-reed pipe bi.
Solo and competitive duet
Performances are either solo or competitive duet, called for at the New Year, the fast and feast days, new-house rites and weddings.
Kanglangtun's palm-leaf texts
Kanglangtun copied palm-leaf scriptures such as the Danna Sutra and trained more than thirty pupils.
The great singers of the heyday
The nationally known masters of the form's heyday, whose repertoire preserved the oldest Dai ballads, myths and legends.
Yu Guang, the famed female singer
Yu Guang, honoured as a top-grade and famous female singer, composed over twenty song texts and trained seven pupils.
Improvisation and ritual blessing
Performances range from improvisation to formal blessing and prayer songs and to long narrative works from fixed texts.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The concrete forms of Zhangha performance fall into two, solo and duet, and the duet has the character of a singing contest.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In recent years the older generation of Zhangha singers has gradually aged and passed away one after another; in addition, urbanisation in the Dai areas has accelerated and a variety of imported art and entertainment forms have poured into them, so the custom among the Dai of listening to Zhangha is far weaker than before. There are now no well-known Zhangha singers, some long-form sung contents have gradually been lost, and the survival of Zhangha faces a crisis, so effective protection is urgently needed. Yu Guang (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): A woman of the Dai nationality, born in February 1956 in Jinghong City, Yunnan Province. At the age of ten she began to study Zhangha singing, taking the noted Zhangha masters Kanglang Shuai and Yan Peng as her teachers, and mastered the art of Zhangha singing and the different repertoires of Zhangha. Because of her high singing skill, knowledge, ability to improvise on the spot and fame, the Dai people call her "Borui" and "Nawan" (Dai terms meaning, respectively, a top-grade Zhangha and a famous female Zhangha singer). Her singing spread over radio and television throughout the whole prefecture and beyond the border. She wrote more than twenty Zhangha song texts, two of which won third prizes for creative work from the Yunnan Provincial Department of Culture and from the Yunnan Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles respectively. The seven pupils she trained have now completed their training and begun to perform independently. Representative inheritor of Dai Zhangha of the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. Kanglangtun (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): A man of the Dai nationality, born in July 1938 in Mengla County, Yunnan Province. He loved Zhangha singing from childhood; at the age of twenty-five he took Bo Mai Nan San, Yan Mai Long Jiao and Kanglang Guang as his teachers, and after several years of study began to sing on his own, working through every Dai village of Mengpeng Town and also performing many times in Mengxing and Mengnan in Laos. The Zhangha he sang was rich in content and was performed mainly at the Dai New Year, house-raising celebrations, weddings, dan fa rites and ordination ceremonies, and was warmly welcomed by his fellow villagers. He treasures and has copied scriptures and palm-leaf manuscripts such as the Danna Sutra, Gaya Sang Gaya (the origin of the Dai script), Phasou (the Buddha's scripture) and Tangmala Suangluo (the section on teaching). He composed and sang a number of works and became a well-known Zhangha inheritor locally. He has taken more than thirty pupils, among whom outstanding ones include Yan Kanxiang and Bo Wenxiang. Representative inheritor of Dai Zhangha of the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yuguang 03-1165
- Kang Langtun 03-1166
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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