Grand Song of the Dong Ethnic Group
01 · Historical Records
As early as the Song dynasty the Dong grand song was already relatively mature and it has been transmitted without a break since; in the Ming the writer Kuang Lu clearly recorded in his Chi Ya the scene of the Dong people “singing long songs with closed eyes”. The Dong grand song of Guizhou province circulates mainly in Congjiang, Rongjiang and other places; since the Xiaohuang Dong grand song formed an independent system in the Kangxi reign of the Qing it has, through the transmission of more than ten generations of song masters, continually spread to the neighbouring Erqianjiu, Liudong and Jiudong areas and to Liping, Sanjiang and Rongjiang, greatly enriching the repertoire of the Dong grand song.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Dong grand song is called “gal laox” in the Dong language and is a folk singing form of the Dong of great distinctiveness. It includes mainly the drum-tower grand song, the sound grand song, the narrative grand song, the love song, the ethical grand song, the ceremonial grand song, the children's song, the operatic grand song and the old people's song; its singing reaches a relatively high level in multi-voice thinking and choral technique, and in performance it is usually divided into two voice parts, known among the folk as the “male tone” (the high part) and the “female tone” (the low part). The smallest structural unit of the Dong grand song is called “jogx”, rendered in Chinese as “line”; several “jogx” make up a “sengh”, rendered as “stanza”; and several “sengh” make up a “meix”, rendered as “song”. Added together in this way they form a multi-stanza linked form of a strophic character, embodying the basic structure of the various kinds of grand song. The great majority of Dong grand songs need no instrumental accompaniment; apart from the narrative songs, the Dong grand song may be accompanied by the great pipa when sung by male voices. The grand song is mostly in the yu mode, generally with a relatively narrow range and no great leaps of interval; it is sung mostly in the natural voice, and its linguistic tones, syllables and stresses are extremely rich, with varied metre. Its representative pieces include The Cicada Song, Song Dong Ya Dao Mang Yao Yue Tou (rendered as When Will Our Love End) and Da Hua Le (rendered as Flowers Pass as People Age). By its distinctive manner of singing and form of organization the Dong grand song transmits the history and culture of the Dong and is an important part of Dong social structure, marriage culture and spiritual life.
The Cicada Song
A representative piece of the Dong grand song.
Song Dong Ya Dao Mang Yao Yue Tou (When Will Our Love End)
A representative piece of the Dong grand song.
When Will Our Love End
The Chinese rendering of Song Dong Ya Dao Mang Yao Yue Tou.
Da Hua Le (Flowers Pass as People Age)
A representative piece of the Dong grand song.
Flowers Pass as People Age
The Chinese rendering of Da Hua Le.
The Yu Mode and Singing in the Natural Voice
The musical features of a relatively narrow range, no great leaps of interval, extremely rich linguistic tones, syllables and stresses and varied metre.
The Great Pipa Accompanying Male-Voice Grand Song
Apart from the narrative songs, the Dong grand song may be accompanied by the great pipa when sung by male voices.
Song-Master Families and Song-Team Transmission
The transmission practice centred on families of song masters, in which fourteen apprentices all became song masters.
Bringing Ethnic Folk Culture into the Schools
The transmission activity in which bearers take an active part, training successors for the Dong grand song.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Rongjiang Dong grand song circulates mainly in the Dong villages of the townships of Zaima, Zhaigao, Leli and Pingjiang in Rongjiang county, Guizhou, with Wanzhai, Fengdeng and Zaidang at its core, and is taught and learned mutually with the Xiaohuang Dong grand song of Congjiang, together forming the network of Dong grand song singing in south-eastern Guizhou.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Grand Song of the Dong Ethnic Group · Grand Song of the Dong Ethnic Group · Grand Song of the Dong Ethnic Group · Grand Song of the Dong Ethnic Group.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Dong grand song has extremely wide content, touching on many fields—ethnology, musicology, sociology, the history of marriage, the history of thought and the history of education—and has important academic research value. With the rapid development of the market economy and the wide dissemination of modern culture this traditional folk art of a minority ethnic group faces the danger of being lost, and its protection and transmission brook no delay. (Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Hu Guanmei, also known as Nai Zhenzhu, female, Dong, born September 1955, a native of Rongjiang county, Guizhou. She grew up in a house of Dong music, her parents both being famous local Dong song masters, and learned to sing Dong songs with them from childhood; at ten she became a famous local singer, and at eighteen she entered the drum tower to sing the Dong grand song antiphonally. Because her voice was pleasing and she knew many songs she became the mainstay of the stockade song team. She has an accurate grasp and understanding of the forms of singing of the Dong grand song, the production of the different voice parts and the methods of performance, and has made certain innovations on the basis of inheriting traditional Dong music, being deeply loved by her fellow villagers. She is a representative bearer of the fourth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, the Dong grand song, and is keen on training and transmitting to young singers; the fourteen apprentices she has taken have all become song masters. In June 2007 she was awarded the honorary title of “outstanding bearer of Chinese folk culture” by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wu Pinxian 02-0253
- Wu Guangzu 02-0254
- Tannaihao 02-0255
- Wu Renhe 03-0826
- Pan Sayinhua 03-0827
- Hu Guanmei 04-1510
- Jia Fuying 05-2050
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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