Song Fair
01 · Historical Records
The name of the Forty-Eight Stockades Song Festival comes from the thirteen singing grounds along the middle and lower reaches of the Qingshui River and the stockades in which each of them is located. These singing grounds were historically formed among villages of Dong people, Miao people, and mixed Miao-Dong-Han settlement; one village holds one fair, only once a year, scheduled from the third month to the ninth, with the opening usually on a wu day in the middle of the month, which the people call attending the tuhuang (earth emperor) fair. That the tuhuang day is drawn from the agricultural seasons shows that the song festival grew from the beginning out of the gaps in the busy farming calendar; the various stockades form singing halls by village or by family, with "kan songs" as the main form, people making friends through song and comparing literary talent, learning, and eloquence. Singing ancient songs and narrative songs is the greatest distinguishing feature of antiphonal singing in this area, and each stockade also has one or two influential veteran song masters.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Forty-Eight Stockades Song Festival is a folk song festival circulating in the middle and lower reaches of the Qingshui River within Tianzhu County, Guizhou Province, comprising thirteen singing grounds. Each singing ground holds its fair once a year, from the third lunar month to the ninth, with the opening time mostly on a wu day in the middle of the month, known locally as attending the "tuhuang" fair. Whenever a gathering time comes, the hillsides and roadsides are crowded with people, and songs rise one after another. The Forty-Eight Stockades Song Festival has many singing grounds, covering Dong areas, Miao areas, and mixed Miao-Dong-Han areas. The lyrics and vocal styles are rich, including the riverside tune, high-slope tune, green-mountain tune, and ali tune. But no matter which region or which tune, all are sung in the Dong language, so every tune can be understood and sung in every stockade; this was formed historically. At the singing grounds, people generally form "singing halls" (getang) by village or family. The singing halls focus on kan songs. People make friends through song, comparing literary talent, learning, and eloquence. Besides traditional Dong mountain songs, there are large numbers of song-sets on themes from Han historical stories, such as "Singing the Three Kingdoms", "Singing the Tale of Tang", "Mu Guiying Takes Command", "Singing Mao Hongyu Ying", and "Singing Luoyang Bridge". Singing ancient songs and narrative songs is the greatest distinguishing feature of antiphonal singing at the festival. Narrative songs are the main content of kan songs, often telling a story with passion through singing of people and events; this kind of song is the most beloved. Every village has singers and song masters of some influence. Some veteran song masters have never attended school, yet have extraordinary memories and can burst into song, reciting flawlessly the historical stories, legends, and ballads such as the Three Kingdoms, Fengjiao and Li Dan, and Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, to the amazement of all.
Choosing the day to open the fair
Each of the thirteen grounds opens once a year, from the third to the ninth lunar month, usually on a wu day in mid-month, a date that answers the farming calendar.
The song gathering organized
A song gathering is formed by village or by clan, one voice leading and the rest answering, singing deep into the night.
Friendship and wit measured in song
Singer and listener crowd the slopes and roads, and a contest is settled in the first exchange of verses.
Ancient and narrative songs in antiphon
Story-songs carry a whole tale through the exchange of verses, and the crowd falls silent to hear what comes next.
Suite songs drawn from Chinese historical tales
Beside indigenous songs stand suites taken from Chinese histories: Three Kingdoms, the Tang campaigns, Mu Guiying taking command, Mao Hongyuying and the Luoyang bridge, each village singing them in its own way.
One language, many tunes
River-side, high-slope, green-hill and ali tunes belong to different stretches of water, but all are sung in the same language, so singers of three peoples can join in.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The distribution of the singing grounds shows a thought-provoking phenomenon: the vocal styles can be distinguished by region — the riverside tune, high-slope tune, green-mountain tune, and ali tune each belong to their own river reaches and slopes — yet no matter the tune, all are sung in the Dong language, so every stockade can understand and sing them. This practice of unifying the vocal styles through language is the result of intermarriage, trade, and shared attendance at song fairs among the stockades in history, and is the real reason the mixed Miao-Dong-Han area can draw three kinds of villages into one and the same song festival.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Song Fair.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Today the singing grounds are in decline; those who sing are mostly middle-aged and older people, and very few young people can sing mountain songs.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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