Twelve Bronze Drum Tunes
01 · Historical Records
The Bouyei twelve bronze drum tunes come from ancient times. They are current in the Bouyei settlements of Biandanshan, Dingqi Town, Dashan Township, Chengguan Town, Liuma Township, Shazi Township, Liangtian Township and Muye Township, and radiate to the surrounding Bouyei areas such as Guanling Autonomous County, Liuzhi Special District and Puding County, forming a Bouyei folk bronze drum cultural circle covering several counties.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Bouyei bronze drum is one of the ancient percussion instruments of the Bouyei people and belongs to their precious ethnic cultural heritage. It is cast in bronze and is commonly played together in alternation with the suona, the skin drum, the large cymbals, the clash cymbals and the gong and wooden clappers; it preserves on the whole the performing style of ancient instruments and has the ethnic character of the Bouyei. According to tradition the bronze drum was made by the “Luoyue” branch of the ancient Baiyue, the ancestors of the Bouyei people. It is therefore regarded by the Bouyei as a family heirloom and a symbol of clan and religious solidarity, venerated as a deity, offered sacrifices year by year and worshipped season by season. The Bouyei twelve bronze drum tunes consist of Xi Que Diao, San Hua Diao, Ji Gu Diao, Ji Zu Diao, San Liu Jiu Diao, Ji Si Diao, Xi Qing Diao and others; they are the ethnic music in which the Bouyei express their character in celebrations, ancestor-sacrifices and other ritual ceremonies. Zhenfeng County lies in the eastern part of Qianxinan Bouyei Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province; it is a multi-ethnic area, with more than four hundred natural villages settled by Bouyei people. The Bouyei of Zhenfeng call the twelve bronze drum tunes “Tonggu Shier Ze”, the twelve bronze drum items. As an important part of ethnic culture and regional culture, the bronze drum has always been linked to the life and cultural forms of the Bouyei people. Many ancient instruments in the history of China disappeared with the changes of the age, but the bronze drum music culture of the Bouyei areas was handed down and has been preserved to this day. The twelve bronze drum tunes are a treasury of ancient musical works rich in content and of ancient musical information.
Ji Gu Diao
One of the twelve bronze drum tunes, used in the drum-sacrifice ceremony.
Ji Zu Diao
One of the twelve bronze drum tunes, used in ancestor-sacrifice ceremonies.
Ji Si Diao
One of the twelve bronze drum tunes, used for sacrificial ceremonies of all kinds.
Xi Qing Diao
One of the twelve bronze drum tunes, used at celebrations.
San Liu Jiu Diao
One of the component tunes of the twelve bronze drum tunes.
Family transmission of the twelve tunes
The Bouyei have no written script; Tonggu Shier Ze is handed down orally from heart to heart, generation by generation, within the family, with sacrifices offered year by year and worship paid season by season.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Zhenfeng County lies in the eastern part of Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province; it is a multi-ethnic area, with more than four hundred natural villages settled by Bouyei people, and the Bouyei of Zhenfeng call the twelve bronze drum tunes “Tonggu Shier Ze”. The bronze drum is a bronze percussion instrument that the Bouyei regard as a family heirloom; it is commonly played in alternation with the suona, the skin drum, the large cymbals, the clash cymbals and the gong and wooden clappers, and is used mostly at celebrations, ancestor-sacrifices and other ritual ceremonies, handed down orally from heart to heart from generation to generation within the family.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Twelve Bronze Drum Tunes.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Bouyei have no written script; “Tonggu Shier Ze” is transmitted within the family and handed down generation by generation through oral teaching from heart to heart. The development of the modern economy and technology and the impact of foreign culture have rapidly changed people's aesthetic taste; the Bouyei bronze drum tunes, handed down since ancient times, are now known to few people and find it hard to arouse the interest of the young. The transmission of the bronze drum tunes is already in an endangered state and urgently needs rescue and protection. Wang Yongzhan (from the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Bouyei, born in 1941, a native of Zhenfeng, Guizhou. His representative performance works have been performed at four successive Zhenfeng “Sixth of the Sixth” Bouyei folklore festivals, and were recorded as background music by the flower-lantern opera troupe of Guizhou Province. He is the representative inheritor of the twelve bronze drum tunes, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item in the second national-level batch. In recent years he has been active in transmission work and has trained a number of talents in the art of bronze drum performance.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Fangren 02-0306
- Wang Yongzhan 02-0307
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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