Xiping Folk Songs
01 · Historical Records
Xiping folk songs originate in the Han dynasty. They have continued unbroken through nearly two thousand years of history and formed a distinct folk song system.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Xiping folk songs are a form of folk music collectively created by the people of Xiping and passed down through generations. Xiping Town lies on the southwestern edge of Xixia County, Nanyang City, Henan Province. Xiping folk songs are circulated among some twenty villages in this area, including Mujia Ya, Xigang, Dongguanzhuang, Caocang and Dehe, and their influence reaches an area of one hundred kilometres across the borders of Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi. Xiping folk songs include more than thirty tune-types, among them Da Duihua, Xiao Duihua, Peilang, Liulang, Bainian Diao, Xiuhbao, Caicha Qu, Shiliu Shaohuo and Si Liu Ju; and there are close to a thousand songs covering labour songs, songs on current affairs, ritual songs, love songs, daily-life songs, historical legends and other subjects. The vocal style of Xiping folk songs is based mainly on the true voice; the male voice is high and plain while the female voice is soft and full, able to express feeling, to depict things and to tell a story, flexible and free-handed, and easy to spread. Xiping folk songs take many performing forms, including solo, duet, small-group singing and chorus; percussion and instruments can both be used for accompaniment, and they can also be sung without accompaniment. Combining the singing with many other folk art forms such as stilt walking and sedan chairs for performance is another main characteristic of Xiping folk songs. Its representative works include Wo Zai Fang Zhong Xiu Rong Hua and Pi Hua Xian.
Wo Zai Fang Zhong Xiu Rong Hua
One of the representative works of Xiping folk songs.
Pi Hua Xian
One of the representative works of Xiping folk songs.
Yi Ge Da Jie Shi Liu Qi
One of the traditional text pieces mastered by the inheritor Wei Xiuju.
Song Lang
One of the traditional text pieces mastered by the inheritor Wei Xiuju.
Zheng Yue Er Shi Yi
One of the traditional text pieces mastered by the inheritor Wei Xiuju.
Thirty-plus tune-types
Xiping folk songs include more than thirty tune-types, among them Da Duihua, Xiao Duihua, Peilang, Liulang, Bainian Diao, Xiuhbao, Caicha Qu, Shiliu Shaohuo and Si Liu Ju, covering close to a thousand songs on labour, current affairs, ritual, love, daily life, historical legends and other subjects.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Xiping folk songs are flowing and lively, full of local character, and form an important part of many local art forms such as the colour-cloud dance, the tea-picking butterfly dance, the sedan chair, stilt walking and the bamboo horse. They occupy an irreplaceable place in the cultural life of the Xiping people and can provide important reference for the study of folk art.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present almost all Xiping folk singers have reached old age and can no longer sing; Xiping folk songs have no successors, are on the verge of disappearing, and urgently need protection and transmission. Wei Xiuju (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): female, Han, born in July 1947, a native of Xixia County, Henan Province. From the age of fifteen she followed her father to sing Xiping folk songs in places including Jiangsu, Anhui and Shaanxi, and later sang in many townships of Zhengzhou, Nanyang, Xixia County and elsewhere. In long practice she kept learning from other Xiping folk song singers and mastered more than twenty Xiping folk song tunes, such as Xiao Duihua, Niusi and Bainian Diao, together with close to one hundred traditional text pieces such as Yi Ge Da Jie Shi Liu Qi, Song Lang and Zheng Yue Er Shi Yi. Her voice is smooth and clear, her pitch exact, and she sings mainly in the high register. At the same time she takes an active part in public welfare activities, joins all kinds of intangible cultural heritage exhibitions and performances, and often gives demonstration activities at Xiping folk song transmission sites. Representative inheritor of Xiping folk songs, inscribed in the fifth national-level batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. She has taken part many times in Xiping folk song competitions and won prizes.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wei Xiuju 05-2098
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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