Qianjiang Folk Songs
01 · Historical Records
As early as the Zhou dynasty the Qianjiang folk songs belonged to the Zhou Nan system of song-poems, standing at the head of the fifteen Airs of the States and forming the main body of the ya and the yan music; in the Warring States period the Yang A described in the works of Qu Yuan and Song Yu was also Qianjiang folk song; the “Chu songs on four sides” of the Chu-Han War were sung to Qianjiang's Ji Ming Ge, the Rooster-Crowing Song; and in the Han dynasty the “Chu songs” called “yan”, and in the Wei and Jin the “xiqu songs”, Qianjiang folk songs were an indispensable component.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Qianjiang folk songs are one of the typical representatives of the surviving style of Chu song, circulating mainly within Qianjiang city in the south-central part of Hubei Province. The first of the “two blocks” is the paddy-field district, whose folk song types are mainly seedling-transplanting songs, water-pushing gongs and drums, damo labour songs, funeral-sitting drums, xiaoqu and children's songs; the second block is the district along the river embankment, whose folk song types include weed-pulling songs, wheat-threshing songs and xiaoqu, with the various damo labour songs and carrying songs being most prominent; the “one line” is the single line of the bai, or dry, district running through the whole of Qianjiang east of the city, whose folk song types are mainly weed-pulling songs, hua ge zi, wheat-threshing songs, xiaoqu and children's songs. Besides these there are many folk songs of revolutionary history, which circulate throughout Qianjiang. Qianjiang folk song music is mainly in the zhi mode; most of it belongs to the “three-note nucleus” folk songs of ancient Chu, commonly taking four forms: the zhi three-note nucleus (1, 5, 2), the gong three-note nucleus (3, 1, 6), the yu three-note nucleus (1, 6, 3) and the twin three-note nucleus (6, 5, 2), which permeate one another and make the music of the Qianjiang folk songs richer and more varied. Representative works of the Qianjiang folk songs are Shu Ha Ma, Shi Xu Xie and Cui Dong Cui. Among them the Hao Cao Ge has a high and beautiful melody and the simple pastoral flavour of the Jianghan plain.
Shu Ha Ma
One of the representative works of the Qianjiang folk songs.
Shi Xu Xie
One of the representative works of the Qianjiang folk songs.
Cui Dong Cui
One of the representative works of the Qianjiang folk songs.
Hao Cao Ge
One of the representative works of the Qianjiang folk songs; its melody is high and beautiful, and it carries the simple pastoral flavour of the Jianghan plain.
Ji Ming Ge
The typical representative of the “Yang ge”, sung in a form that places the side note between the main note, with melodic leaps of as much as fifteen degrees or more.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Qianjiang folk songs are closely bound up with farm work and, because the labour areas differ, fall into two different types, forming a distribution pattern of “two blocks and one line”.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Qianjiang folk songs are of extremely great importance in the study of traditional music; the “Yang ge”, named after the ancient river “Yang Shui” within Qianjiang, has Ji Ming Ge as its typical representative and has the aesthetic character of Chu style and Chu charm; it is sung in a form that places the side note between the main note, with melodic leaps of as much as fifteen degrees or more, which makes it extremely difficult to sing. For various reasons the social atmosphere for singing the Qianjiang folk songs is now disappearing, which has brought this ancient folk song form to the verge of extinction; it urgently needs rescue. The Qianjiang folk songs are of extremely great importance in the study of traditional music: the “Yang ge”, named after the ancient river “Yang Shui” within Qianjiang, has Ji Ming Ge as its typical representative and has the aesthetic character of Chu style and Chu charm; it is sung in a form that places the side note between the main note, with melodic leaps of as much as fifteen degrees or more, which makes it extremely difficult to sing; the Hao Cao Ge has a high and beautiful melody and the simple pastoral flavour of the Jianghan plain. For various reasons the social atmosphere for singing the Qianjiang folk songs is now disappearing, which has brought this ancient folk song form to the verge of extinction, and it urgently needs rescue.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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