Huidongyuge
01 · Historical Records
According to records, it was introduced to Huidu in the Song dynasty and has a history of nearly a thousand years.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Huidu fishing songs are a kind of folk song circulating in the coastal area of Huidu county, Guangdong Province. These people long led a life drifting on the sea, their mode of production was single and their life very dull; in these circumstances they learnt to amuse themselves with song and to relieve their sorrows with song. Huidu fishing songs have 29 kinds, of which the most important are the O-o-xiang tune, the La-da-di-du-di-du tune, the Xian-di tune, the Luo-yin tune and others. It differs greatly from other folk songs in that it is restricted to being sung by fishermen in their boats, with such forms as solo singing and unison singing. When fishermen lived together they often took their pleasure in “da ge”, that is, in “dui ge”, songs sung in answer to one another, also called “dou ge”, song contests, sung in clear voice alone without instrumental accompaniment. The formal structure is mostly that of an upper and a lower phrase, one call and one response; however long the lyrics, the tune can be repeated back and forth until the piece is finished. The melodies of Huidu fishing songs are highly declamatory and vocal, the range is not wide, the pieces are short, and most of them have filler words and various forms of drawn-out cadential melisma. Its music is mostly in the zhi mode; sometimes a sixth degree (7) or even a seventh degree (4) is added to the pentatonic scale as a passing note and as a decorative melodic note carried through in one stroke. The lyrics of Huidu fishing songs are plain and easily understood, the language is simple, the style is concise, and the content all comes from the fishermen's life; by narrating people, things and scenery they express their feelings, offering profound inspiration to modern lyric writing. The large-scale song-and-dance drama Nan Hai Chang Cheng, The Great Wall of the South Sea, takes the life of Huidu's fishing villages as its subject and draws its musical material from the Huidu fishing songs, and after performance it was warmly praised by all walks of life.
O-o-xiang tune
One of the main tunes among the 29 kinds of Huidu fishing song.
La-da-di-du-di-du tune
One of the main tunes among the 29 kinds of Huidu fishing song.
Xian-di tune
One of the main tunes among the 29 kinds of Huidu fishing song.
Luo-yin tune
One of the main tunes among the 29 kinds of Huidu fishing song.
Antiphonal song-contest
When fishermen lived together they took their pleasure in “da ge”, that is, in “dui ge” or “dou ge”, sung in clear voice alone without instrumental accompaniment; the formal structure is mostly that of an upper and a lower phrase, one call and one response, and it is restricted to being sung by fishermen in their boats.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The most original fishermen of the locality are called the “dan min”, also called the “houchuan dan min”, who were a part of the Baiyue peoples of southern China in ancient times. At present, under the influence of industrialisation and urbanisation and the impact of outside culture, the Huidu fishing songs are gradually being neglected by the local fishermen.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Huidu fishing songs have varied melodies and a distinctive flavour, and are a precious folk art heritage of the coastal region of Guangdong, with research value in history, folklore, ethnomusicology and other fields. As the old fishing-song singers die one after another, the Huidu fishing songs have no successors, are on the verge of being lost and urgently need rescue. Li Quemei (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in November 1951, a native of Huidu county, Guangdong Province. She went out to sea to fish with her parents from childhood, learned Huidu fishing songs from her mother, and can sing many Huidu fishing song tunes with skill. From 2000 onwards she actively cooperated with the general survey of Huidu fishing songs, doing a great deal of work for the rescue, excavation and protection of the Huidu fishing songs and providing a large amount of original material for their sorting and archiving. In recent years she has been interviewed by reporters from a number of media organisations from the central level down to the local level, and has recorded fishing songs. She teaches at the Huidu fishing song transmission base, regularly teaching fishing song items to the students of the amateur fishing song school every month, and has trained a batch of new performers of Huidu fishing songs. Representative inheritor of Huidu fishing songs in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. She has taken part many times in arts performances at national, provincial, municipal and county level, and the fishing song items she has arranged and performed have won gold, silver and bronze prizes in various kinds of fishing song competitions.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Quemei 05-2103
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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