Ewenki Folk Songs
01 · Historical Records
The Ewenki are one of the ethnic groups with a relatively small population in northern China. Historically they lived by hunting, by reindeer herding and by pastoralism; their language belongs to the Tungusic branch of the Altaic family and they have no script of their own, so folk songs became the main vehicle for recording history and the experience of life. Ewenki Autonomous Banner lies in the northern stretch of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and consists mostly of vast grassland; the folk songs here are best known for their long narrative songs, which are sung during productive labour, at marriage and funeral rites and at folk gatherings, and are handed down from elders to the younger generation by oral transmission from heart to heart.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Ewenki folk songs have a bold and unrestrained melody and are full of the atmosphere of grassland and forest. They are part song and part poem, some short and some long; most of the short ones are lyrical songs, while the longer ones are called story songs. Ewenki folk songs are often inspired on the spot and the verses are improvised; in many songs the same melody is used with different words fitted to it on different occasions, in order to express the joy, anger, sorrow and happiness of the moment. The traditional Ewenki folk song Song of the Mother Deer, also known as Song of the Roe Deer and Song of the Mongolian Gazelle, is a typically representative ecological long narrative folk song. Ewenki Autonomous Banner lies in the northern stretch of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and consists mostly of vast grassland. The long narrative folk song Song of the Mother Deer, which is current in this region, arose in a remote age of hunting and embodies the Ewenki consciousness of loving nature and loving life. Song of the Mother Deer uses a personifying device, telling a moving story through a question-and-answer dialogue between an animal mother and her young. In a remote hunting age a hunter shot a doe, which ran off wounded. When the hunter caught up with her, he saw the dying doe comforting and instructing her fawn. The dialogue between the doe and the fawn, which moves one to tears, filled the hunter with a deep sense of guilt, and he regretted his own conduct. Through human emotion viewed from another angle, the song reveals the significance of maintaining the balance of nature and cherishing life. The lyrics consist of twenty stanzas; the music has a marked primitive character, showing the slow, beautiful and unadorned qualities of Ewenki pastoral folk songs, and the melody is as if weeping and complaining, moving beyond words. This emotionally charged narrative folk song has long been passed down without interruption among the Ewenki people.
Song of the Mother Deer
Also known as Song of the Roe Deer and Song of the Mongolian Gazelle, it is a typically representative ecological long narrative folk song. Its lyrics run to twenty stanzas, and through a question-and-answer dialogue between the mother deer and the fawn it tells the story of a hunter who, after shooting the doe, feels guilt and remorse.
Lyric short songs and story songs
Ewenki folk songs are part song and part poem, some short and some long; most of the short ones are lyrical songs, while the longer ones are called story songs.
Improvised lyric-setting
They are often inspired on the spot and the verses are improvised; many songs use the same melody with different words fitted to it on different occasions, so as to express the joy, anger, sorrow and happiness of the moment.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Ewenki Autonomous Banner lies in the northern stretch of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and consists mostly of vast grassland; the long narrative folk song Song of the Mother Deer, which is current in this region, arose in a remote age of hunting and embodies the Ewenki consciousness of loving nature and loving life. Ewenki folk songs have bold and unrestrained melodies full of the atmosphere of grassland and forest; they are part song and part poem, some short and some long; and they are often sung on the spur of the moment with improvised verses, many songs using the same melody with different words fitted to it on different occasions so as to express the joy, anger, sorrow and happiness of the moment.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
As a product of hunting civilization, Song of the Mother Deer carries a strong sense of self-reproach and fully embodies the Ewenki understanding of and respect for nature and for life; condensed into it are the honesty, the good nature and the survival wisdom of an ancient hunting people, and it can provide precious material for the study of ancient civilization and of folk music. At present the destruction of the original cultural ecology, the neglect of the mother tongue and the successive deaths of the older generation of folk singers have made it difficult for Ewenki narrative folk songs to survive; transmission has been obstructed, the genre faces the danger of dying out, and urgent protection is needed.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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