Daur Folk Songs
01 · Historical Records
Daur means “those who open up new land”; the Daur people live mainly in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Heilongjiang province, with a few in Tacheng city of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Their ancestors long lived north of the Heilongjiang river, and in the mid-seventeenth century moved south to the Nen River basin; zhandala took shape gradually in the course of this migration and settlement, becoming the principal singing form in which the Daur recount historical events and express the joys and sorrows of parting and reunion.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Daur means “those who open up new land”; the Daur people live mainly in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Heilongjiang province, with a few in Tacheng city of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Daur folk music takes such forms as mountain songs, mouth-to-mouth antiphonal singing and dance lyrics, and is distinguished by warm and unrestrained melody, by turns that are roundabout and varied, and by marked rhythm and strict metre. Zhandala is the principal form of Daur folk song, circulating mainly in Nierji town, Tengke town, Arla town and elsewhere in Morin Dawa Daur autonomous banner of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Zhandala arose in a very distant age; historical records state that people at work, facing nature, were deeply moved by it and sang moving melodies to express their feelings, relieve their fatigue and raise their spirits, and thus zhandala was formed. Zhandala most often expresses historical events, the conditions of production and daily life, the deeds of national heroes and love stories of parting and reunion; it falls into two large classes, the lyrical and the narrative, and includes such forms as pastoral songs, hunting songs, fishing songs, toasts, love songs, wedding songs, raft-release songs and lullabies. It is sung either as solo or in antiphonal duet, the question-and-answer form of matched singing being the more frequent. Zhandala is of two kinds, with words and without; those with words, such as Xin Shang Ren and De Mo Ri Gen, have rich melodies and varied structures, and the lines are interspersed with the auxiliary syllables “na-ye, ne-ye”; those without words are mostly prompted by what the eye beholds and are sung impromptu, and their lines generally carry only the auxiliary syllables “na-ye, ne-ye”. Zhandala has beautiful high melodies and is strongly improvisatory; representative works include Xin Shang Ren, De Mo Ri Gen, Wu Qi Gen Wu Yin and Gu Er Ku.
Xin Shang Ren
Zhandala has beautiful high melodies and is strongly improvisatory; representative works include Xin Shang Ren, De Mo Ri Gen, Wu Qi Gen Wu Yin and Gu Er Ku.
De Mo Ri Gen
Zhandala has beautiful high melodies and is strongly improvisatory; representative works include Xin Shang Ren, De Mo Ri Gen, Wu Qi Gen Wu Yin and Gu Er Ku.
Wu Qi Gen Wu Yin
Zhandala has beautiful high melodies and is strongly improvisatory; representative works include Xin Shang Ren, De Mo Ri Gen, Wu Qi Gen Wu Yin and Gu Er Ku.
Gu Er Ku
Zhandala has beautiful high melodies and is strongly improvisatory; representative works include Xin Shang Ren, De Mo Ri Gen, Wu Qi Gen Wu Yin and Gu Er Ku.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Zhandala is the principal form of Daur folk song, circulating mainly in Nierji town, Tengke town, Arla town and elsewhere in Morin Dawa Daur autonomous banner of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Zhandala arose in a very distant age; historical records state that people at work, facing nature, were deeply moved by it and sang moving melodies to express their feelings, relieve their fatigue and raise their spirits, and thus zhandala was formed. It is sung either as solo or in antiphonal duet, the question-and-answer form of matched singing being the more frequent.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Daur Folk Songs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zhandala is a survival of ancient Daur folk music and plays an important part in the study of Daur traditional folk music, history and culture, and local customs. At present, with the development of society, the social basis on which zhandala survives and develops has changed, and people have become indifferent to the folk art that still exists, so that zhandala has no successors and is close to perishing; a plan for its rescue and protection urgently needs to be drawn up.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Mojinzhong 05-2117
- Mengmanrong
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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