Miao Folk Songs
01 · Historical Records
Because the Miao are a people without a script, the date of their origin can no longer be verified. Because the Miao are a people without a script, the date of their origin can no longer be verified. The Miao had no script in use in historical times; the date of origin and the formative process of their folk songs have been preserved chiefly through song masters who handed them down orally from generation to generation.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Miao feige, or flying songs, of Gedong Town, Jianhe County, Guizhou Province take their name from the fact that they are current in the Gedong area and are therefore called the “Gedong Miao feige”; in Miao they are termed “HXakYangt”. They are sung in Miao in the chest voice, and the sound is high and clear, bold and unrestrained; the melodies are bright, penetrating and highly expressive. They are current chiefly in Gedong Town and Censong Town of Jianhe County and around Shidong Town of Taijiang County. Because the two sides of the singing face each other across a mountain, a light voice cannot be heard and only loud singing lets the other side make out what is being sung; hence the Gedong Miao “feige” came into being, sung in the chest voice, penetrating and highly expressive. What is sung is decided by the occasion: field work, marriage, a daughter being married off, the birth of a child, building a new house, courtship, the new year and festivals, and visits to relatives and friends can all be accompanied by feige. A Gedong Miao feige text is generally some thirty lines long; within a single song lines of three, five, seven and eight syllables commonly occur. The metre, the length of the lines and the speed of the melody all follow a rough formula, though in actual singing there is also room for free handling; the opening line and the closing line are generally drawn out, and a singer can hold a long line on a single breath.
Field-work feige
Gedong Miao feige select their melodies according to the content of the field work, and are sung so that those at work can call and answer one another and give vent to their feelings.
Wedding, birth and visiting feige
Feige can be sung at weddings, at the marriage of a daughter, at the birth of a child, when a new house is built, at the new year and festivals, and on visits to relatives and friends; the content depends on the activity in hand.
Cross-mountain antiphonal singing
The two sides of the singing face each other across a mountain, and only singing loudly in the chest voice lets the other side make out the words; hence the penetrating timbre of the feige came into being.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Gedong Miao feige are current chiefly in Gedong Town and Censong Town of Jianhe County and around Shidong Town of Taijiang County, and are mostly sung antiphonally by young men and women at field corners, on the slopes and among the trees. They are sung in Miao in the chest voice: the men's voices are high and vigorous, the women's clear and lingering, and when the two sides sing across a mountain they call to one another vocally and can be heard several li away; hence a performing manner characterised by high singing in the chest voice has taken shape.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Miao Folk Songs · Miao Folk Songs · Miao Folk Songs · Miao Folk Songs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In the Gedong area feige is used above all for field work, marriage and the marriage of a daughter, the birth of a child, building a new house, courtship, the new year and festivals, and visits to relatives and friends; what is sung depends on the nature of the occasion. Local singers draw out long lines on a single breath, and the song penetrates so powerfully that it shakes the valley and the hills answer back; without the aid of any instrument they can reply to an opponent on the ridge opposite. Because the Miao have no script, feige has long served as a medium for conveying feelings and for keeping villages in touch, and is an important means of social intercourse in Miao society in the Qingshui River basin.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Chen Qianjun 03-0867
- Ren Maoshu 05-2118
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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