Yao Folk Songs
01 · Historical Records
Ruyuan Yao autonomous county lies in the north of Guangdong province; it is one of the ancestral homes of the Yao and is known as “the home of the world’s Pangsang Yao”. The Yao of Ruyuan belong to the Mian-language branch of the Pangsang Yao, who were formerly a people of shifting cultivation; in the Song and Yuan dynasties they lived by fishing and hunting along the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong, and at the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming they moved into the great mountains of the central Nanling and lived by slash-and-burn farming.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Yao folk songs of Ruyuan are a traditional musical form transmitted in five townships of the mountainous area in the northeast and the northwest of Ruyuan Yao autonomous county, Guangdong province: Dongping, Youxi, Bibei, Liukeng and Longnan. Ruyuan Yao autonomous county lies in the north of Guangdong province, is one of the ancestral homes of the Yao and is known as “the home of the world’s Pangsang Yao”. The Yao of Ruyuan belong to the Mian-language branch of the Pangsang Yao, who were formerly a people of shifting cultivation. The Yao folk songs of Ruyuan are called “sai hua bing” in Yao and are translated into Chinese as “a language surpassing the flower”; they are a second language used by the Pangsang Yao of Ruyuan to convey information and communicate with one another. The Yao people are especially fond of singing; they use song to express their thoughts and feelings, to praise labour and to extol love, and also to expose ugly social phenomena and souls. The Yao folk songs of Ruyuan are rich in content and varied in form. The singing pays attention to certain techniques: the tones are fine and long, the melody stirring and pleasant, the lingering notes echoing round the beams, with emphasis on sustaining the tone and on the emission of breath; the tunes are fresh. Folk song lyrics fall into two large classes, classical lyrics and modern free-verse lyrics about daily life. The classical lyrics number more than two thousand. Free songs are mountain songs composed and sung on the spot, describing life. In ancient times the Yao held song contests for three days and three nights, discussing the past and the present in song and declaring love in song. The Pangsang Yao of Ruyuan are divided into the Eastern Yao and the Western Yao, and the two groups share a common language. The characteristic of the Pangsang Yao folk songs of Ruyuan lies in their high pitch, their long notes, their carrying power and their clear tone; they may also be called the Yao long tune. High pitch means that the song takes the scale an octave higher as its main key, so that the words can be heard clearly whether the singer is at the foot of the valley or on the mountain top. Long notes means that the opening, the accented passages and the endings are drawn out. Carrying power means that the tone is round and pointed and carries far: it does not grate at close range and can be heard clearly at a distance. The tone is clear as the autumn cicada; every line and every syllable has a distinct landing point, and one voice can sing both the accompaniment and the words; though it is sung without accompaniment, it gives the impression of being accompanied. Only those who have mastered the whole repertory of baiwang songs can become formal ge ma, the song mistresses. The Yao have no script of their own, and the historical records of official histories about the Pangsang Yao of Ruyuan are limited.
Recited and shouted songs
The Yao folk songs of Ruyuan may be divided into two kinds: the recited song, used when leading and teaching in a low voice, and the shouted song, sung at full voice towards those far away.
Classical lyrics
Folk song lyrics fall into two large classes, classical lyrics and modern free-verse lyrics about daily life; the classical lyrics number more than two thousand.
Improvised songs
Free songs are mountain songs composed and sung on the spot, describing life; in ancient times the Yao held song contests for three days and three nights, discussing the past and the present in song and declaring love in song.
Eastern and Western Yao branches
The Pangsang Yao of Ruyuan are divided into the Eastern Yao and the Western Yao, and the two groups share a common language; their folk songs are marked by high pitch, long notes, carrying power and clear tone, and may also be called the Yao long tune.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In the Song and Yuan dynasties they lived by fishing and hunting along the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong province, and at the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming they moved into the great mountains of the central Nanling and lived by slash-and-burn farming. The Yao folk songs of Ruyuan may be divided into two kinds, the recited song and the shouted song; the recited song is used when leading and teaching in a low voice, while the shouted song is sung at full voice towards those far away.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yao Folk Songs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Yao folk songs of Ruyuan are transmitted mainly by oral instruction and example between parents and children within the family, and some inheritors, once grown up, follow a song mistress to learn the art of matched singing, continually improving their standard of performance. The Pangsang Yao folk songs of Ruyuan provide vivid and living material for the seeking, exploring and understanding of the history and culture of the people; they are an important vehicle for the transmission of ethnic culture, and they play a part in the study of Yao history and the promotion of cultural exchange. Zhao Xinrong (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): female, of Yao ethnicity, born in December 1947, native of Ruyuan Yao autonomous county, Guangdong province. From childhood she learned Yao folk songs in the mountains and the fields from elders who loved to sing mountain songs, and took a keen interest in them. After marriage she still kept on singing mountain songs in antiphony with other enthusiasts in the intervals of heavy labour. In old age her enthusiasm for mountain songs has grown rather than diminished, and she often organizes Yao mountain song enthusiasts for exchange. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item Yao folk songs. As a representative inheritor of Yao folk songs, she has for years taken classes and taught apprentices at the county ethnic experimental school and at the secondary vocational school of technical studies for nationalities; she has opened campus training classes for the transmission of Yao folk songs and has taught young Yao men and women to sing them, doing all she can for their transmission and development.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Dai Bisheng 03-0868
- Zhao Xinrong 05-2119
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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