Li Zhumu Instrumental Music
01 · Historical Records
According to the old artists, Li traditional instruments flourished most in the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns of the Qing dynasty.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The traditional Li instrumental music of Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County has a long history and a distant source, and is current mainly in the Li settlements on the southern foot of Wuzhishan in central Hainan Province. The common Li traditional instruments of this area are chiefly the eight known as the single-log drum, the dingdong wood, the nose flute, the mouth bow, the lie, the koubai, the hollowed ladle and the bida; these instruments carry the atmosphere of primitive social life, being made by hand by the Li people from bamboo, wood and the hides of animals taken from nature, and they vividly embody the life and aesthetic ideas of the local Li people's reverence for nature. The representative Li folk instruments of Wuzhishan city are chiefly the tube ladle, the ladle scraper, the nose flute, the mouth bow, the koubai, the lie, the dingdong wood and the single-log drum, distributed mainly among the Li villages of Wuzhishan city such as Nanchong village in Maodao township. On every festival for celebration and on the third day of the third lunar month, the Li people take out the instruments they have made themselves and play them impromptu, to express their feelings, praise their life and gladden their hearts; some also use them as a means of courting. Li traditional instruments are rare on the Chinese music stage and abroad alike, and the bamboo-and-wood instrumental music formed from them has a strong ethnic character, greatly enriching the treasury of Chinese national instruments.
Luo-ni tune
Li bamboo-and-wood wind-and-percussion music has continued to pass from generation to generation spontaneously in the villages. Its repertory is rich, drawing on labour, courtship, marriage and funeral, ritual, sacrifice and everyday entertainment. A great many works long remained scattered among the people, and only a little over a hundred have so far been collected; among the representative pieces are Luo Ni Diao, Si Qin Diao and Wei Ge Luo Diao.
Si-qin tune
Li bamboo-and-wood wind-and-percussion music has continued to pass from generation to generation spontaneously in the villages. Its repertory is rich, drawing on labour, courtship, marriage and funeral, ritual, sacrifice and everyday entertainment. A great many works long remained scattered among the people, and only a little over a hundred have so far been collected; among the representative pieces are Luo Ni Diao, Si Qin Diao and Wei Ge Luo Diao.
Wei Ge Luo tune
Li bamboo-and-wood wind-and-percussion music has continued to pass from generation to generation spontaneously in the villages. Its repertory is rich, drawing on labour, courtship, marriage and funeral, ritual, sacrifice and everyday entertainment. A great many works long remained scattered among the people, and only a little over a hundred have so far been collected; among the representative pieces are Luo Ni Diao, Si Qin Diao and Wei Ge Luo Diao.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Li folk instruments of Wuzhishan city are chiefly the tube ladle, the ladle scraper, the nose flute, the mouth bow, the koubai, the lie, the dingdong wood and the single-log drum, distributed mainly among the Li villages of Wuzhishan city such as Nanchong village in Maodao township. Local players mostly cut bamboo and choose wood themselves, make their instruments by hand and play them impromptu on the third day of the third lunar month, at wedding banquets and at night gatherings, using the nose flute to convey feeling and the dingdong wood and the single-log drum to mark the beat, forming a style in which bamboo and wood answer one another.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Li bamboo-and-wood music has continued to develop and be transmitted among the people in a spontaneous way, and the content of its pieces is very rich, covering labour, love, marriage and funeral, ritual, sacrifice and entertainment; a great many works long remained scattered among the people, and only a hundred-odd have so far been collected, among them representative works such as Luo-ni tune, Si-qin tune and Wei Ge Luo tune. Li bamboo-and-wood music contains rich information on the development history, production and daily life, human relationships and customs of the Li people, and has research value for several disciplines such as anthropology, ethnology, folklore and the study of music culture. At present, under the impact of fashionable music, Li bamboo-and-wood music is gradually declining, the folk players are running short of successors, most traditional pieces are in danger of being lost, and urgent rescue is needed.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Huang Zhaoan 05-2148
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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