Jiujiang Mountain Songs
01 · Historical Records
Jiujiang mountain songs have been sung in Jiujiang for more than a thousand years; the lines “the boatman's words at the hedge root, the fisherman's song at the mouth of the lane” in the Tang poet Bai Juyi's poem “Abundant Rains, Rivers and Lakes in Flood, Gazing Alone in Sorrow, and Hence a Title Written for the North Pavilion” reflect how widely mountain songs were current in Jiujiang at that time. The Ming-dynasty gazetteer of Jiujiang Prefecture records: “Mountain songs were left behind by the ancients; if you do not sing mountain songs you forget your ancestors”. In the Compendium of Chinese Folk Songs, Jiangxi Volume, published in March 1996, fifty Jiujiang “three-register” mountain songs had already been included. In 2007 the Jiujiang “three-register” mountain songs were entered in the second batch of the Jiangxi provincial-level list of intangible cultural heritage under protection.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Jiujiang mountain songs are a type of mountain song typical for their “three registers” and current in Jiujiang County in the north-west of Jiangxi Province — a county established in the early Han and named “Chaisang”. Jiujiang “three-register” mountain songs have a wide range of subjects and rich content, and their main value lies first in the variety of their registers, which are divided into the high register, the plain register and the low register. High-register mountain songs have a high key, wide phrase spans and a long drawn-out vocal line, and are popularly called “beating the narrow tone” and “straining the red face”; plain-register mountain songs have a lower key and even phrase spans, are fine in their delineation and are good at lyrical narrative; low-register mountain songs are weakly toned, and people commonly use low-register mountain songs to chant long stories. Second, they are sung in spoken language, so that one may at any time and any place, on seeing a person or a thing, be moved by the scene and break into song. Third, the genre follows the five-line form of the gong mode with three registers, and the lyrics often use parallel lines. The distinctive style of Jiujiang mountain songs occupies an important place in the folk music of China. “When my heart says sing, I sing; I have more mountain songs than you; by day I take mountain songs as tea and rice, by night I take mountain songs as quilt and bed; singing mountain songs in my mouth makes my heart glad.” “Sung in the plain language of daily life, they voice the feeling for mountain songs that people harbour in their hearts. With its rich imagination, sincere feeling, plain language and ingenious devices, Jiujiang mountain songs give people endless aftertaste.
Xin Da Jiao Che Si Bu Tou
A Jiujiang mountain song sung by Wei Guihua and Xu Lianzhi in 1979, which won unanimous praise from the experts; it was included in the Compendium of Chinese Folk Songs, Jiangxi Volume and in the Compendium of Jiujiang Folk Songs, and was adapted and reworked by musicians many times over.
High, plain and low registers
The Jiujiang “three-register” mountain songs vary in register and are divided into the high, the plain and the low: high-register songs have a high key, wide phrase spans and long drawn-out tones, and are popularly called “beating the narrow tone” and “straining the red face”; plain-register songs have a lower key and even phrase spans; low-register songs are weakly toned and are commonly used to chant long stories.
Fifty pieces in the Jiangxi volume
In the Compendium of Chinese Folk Songs, Jiangxi Volume, published in March 1996, fifty Jiujiang “three-register” mountain songs had already been included.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jiujiang “three-register” mountain songs are mostly sung antiphonally and improvised during field work, herding and village gatherings; a singer, on seeing a person or a thing, is moved by the scene and breaks into song, and the lyrics are commonly in parallel lines and in the five-line form. In the riverside sandbank areas and the Mufu mountain region the ways of labour differ, so the height of the singing and the length of the drawn-out tones also differ.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Jiujiang mountain songs are transmitted from generation to generation by the method of “transmitted by mouth and sung on the spur of the moment”, and they have a broad mass base. Wei Guihua (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): female, Han, born in August 1956, a native of Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province. She has loved singing mountain songs since childhood. In 1977, when she took part in the county's cultural performance, her singing was warmly received by the audience. The following year she was selected to go to Jiujiang City for a training course of half a month, and received careful guidance from experts of the city and the county. In February 1979 she took part in the provincial folk song exhibition, and the mountain song “New Da Jiao Che Si Bu Tou” sung by her together with Xu Lianzhi won unanimous praise from the experts and was broadcast many times on the Jiangxi People's Broadcasting Station. She later took part many times in city and county cultural performances and in foreign-affairs performances, and the mountain song “New Da Jiao Che Si Bu Tou” that she sang was included in the Compendium of Chinese Folk Songs, Jiangxi Volume and in the Compendium of Jiujiang Folk Songs, and was adapted and reworked by musicians many times over. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Jiujiang mountain songs.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wei Guihua 05-2161
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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