Lichuandengge
01 · Historical Records
According to Quan Youfa (aged 69), the direct inheritor of seventeen generations of lamp songs in the Baiyang area of Lichuan, Lichuan lamp songs began in the early Qing dynasty and were formed first by the scholar who failed in the imperial examinations Tan Gongchao (a drum master and song master), together with Tuxiang (from the early Qing to 1949 the place belonged to Lichuan County, Hubei, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China it was reassigned to today's Fengjie County, Chongqing) and Qiao Guofu (nicknamed “Qiao Yaomei”) and others, who combined local traditional folk songs, gong and drum, and coloured lanterns. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China it had already passed through 16 generations — Chao, Fu, Jiu, Yuan, Yi, Kang, Yong, Chang, De, Gao, Nian, Le, Jiu, Tian, Mei and Zuo — a history of about three hundred years to the present day. The boys and girls, the babes and the Ba girls sing together in one voice; whether in their modes, their sentence structures, the regions where they arose and became current, or the ethnic identity of their singers, these traditional songs largely carry on the Ba songs and the bamboo-branch songs sung by the Ba people in antiquity, and they are one of the vehicles by which Ba songs and bamboo-branch songs have survived down to the present in Lichuan.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Lichuan lies on the far south-western border of Hubei Province; it is a county-level city of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. From ancient times to the present it has always been a settlement of the Ba people and of their descendants, the Tujia people. Lichuan lamp songs deal mainly with congratulations and blessings, farm work, scenery and customs, and the love of men and women; they have both traditional sung sections and improvisation. In the lyrics, seven-syllable lines that break into four and three syllables and add filler words (or filler lines) are the most common, and there are also five-syllable lines (or ten-syllable lines broken into five) with filler words (or filler lines). The zhi and the yu modes are the most frequent; the melodies mostly descend, with many small leaps and stepwise motion. The tonal structure is most typically that of the “three-tone core”. The filler words and filler lines are rich and varied, full of wit and fun. With light steps advancing and retreating, stamping out the beat in song, one round of gong and drum, one turn of the boat and one stretch of song — auspicious and ardent. The prop painted dragon boat is an artistic simulation of the dragon-boat races of the sacrifice to Qu Yuan. Rowing a boat on dry land, welcoming the bride and offering blessings — ingeniously conceived. Lichuan lamp songs are the representative of Tujia lamp songs in south-western Hubei, and are the living heritage of a minority traditional music genre on the verge of extinction among China's lamp songs.
Baiyangba Folk Songs
One of the special collections edited by the inheritor Quan Youfa after he had sorted several hundred folk songs.
Funeral songs and bamboo-zither collections
Collections of local folk songs edited by Quan Youfa, placed alongside “Baiyangba Folk Songs”.
Painted dragon boat and cart lantern
Lichuan lamp songs take the painted dragon boat and the cart lantern as their principal props; the painted dragon boat is an artistic simulation of the dragon-boat races of the sacrifice to Qu Yuan, and rowing a boat on dry land to welcome the bride and offer blessings is ingeniously conceived.
Rotating drum-boat-song procedure
With light steps advancing and retreating and stamping out the beat in song, one round of gong and drum, one turn of the boat and one stretch of song — auspicious and ardent; the song master who began to learn at eight can strike different gong-and-drum openings to different lyrics.
Three-tone-core modal features
Lichuan lamp songs have the zhi and the yu modes most often, their melodies descend frequently and use many small leaps and stepwise motion, their tonal structure is most typically that of the “three-tone core”, and their filler words and filler lines are rich and varied.
Seventeen-generation lineage
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China the lamp songs had already passed through 16 generations — Chao, Fu, Jiu, Yuan, Yi, Kang, Yong, Chang, De, Gao, Nian, Le, Jiu, Tian, Mei and Zuo — a history of about three hundred years.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Lichuan lamp songs, also called lamp tunes, are a form of traditional folk singing used by the local Tujia people at New Year and on festivals, going street by street and village by village, taking the ground as a stage, with the painted dragon boat and the cart lantern as their principal props.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Preliminary collecting and sorting indicate that among the people of Lichuan only a little over fifty traditional lamp songs survive, and fewer than ten are still being sung, so urgent protection is needed. Quan Youfa (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Tujia, born in June 1941, a native of Lichuan City, Hubei Province. He began to learn lamp songs at eight, first taking such roles as maid and matchmaker and learning to beat the gong and drum; as a drum master he can strike different gong-and-drum openings to different lyrics. In 1979 he became deputy head of the amateur theatre troupe of Baiyang, beating the gong and drum and singing lamp songs at New Year and on festivals. After 1991 he worked as a drum master full time. He can sing more than two hundred folk songs, including traditional lamp songs, and has both the lyrics and the tunes by heart; he can compose, perform and direct, can apply make-up, and can also strike 140 different gong-and-drum tune patterns. He has sorted several hundred folk songs and edited collections such as “Baiyangba Folk Songs”, “Baiyangba Filial Songs” and “Baiyangba Bamboo Zither”. Representative inheritor of Lichuan lamp songs of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He has taken part in competitions many times and won prizes. For more than sixty years he has been the amateur teacher of the Baiyang lamp song teams, and has taken on disciples and trained more than eighty inheritors of lamp song.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Quan Youfa 05-2162
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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