Tujia Sayeerhe
01 · Historical Records
Changyang lies in the middle and lower reaches of the Qingjiang River. It is the place where the "Changyang Man" fossils were found and also an important area of ancient Ba people's activity. The local funeral dance was formerly called "drums for the funeral"; after Changyang Tujia Autonomous County was established, the custom gradually moved from the mourning family's hall onto the stage and became a regular item in county cultural shows and ethnic festivals.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Tujia "Sayeh" of Changyang, Hubei, is a highly distinctive song-and-dance form of the Tujia people in the middle reaches of the Qingjiang River. It has a long history. According to the "Manshu" (Book of the Man tribes), the Tujia ancestors already had the custom of "beating drums to mourn the dead" and "the whole gathering must dance" in ancient times. "Sayeh" is a traditional ritual song-and-dance. Neighbours gather before the coffin of the deceased in the mourning family's hall; the men sing and dance at the same time, while the women, dressed in bright clothing, watch and cheer them on, and such an activity often goes on through the whole night. The Tujia believe that the coming and going of life and death is like the change of the four seasons, natural and spontaneous; the passing away of an old person who has lived out his appointed span follows the law of nature and is worth celebrating. In this way the Tujia people express their own open-minded view of life and death through wonderfully expressive song and dance. When the dance begins, the song master first beats the drum and calls the song, and the dancers respond to the drumbeats and dance in time. There are 24 sets of routines, including "Wind and Snow", "Phoenix Spreading Its Wings", "Rolling the Body", "Beauty Combing Her Hair", "Ox Scraping Its Back", "Rhinoceros Gazing at the Moon", "Swallow Holding Mud" and "Leaves Joining". The rhythmic character of its movements is to follow the beat in the same direction, bend the knees and linger in tremor, with a 6/8 rhythm carrying syncopated notes. "Sayeh" is an art in which song, dance and music are perfectly fused into one. Its vocal style runs the male voice up an octave high; the tune is an ancient characteristic third that now survives only in the Xingshan area on the north bank of the Yangtze's Three Gorges upstream from the Qingjiang, and has become extinct in other genres of song. The structure of its musical form has much in common with the style of the Chuci, and traces of the ancient sacrificial music and songs of the Ba-Chu region can still be found in it. The song and dance display a commendable and positive attitude towards life, permeated by an open and unrestrained conception of life.
Drumming in mourning recorded in the Manshu
The Tang-era Manshu records that the Tujia ancestors beat drums in mourning and that the crowd invariably danced.
Wind and snow, rolling body, ox rubbing, rhino gazing at the moon
Named routines of the Changyang dance, twenty-four in all, imitating work, daily life and animals.
Six-eight rhythm with syncopation
The dance moves with same-side steps, bent knees and swaying tremble to a 6/8 rhythm with syncopation, rare in Han folk music.
The archaic third-based melody
The male voice sings an octave up in an archaic third-based melody whose structure resembles the Songs of Chu.
Zhang Yanke, the golden drummer
The inheritor Zhang Yanke excelled at drumming and leading the singing, known locally as the golden drummer, and trained many performers.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Changyang "Sayeh" is transmitted mainly among the Tujia villages in the middle and lower reaches of the Qingjiang River in Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, and together with Wufeng and Badong counties it belongs to the funeral song-and-dance circle of the Qingjiang basin. Changyang funeral-dance troupes are mostly organized by village; the song master who keeps the drum is an elder of the village. After the family announces the death, troupes from neighbouring villages come on invitation, and a single funeral may last from one evening through several nights without a break.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Tujia Sayeerhe · Tujia Sayeerhe · Tujia Sayeerhe.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
"Sayeh" is unique to the Tujia of the Qingjiang River and has certain artistic value and academic research value. Qin Ziyou (as recorded in the official file of associated inheritors): Qin Ziyou began training at the age of 16 and, through long practice, comprehensively mastered the various routines and singing techniques of "Sayeh". When he dances "Sayeh" he seeks a dance style of smoothness, curvature and tremor, with marked local characteristics; his movements, which vividly mime production, daily life, plants and animals, have won unanimous praise from the local people. Male, Tujia, born in 1941, died in 2008, native of Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei. Representative inheritor of the Tujia Sayeh in the second national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. Zhang Yanke (as recorded in the official file of associated inheritors): Male, Tujia, born in 1947, native of Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei. He has comprehensively mastered the various routines and performance skills of the local "Sayeh", and is especially outstanding at beating the drum and leading the singing, so that the local people call him the "golden drum hand". He has been active at the grassroots all year round and enjoys considerable social influence. Representative inheritor of the Tujia Sayeh in the second national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. He has already trained a great many "Sayeh" performers, including Xiang Daozhou, Tian Chunting, Chen Zaijun and others.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Tanziyou 02-0365
- Zhang Yanke 02-0366
- Mao Fangming 05-2225
- Huang Zaixiu 05-2226
- Zhou Chunqin 05-2227
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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