Mu Drum Dance
01 · Historical Records
The Cangyuan Wa wooden drum dance originates in the ancient Wa wooden drum sacrifice. In Wa legend the wooden drum is regarded as an instrument that communicates with the spirits and as the source of the nation's proliferation. Four procedures — dragging the wooden drum, entering the wooden drum house, beating the wooden drum and sacrificing to the wooden drum — form a complete ritual, with the dance running through it. The wooden drum dance is not lightly started in ordinary times; it must be carried out step by step according to the traditional ritual sequence on specific occasions such as sacrifices and New Year celebrations.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The wooden drum dance is a folk dance passed down among the Miao, Yi and Wa peoples of Southwest China, performed as dance set to the beating of wooden drums in ritual observance. Its drums are usually made by cutting down a naturally grown tree trunk and hollowing out the interior to shape the body. A wooden drum dance in general forms part of a large-scale sacrificial observance in which the whole ethnic group takes part; the wooden drum serves as the symbol of the group, and the ritual centred on beating the wooden drum and dancing the wooden drum dance is saturated with meanings of ancestor worship and nature worship, bearing the distinct marks of primitive culture. Cangyuan County now has more than seven hundred wooden drums of large, medium and small size, and ninety percent of the people can dance the wooden drum dance and sing wooden drum songs. The Cangyuan Wa wooden drum dance consists of four parts: dragging the wooden drum, entering the wooden drum house, beating the wooden drum, and sacrificing to the wooden drum. At every New Year celebration, Wa men, women, young and old all dress in new clothes and, to the beating of the wooden drum, circle the wooden drum house hand in hand and dance. They express their reverence for the wooden drum by bending the knees and bowing the waist; regardless of age or sex, everyone moves slowly round the circle in the counterclockwise direction, the movements consisting mainly of swinging the arms, walking steps and stamping the feet. On the first beat the right foot steps forward and diagonally to the right, both hands raise with the elbows bent to above and to one side of the head, and the body leans back; on the second beat the left heel taps out a step, both hands swing down and diagonally behind, and the body leans forward. This repeats in cycles, the movements regulated and steady. The wooden drum dance runs through the whole wooden drum sacrifice. The dance is accompanied by the lead singing of those who beat the wooden drum and by everyone singing as they keep time with their steps, and the lyrics mostly recount the nation's history, sacrifices, labour and production, and life. When the wooden drum dance is danced the drums shake the sky, the dancers' hair flies loose, and the movements are rugged and uninhibited, ardent and wild, expressing the industrious and courageous character of the Wa people. The wooden drum is the instrument that communicates with the spirits in Wa legend, is regarded as the source of the nation's proliferation, and is the symbol of Wa history and culture. The wooden drum dance is the culmination of the Wa people's folk song and dance and the most direct and vivid embodiment of Wa culture. It has always been loved by the broad Wa populace and has played an irreplaceable role in bringing the national spirit together.
Dragging, housing, striking and offering
The dance runs through all four stages of the drum rite: dragging the log, housing it, striking it and offering to it.
Knees bent, circling anticlockwise
At festivals the whole village circles the drum house anticlockwise, knees bent and waists bowed in reverence, swinging arms, stepping and stamping.
Lead singing and historical verse
The drummer's lead singing and the crowd's answering song tell of history, sacrifice and daily labour as the drums thunder and hair flies.
Representative pieces
Pieces such as Gaogelon Meng, the hair-swinging dance and Jialinsai have become its best-known representatives.
Chen Gaibao's ritual and drum patterns
The fourth-batch inheritor Chen Gaibao, born in 1939, knows the whole drum rite and its making and beats; his son and disciple now carry on its history and ritual.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Cangyuan Wa wooden drum dance is distributed in the townships and towns of Yanshuai, Danjia, Nuoliang, Menglai, Mengjiao and Banhong in Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County, Lincang City, Yunnan Province; every Wa mountain village and settlement has its own wooden drum song gathering ground.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Mu Drum Dance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In the Cangyuan Wa wooden drum dance, representative works with considerable influence have already been formed, such as Gao Ge Long Meng, the Hair-Flinging Dance and Jia Lin Sai. The wooden drum dance concentrates the achievements and characteristics of the Wa people's folk song and dance, literature, art and religious belief; it not only has high artistic value but also carries research value in art studies, ethnology, folklore studies, religious studies and other fields. Chen Gaibao (recorded in the official archive of associated inheritors): male, Wa, born in May 1939, native of Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. He is familiar with the entire sequence of the Wa wooden drum dragging activity, masters the methods of making wooden drums, the drum patterns for beating them and the various dances of the wooden drum dance, and can recount the history of the Wa wooden drum sacrifice and the related legendary stories; he enjoys considerable prestige locally. Representative inheritor of the wooden drum dance (Cangyuan Wa wooden drum dance), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fourth national batch. He loves the traditional culture of his own people and is devoted to the protection and transmission of the wooden drum dance. His son Chen Weidong and his apprentice Li Aixing have already mastered the history, rituals and techniques of the Wa wooden drum dance and have become the backbone of the transmission of the Cangyuan Wa wooden drum dance.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wan Zhengwen 02-0383
- Chen Gaibao 04-1567
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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