Yao Zhang Drum Dance
01 · Historical Records
In the past one mother drum was matched with two male drums; later this developed into one mother drum matched with several male drums. Before the yellow mud drum dance is danced, the drumheads must be coated with yellow mud slurry to tune them. Drums are divided into male and mother types, and an old artist of the village plays the mother drum and holds the tempo of the whole performance; the drum scores and the dance steps are transmitted orally from generation to generation by the master priests. After the autumn harvest the villages invite a master priest to choose an auspicious day for the sacrifice to Panwang, and the dancers, holding male and mother drums in mutual response, dance.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Dancing the yellow mud drum dance is an important part of the Ao Yao sacrifice to Panwang. The sacrificial rite is usually held after the autumn harvest, generally by one village or jointly by several villages, and sometimes by a single household. Yellow mud drums are divided into male drums and mother drums; the male drum has a long, slender waist and the mother drum has a thick, short one. When the yellow mud drum is beaten, yellow mud slurry is applied to the drumhead to tune it, and the drum takes its name from this. Those who dance the yellow mud drum dance are all men, performing respectively with the male drum and the mother drum. In the dance the mother drum is the axis and the male drums circle around it. Within the dance the beats of the mother drum are the most important, for they govern the rhythm of the whole dance. The male drums are beaten in response to the beats of the mother drum. Therefore the player of the mother drum is usually an old artist of the village. In the course of dancing the yellow mud drum dance, singing of Panwang songs is also incorporated: a song master leads young women in festive dress who, accompanied by several women blowing wooden leaves, sing while walking slowly around the dancing line. The songs recount the origin of the ancestors and scenes of labour life. The yellow mud drum dance has now gradually developed into a staged artistic performance.
Male and female drums
The female drum sets the rhythm at the centre while the longer male drums circle around it in response.
Tuning with yellow clay
Yellow clay paste is smeared on the drumheads to tune them, which gives the drums their name.
The Pan Wang song procession
A song master leads girls in festival dress, accompanied by women playing leaf whistles, singing around the dancers.
The post-harvest Pan Wang rite
The dance belongs to the Ao Yao Pan Wang rites, held after the harvest by one village, several villages, or a single household.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The yellow mud drum dance is distributed mainly in the Ao Yao settlements of Liuxiang Township and Luoxiang Township in Jinxi Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi; it is a Yao long drum dance with strong regional character. The Yao branches of the Jinxi Dayaoshan mountains each live in separate villages; the yellow mud drum dance belongs exclusively to the Ao Yao and forms the core element of local rites such as the sacrifice to Panwang, deity processions and the ordination rite. The Cultural Center of Jinxi Yao Autonomous County is the protecting unit for this item.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yao Zhang Drum Dance · Yao Zhang Drum Dance · Yao Zhang Drum Dance · Yao Zhang Drum Dance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Pan Zhensong (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Yao ethnicity, born in September 1944, native of Jinxi Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. At the age of 44 he formally became a master priest through the ordination rite, and began presiding over religious rites such as the sacrifice to Panwang, deity processions, ordination and the making of offerings, and danced the yellow mud drum dance in the "Panwang dancing" rite. He is familiar with the various religious rites, masters the method of making the drums, knows the drum scores and dance steps well, and understands their cultural content. He has repeatedly led local yellow mud drum dance teams to take part in competitions and performances at home and abroad, and has done everything possible to cultivate successors. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item Yao Long Drum Dance (Yellow Mud Drum Dance). He has trained seven apprentices, one of whom is a representative inheritor of a regional-level intangible cultural heritage item.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhao Minghua 03-0938
- Panzhensong 04-1575
- Tangqiaoxinergong 05-2263
- Huang Daosheng 05-2264
- Zhao Xiong
- Panjinhai
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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