Xieqin
01 · Historical Records
Xieqin is traditionally said to have originated in the period of the Tibetan Empire in the 7th century: when the Yalong tribe honoured Niechi Zanpu as its leader, they carried him back to the place where the tribe lived on their shoulders, and from then on people called him Niechi Zanpu.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Xieqin is an ancient large-scale ceremonial song-and-dance of the Tibetan people; in the past it was performed mainly at solemn religious ceremonies or at important events of secular life. “Nie” means the neck, “chi” means the throne, and “zanpu” means king; the name thus signifies “the king on the shoulders”. When the people carried the zanpu on their shoulders, they treated themselves as horses and shouted out the horse’s neigh; from this the “xieqin” took shape. Xieqin integrates poetry, music and dance into one; it is large in scale, complicated in form and structure, and is usually sung, spoken and danced by the performers themselves without instrumental accompaniment. There are few sung dances, while the spoken dances are warm and full of feeling, with rich movements and many variations. A complete xieqin has a vast structure, consisting of a number of song-and-dance pieces each with a title. The opening and closing pieces are respectively “xieguo” and “zhaxi”. Each piece is in turn composed of two parts, slow and fast, or of three parts, slow, medium and fast. Xieqin uses plain, vivid language and vivid metaphors to wish that auspiciousness be spread over the human world; the performance is music-centred, with rich melodies, and the verses are catchy and easy to understand, giving those who watch a sense of beauty. Xieqin is performed mostly at relatively grand festive occasions; in former times the performers were hereditary “artistic labourers” assigned by the Tibetan local government, the nobility and the pingkang (great estates), and a performance required 32 song-and-dance performers, half men and half women, of whom the leading singers and dancers, the “xieben”, were also one man and one woman. Naru Xieqin is divided into male songs and female songs. A performance begins with a few sung sections: while singing there is no dancing, but simple hand gestures may be made in keeping with the lyrics; after the singing, several spoken recitations follow at once and the dancing begins at this point. The words and the dance are closely related, and the content can change with the circumstances. As time has passed, although xieqin has developed to some extent, because Tibetan areas have for many years followed the custom that traditional ceremonial song and dance may not be altered at will, xieqin has basically preserved the appearance of ancient Tibetan song and dance. As the old artists pass away and the number of successors steadily decreases, Naru Xieqin, this archaic performing art, faces a survival crisis.
The opening and closing songs
A complete sheqin is built of titled song-dances framed by the opening shego and the closing zhaxi, each piece falling into two or three sections by tempo.
The song master and thirty-two bonded performers
Performers were hereditary service obligations assigned by the Tibetan government, nobles and great estates, thirty-two in all, half men and half women, with a male and a female song master.
Singing without dancing, then words and dance
The Naru form opens with several sung passages without dancing, then spoken lines on which the dancing begins, words and movement closely joined.
Nyatri Tsenpo, the king on the shoulders
Legend traces it to seventh-century Tibet, when the Yarlung people carried Nyatri Tsenpo home on their shoulders, calling out like horses as they lifted him.
Sung, spoken and danced without instruments
Sheqin fuses poetry, music and dance on a large scale and is sung, spoken and danced without instruments, the speech sections being the richest in movement.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
It is transmitted in Shannan, Lhasa, Shigatse and other areas of Tibet; the xieqin performed around Naru Village, Najin Township, Chengguan District, Lhasa City is called “Naru Xieqin”.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Xieqin · Xieqin.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Naru Xieqin has an archaic musical character and a distinctive manner of performance, showing strong Tibetan local colour and marked regional features, and it has fairly high value for historical and cultural research. Sonam Ciren (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of Tibetan ethnicity, born in December 1949, a native of Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region. He has loved folk dance since childhood, and from 1968 to 1974 he joined the art troupe of the local subdistrict office. The xieqin dances he performs fully express the common people’s praise for secular life and their pursuit of a good life. Representative inheritor of the third-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project Xieqin (Lhasa Naru Xieqin). He is enthusiastic about the transmission and dissemination of the project, has trained a group of xieqin dancers, has led his team actively in all kinds of performance activities, has won awards many times, and is recognised by the local people as a representative figure of the art of xieqin.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Suo Langciren 03-0946
- Ciwangdanzeng 03-0947
- Enwa 05-2277
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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