Balang Drum Dance
01 · Historical Records
The origin of Balang drum dance is connected with the primitive sacrificial activities of the ancient Qiang people. The special prop it uses, the sheepskin drum, has distinctive ethnic and local characteristics, and Balang drum dance takes its name from the shape of the sheepskin drum and the way it is struck.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Balang drum dance is called “Shamu” in Tibetan. It is a folk song-and-dance popular among the Tibetan people of the three Tibetan townships Zangbawa, Taoyan and Bailin in eastern Zhuoni County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. Balang drum dance is generally performed by ten to sixteen people, each holding a balang drum and turning the handle up and down to the rhythm of the dance steps as they perform. The dance integrates singing and dancing. The singing is deep and resonant, the drums boom, the dance steps are vigorous and the rhythm is strong. The melodies are steady and slow, massive and solemn, with a wide range of ups and downs. About ten-odd pieces have come down to us; each piece has its own tune name, a fixed set of performance formulae and corresponding dance movements. The balang drum is a small long-handled drum with a sheepskin head; when shaken, the beads or leather thongs hanging from it make their own sound, and the drumhead is struck with a beater or the fingers. The Tibetan people of the three townships Zangbawa, Taoyan and Bailin in eastern Zhuoni County call it “Shamu”; in the first lunar month drum teams enter courtyard after courtyard to dance, taking the sound of the drum as the beat, and it also carries the sense of driving away evil and inviting good fortune.
The goatskin drum and shamu
Known in Tibetan as shamu, it is danced by ten to sixteen people each holding a goatskin drum that is twirled with the steps.
The first-month cycle
The dance follows the lunar new year calendar: it opens on the fifth, closes on the fifteenth and the drum is enshrined on the sixteenth.
A dozen airs with fixed usage
Its dozen airs each have a name, a fixed use and matching movement, song, dance and drumstroke locking together.
Singing and dancing as one
Song and dance are one, voices full, drums thudding and steps vigorous, on slow and weighty melodies that rise and fall.
Lu Yongxiang and the Daowu drum team
Born in Zhuoni in 1950, Lu Yongxiang formed the first drum teams in Daowu and Jiamagou and teaches the words and melodies orally.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
According to the local custom of Zhuoni, the fifth day of the first lunar month of each year is the starting day of “Shamu”, when Balang drum dance begins; the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the closing day, ending the dance activities, and on the sixteenth day the balang drums are put up in storage.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Balang drum dance is a sacred dance handed down to the present day, in which survive elements of the ancient Tubo folk religious culture; it has research value in religious studies, folklore, and minority music and dance. At present the collection of the sung lyrics and vocal styles of Balang drum dance is progressing slowly, while the older generation of artists is nearly gone; the ancient Balang drum dance faces the danger of being lost, and rescue and protection measures need to be strengthened urgently. Lu Yongxiang (associated inheritor, as recorded in the official file): Male, Tibetan ethnicity, born in August 1950, native of Zhuoni County, Gansu Province. He actively publicises Balang drum dance, teaching learners the sung lyrics and vocal styles by oral transmission and demonstrating the essentials of the movements, and has brought out a group of outstanding inheritors. Representative inheritor of Balang drum dance, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third national batch. He organised the first balang drum dance team of Dawu Village in Taoyan Township and the balang drum dance team of Jiamagou Village, and often led the team in performances, winning high praise from the public. He also worked with the project protection unit and scholars to dictate the historical origins of Balang drum dance, producing written and video materials. Dawu Village and Jiamagou Village in Taoyan Township are the main villages where Balang drum dance is practised; there the inheritor Lu Yongxiang successively set up two balang drum dance teams, taught learners the sung lyrics and vocal styles by oral transmission and demonstrated the essentials of the movements, and at the same time worked with the protection unit and scholars to dictate the historical origins, producing written and video materials.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lu Yongxiang 03-0952
- Yangxueming
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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