Gongs and drums for weeding (Wufeng Tujia people's gongs and drums for weeding)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: daocao gongs and drums (Wufeng Tujia people's daocao gongs and drums)

Applicant: Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province

Item No.: 58

Project No.: Ⅱ - 27

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Hubei Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province

Protection unit: cultural center of Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County

Brief introduction of the drum and Gong for weeding (Wufeng Tujia people's drum and Gong for weeding)

Applicant: Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province

As a popular form of folk songs in Tujia inhabited areas, the drum and Gong for weeding grass is also known as "Da Nao song", commonly known as "Da Nao". During the weeding season, Tujia people gather dozens or even hundreds of people to work together. At this time, they often invite two singers to perform in front of the weeding crowd. One is beating drums, the other is beating gongs. They sing and dance with the sound of gongs and drums, while the weeding crowd sings from the side. Most of the lyrics are rhymed to the end, and the content is divided into "Song head" (commonly known as "Introduction"), "please God", "Yang Song", "send God" and other parts. When dancing, the hands swing with the steps, the left hand with the left foot, and the right hand with the right foot. It is light and lively, soft and firm. The music is flexible and diverse. The singers can change their lyrics according to the time sequence and the weather, so as to activate the atmosphere and turn the monotonous and hard-working farming into a lively collective activity.

As an important part of Wufeng folk songs, Wufeng Tujia people's grass collecting gongs and drums are often accompanied by gongs and drums, which are also called "gongs and drums songs". It is mainly distributed in Wufeng, Wantan, Renheping, Fujiayan, Caihua and other eight towns in Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province, with a history of more than 150 years.

Wufeng grass collecting gongs and drums can be named as "seedling planting gongs and drums", "grass pulling gongs and drums", "firewood cutting gongs and drums" due to different farming activities, and can also be named as "yiluogu", "jialuogu", "Siyang gongs and drums", "blowing gongs and drums" due to the number of gongs and drums. The musical structure of Wufeng's shoucao gongs and drums belongs to banqiang Lianqu style. Generally, there are more than ten singing tunes and tunes, most of which can reach more than 80. There is a local saying of "nine tunes, eighteen boards, thirty-six numbers, seventy-two Tunes". The single three tone song, commonly known as "three tone song", has four different melodic styles: intonation, rhyme, tune and tune. The three tone song composed of two small third intervals clearly shows the legacy of ancient Chu songs.

Wufeng grass collecting gongs and drums have a wide range of themes, including labor production, love life, astronomy and geography, local conditions and customs, ethics, religious belief, culture and entertainment, etc. the representative repertoire can be divided into three categories: "Qupai name", "Qiang name" and "content name". Yangge, halftone, Yisheng, Wuju, Yuege, etc. are the names of fixed Qupai The tunes named by Gao Qiang, Ping Qiang, Qi Ma Qiang, Nuo yuan Qiang, Xiashan Hu, etc. the tunes named by contents include dew chant, get up chant, comb hair chant, Xiatian chant, love song, song to send Lang, etc. The structure of the drums and gongs is complete, and the artists usually follow the rule of "singing the names of flowers in the morning, singing the ancients at noon, and singing friendship in the evening".

Wufeng grass collecting gongs and drums have a broad mass base and a strong function of cultural communication. Some of the ancient cultural information retained in them has important reference value in the research of history, folklore and musicology. Due to the great changes in the modern mode of production, weeding gongs and drums, which are closely related to the old agricultural labor, have gradually declined. In addition, artists are aging, and young people are unwilling to learn traditional art. As a result, Wufeng weeding gongs and drums are in a dilemma for survival, and their inheritance is in crisis, which is in urgent need of rescue.