Gongs and drums for weeding (Changyang folk song)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: haocao gonggu (Changyang folk song)

Applicant: Changyang 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: Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province

Protection unit: national and folk traditional culture protection center of Changyang Tujia Autonomous County

A brief introduction to the drum and Gong (Changyang folk song)

Applicant: Changyang 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.

Changyang folk song, also known as "gongs and drums song", is a song sung by people engaged in agricultural production in the field. Its origin can be traced back to "mangeba dance" and "xialiba people's song" in the pre Qin period. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there have been records of Tujia folk songs in the literature. Changyang folk songs are mainly distributed in 11 villages and towns of Changyang County, Hubei Province. LANGPING, Hejiaping, Ziqiu, Yuxiakou, Yazikou, gaojiayan and other Tujia areas are the most popular.

Changyang folk song is loud and clear, free and unrestrained, and the melody is mostly progressive, and the range is between octave and 10th degree. The first step of the seven degree jump, together with the use of trill in the swing tune, makes the folk song exude a strong flavor of the mountains. Changyang folk song is a pentatonic mode. The modes of Yu, Zheng, Gong and the alternation of Gong and Yu, and the alternation of Yu and Zheng are more common. There are many foreshadowing in the performance. Suspense is often set, and then the topic is solved in an uproar, resulting in a joyful aesthetic effect. In terms of content, Changyang folk songs include creation songs, labor songs, current political songs, love songs, miscellaneous songs, etc., and their singing forms can be divided into solo, duet, one person leading the crowd and so on.

Changyang folk songs are divided into four categories: Haozi, Shengzi, Wuju, Caicha, Qiang and zagezi. Five sentences are the main form of folk songs, which can be sung by different tunes. In Changyang folk songs, "jiuban and thirteen Tunes" is a large-scale divertimento structure, "jiuban" is "Jiusheng", and "Thirteen Tunes" is a divertimento composed of 13 independent tunes with ups and downs, huge structure. The most distinctive structure of Changyang folk songs is the "tail Baotou" structure, that is, the ending sentence or the ending paragraph of each song is used as the starting sentence to reveal the theme directly, which has a preemptive effect. In singing, a song with only four sentences can be expanded into a three paragraph structure by means of complete repetition, lining sentences and repeating ending sentences.

The Changyang folk song has accumulated the cultural information of Tujia people for thousands of years, which has important historical, aesthetic and artistic research value. Nowadays, Tujia people's life and work style have changed a lot, and the survival of the drum becomes difficult. Under the impact of market economy and modern culture, people are increasingly indifferent to the traditional folk activities. The artists who inherit the singing skills of Changyang folk songs are old, some of them have died, and the lack of successors is becoming more and more serious. It is urgent to rescue and protect Changyang folk songs.