Song of Dong Nationality

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Dong People's song

Applicant: Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Item No.: 59

Project No.: Ⅱ - 28

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Type: new item

Applicant: Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Protection unit: Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County intangible cultural heritage protection and Development Center

A brief introduction to Dong People's songs:

Applicant: Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

In Liuzhou city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, the Dong people sing a song called "galao". "Ga" is a song, "Lao" contains not only the meaning of big, but also the meaning of many people, many voices and ancient. "Galao" is a kind of ancient song which is performed by many people, so it is translated into big song.

Liping Dong's big song is a kind of folk chorus music sung by folk song team in southern Dong dialect area of China. It is mainly popular in southern Liping County and Northern Congjiang County, including Yandong, koujiang, Shuangjiang, yongcong, Zhaoxing, Shuikou, longe, Xiangdong, Guping, Gaozeng, Guandong, luoxiang, etc. Folk custom calls these areas "six holes" and "nine holes".

Dong folk song has a long history and has developed to a mature stage as early as the Song Dynasty. Lu You, a famous poet of the Song Dynasty, recorded in his notes on laoxue'an that "Geling" (Dong people call themselves) was a group guest singing. In the Ming Dynasty, Kuang Lu recorded the scene of Dong People's "long song closing eyes" more clearly in his book chiya, which is an important document of Dong People's big song singing hundreds of years ago. Big songs are usually sung in the collective guest occasions between villages or clans, which is the core content of Dong People's cultural exchange and emotional exchange. To some extent, they reflect and convey the soul of Dong culture.

Liping Dong folk song is one of the most distinctive Chinese folk music arts, and also a rare bright pearl in the international folk music art garden. As a multi part folk song, it has reached a level rarely seen in the world in multi voice thinking, multi voice form, chorus skills, cultural connotation and so on. The representative repertoire of Dong folk songs include yelaoge, gagaosheng, gayinye, gaxi, etc.

Liping Dong folk song inherits the history and culture of Dong nationality with its unique singing way and special organization form. It is not only a musical art, but also an important part of Dong's social structure, marriage relationship, cultural heritage and spiritual life. It has a large number of repertoire and a wide range of contents. It has the research value of social history, marriage history, ideological history, educational history and so on. It is the spiritual pillar to maintain the social survival of the Dong nationality.

The song of Dong Nationality in Sanjiang, Guangxi, is mainly spread in Dong villages along Rongjiang River in Meilin, Fulu and Yangxi townships of Sanjiang County and Dong villages in Luocheng.

Sanjiang songs are usually sung by male and female song teams in the drum tower or around the fire pool during festivals, so as to tell the philosophy of life and teach the knowledge of production and life. According to timbre, Sanjiang Dong People's songs can be divided into male, female, child and mixed voices. According to the genre, it can be divided into seven types: Gulou Dage (gadelou), voice Dage (gasuo), children's voice Dage (galawen), narrative Dage (gajin and gajin), ritual Dage, opera Dage and mixed voice Dage (gasheniesuo). There are hundreds of main tunes, and the representative works are "Ga Gao Sheng" (Gaoshan song), "Neng Mei Gao Jing" (Gaoshan Jingshui song), "Ga Lun Lian" (cicada song), "Ga Yi Yo" (Zhizhi song), etc. The Dong people have no written language, and their great songs are taught and sung orally by sangga (songist), passing down from generation to generation.

Each song is composed of three parts: "Song head", "Song body" and "Song tail". The voice part of a big song is usually a two voice part. In the folk, there are "male voice" (high voice part) and "female voice" (low voice part). Sanjiang Dong folk song is rich in content, variety, beautiful melody, known as the world's "most beautiful sounds of nature.".

With the reform and opening up and the continuous development of market economy, the Dong folk song has been facing the risk of loss. Protecting and inheriting the Dong folk song can play an important role in promoting the cultural construction and building a harmonious society in the Dong area.