Tea mountain chant

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Chashan Haozi

Applicant: Chenxi County, Hunan Province

Item No.: 588

Project No.: Ⅱ - 89

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Hunan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Chenxi County, Hunan Province

Protection unit: Chenxi Cultural Center

Brief introduction of tea mountain chant:

Applicant: Chenxi County, Hunan Province

Chenxi County, Hunan Province, borders Xupu in the East and China in the south. There are nearly 40000 Yao people here, mainly living in Huangxikou Yao township. Chashan chant, which is widely spread in Yao Township, is a folk song form formed by Yao people in their working life. It has a history of more than 400 years. When Yao people dig tea mountain, they sing this kind of labor chant, which can unify the labor rhythm and inspire the labor enthusiasm.

When people dig the tea mountain, the singers beat the gongs and drums on the top of the mountain, sing the songs of tea mountain, and beat the gongs and drums to encourage the enthusiasm of the mountain diggers. Sometimes it's in the form of one person singing and others singing. The melody of tea mountain chant has the characteristics of high pitched ups and downs, exciting and melodious, bold and graceful, and its singing skills are extremely difficult to master. The singer's pronunciation is very strange, the melody is generally in the high pitch area, and the voice can't even be overwhelmed by the double suona.

Tea mountain chant vividly records the production and living conditions of Yao people in Chenxi. After hundreds of years of circulation, it has gradually become an important part of the local people's spiritual life. At present, with the development of social economy and the change of traditional labor mode, the living environment of Chashan Haozi has changed a lot. This unique folk song art form has no successors and is on the verge of being lost. It is in urgent need of the support from the relevant parties to carry out the rescue and protection work quickly.