River Song (Youshui boatman song)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Jianghe Haozi (Youshui boatman Haozi)

Applicant: Baojing County, Hunan Province

Item No.: 597

Project No.: Ⅱ - 98

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Hunan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Baojing County, Hunan Province

Protection unit: Baojing Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center

Brief introduction of Jianghe Haozi (Youshui boatman Haozi)

Applicant: Baojing County, Hunan Province

River songs refer to all kinds of songs sung by boatmen on the Yangtze River, Yellow River and its tributaries. It is very difficult to sail in the section with large water bend and complex landform, so boatmen can only pull the boat forward. The boatman's number was also enriched. According to the different sailing States, river bugles can be divided into several types, including the relaxed "launch" and the relaxed "Pingshui", as well as the highly nervous "Shangshui" and "desperate".

Youshui, the mother river of Tujia nationality, flows through the border of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou provinces and is the largest gathering area of Tujia Nationality in China. In the old days, a large part of Tujia people here were also farmers and boats. During the process of sailing, they gradually formed a special singing form of Youshui boatman's songs to coordinate the boatman's movements, unify the rhythm and regulate the labor mood.

Youshui boatman's chant has a long history, rich content, high pitched and tactful melody, with a strong Tujia music characteristics. Its singing forms mainly include rowing oars, rowing oars, shore songs and evening leisure folk songs. Oar chants and oar chants are performed by one person and accompanied by others. Oar chants are usually sung on the calm river, giving people a leisurely and relaxed feeling. Oar chants are mostly improvised by boatmen, often using satire, exaggeration, metaphor and other techniques, and the melody is not strong. The shore songs include the fiber songs sung by the boatman and the loading and unloading songs. The fiber songs are sung when the boat meets the dangerous beach and goes ashore to pull the fiber. The loading and unloading call is sung by the boatman when they load and unload the cargo. Boatman will sing some Tujia folk songs and folk tunes when berthing at the dock, staying at the bow of the boat for leisure or going ashore to the teahouse at night. The representative repertoire are Laosi song, pole chant, oar chant, oar chant, boat chant, fiber chant, loading and unloading chant, big river flood, small river full, Dragon Boat chant, etc. The song of Youshui boatman is closely related to the labor of Tujia boatman, and has been spread among the local people.

Youshui boatman Haozi was originally sung in Tujia language. Its content covers many aspects of Tujia people, such as human history, geographical features, primitive religious beliefs, production and life. It has irreplaceable important value in the study of Tujia people's national culture. At present, there is no fixed boatman in Youshui basin, and the scope of boatman's chanting is shrinking, which is gradually fading away from the local social life. Without timely protection and rescue, this folk music form with national characteristics will no longer have a place to live.