Grass grass drums and drums

Grass grass drums and drums

Grass gongs and drums, also known as grass chants, are commonly known as "hilarious songs". It is a unique form of folk song art. It is a kind of Tujia folk song that the Tujia people gather dozens or even hundreds of people to do collective work during the weeding season, and ask two singers to beat a drum and a gong to face the people who weed and roar along with the rise and fall of the gong and drum. It is an important part of Youyang Ancient Song, a national intangible cultural heritage.

On June 7, 2008, Laocao gongs and drums were listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list with the approval of the State Council.

History

Wushan "grassland Gong and drum" is a unique form of folk song art. It mainly distributes in Shuanglong Town, Miaoyu Town, Muoping Town, Dachang Town, Longjing Town, Liangping Township and other townships. It is said that it originated in the Ba people period more than 3000 years ago. At that time, people changed from fishing and hunting to farming, beating drums and shouting to drive away wild animals and worship mountain gods, and then evolved into a kind of work folk song.

In the book Sancai Tu of Ming Dynasty, it is recorded that there are gongs and drums in Litian, whose voice is vigorous and vigorous, and its voice is slow and restrained.

During the Republic of China, "Xuanhan County Chronicle" records: "The Tumin people have the custom of"picking grass, Gong and drum"since ancient times. In summer weeding, several families turn to one another, and work in turn for the next week, often gathering dozens of people, two of them beat drums and bowls, corresponding to each other, the workers work hard and forget fatigue, their merits are more than double."

Intangible cultural heritage

In 1982, the cultural authorities of Sichuan Province organized musicians from all over the province to collect and collate Bashan folk songs represented by grass gongs and drums, and published an album. In March, the Tujia folk song "Grass, Gong and drum" in Xuanhan County was listed in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage protection list in our province.

On June 14, 2008, the intangible cultural heritage of Xuanhan County, "Tujia Tujia Grass Drum in Eastern Sichuan" was approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China as the "List of the First National Expansion Projects of intangible cultural heritage".