Zhongshan Salt Water Song

Zhongshan Salt Water Song

Salt water song is a form of expression of Guangdong local folk songs, which is mainly spread among farmers and fishermen in the coastal and river network areas of Zhongshan, Panyu, Zhuhai and South China Sea, while Tanzhou in Zhongshan is the representative area of salt water song in the Pearl River Delta.

On May 20, 2006, it was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Historical Origin

As early as the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, saltwater songs had been popular in the Pearl River Delta area. In the Pearl River Delta region, people adjust their lives and increase the friendship between villages, gradually forming a custom of answering songs. Most of the places set up singing tables before or after the busy farming season and competed with each other. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, boats were also rolled to the heart of the river to form the "Mid-Autumn Saltwater Song Rolling Platform".

artistic characteristics

The main categories of Zhongshan saltwater songs include long and short sentences of saltwater songs, Gaotang songs, Damuo songs, aunt songs and sigh sister, etc.

Representative Works

"To Flowers" and "Easy Pearls on the Sea" and so on.

Inheritance Significance

Tanzhou is the birthplace of Zhongshan folk songs. In the 1950s and 1960s, Zhongshan saltwater song once flourished. During the Cultural Revolution, saltwater songs were banned. Ten years of fault had a great impact on the saltwater songs in Tanzhou. The 70-year-old may still have a clear memory, while the 50-year-old can only sing a little. With the passage of time, a generation of famous singers, such as He Fuyou, Liang Rongsheng and Chen Shi, who have been the pillars of saltwater songs since the 1950s, have died one after another. Nowadays, there are no more than 10 people who can sing saltwater songs systematically in Tanzhou, and most of them are already very old.

In addition, the influx of foreign cultures and the change of cultural consciousness and value orientation of the younger generation have greatly changed the ecological environment of saltwater songs. Relevant investigations show that most people in the area have no idea what saltwater songs are, and the endangered situation of saltwater songs can be imagined.

The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, Zhongshan Salt Water Song was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.