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Various Artists - Folk Music of China, Vol. 15: Folk Songs of the She, Miao & Li Peoples (2021)

Various Artists - Folk Music of China, Vol. 15: Folk Songs of the She, Miao & Li Peoples (2021)

BAND/ARTIST: Various Artists

  • Title: Folk Music of China, Vol. 15: Folk Songs of the She, Miao & Li Peoples
  • Year Of Release: 2021
  • Label: Naxos World Music
  • Genre: World, Ethnic, China
  • Quality: MP3 320 kbps; FLAC (tracks)
  • Total Time: 01:13:30
  • Total Size: 209; 376 MB
  • WebSite:
FOLK MUSIC OF CHINA, VOL. 15:
FOLK SONGS OF THE SHE, MIAO & LI PEOPLES

FOLK MUSIC OF THE SHE, MIAO AND LI PEOPLES
The folk songs of these three minorities each have their own distinctive musical features. The songs of the She are simple, plain, and usually syllabic, while the songs of the Miao and Li are more lyrical, and include longer notes and embellishments. The songs of the Miao are also more dramatic and employ a broader vocal range in comparison with that of the Li. As the recording locations indicate, the She, Miao and Li peoples respectively live in the southeastern coast, southwestern plateau, and southern islands of China.
The She singers on this album live in a hilly terrain in the Fujian province. They are known for utilizing the various mountain resources, such as producing different types of high-quality tea. The main dialect spoken by the She people is similar to the Chinese dialect of the Hakka people, due to their long-term cultural assimilation. The folk beliefs among the She people include Buddhism, Taoism, and various worship of ancestors, ghosts, and witchcraft. The most common belief is the worship of Panhu, who is regarded as the ancestor of the She people.
‘Miao’ first appeared in pre-Common Era Chinese literature, as an ethnic name, while today the Miao people use several self-designations such as ‘Guo xiong’, ‘Mu’ or ‘Meng’. The Miao is a cross-border ethnicity with a large population. In China, they mainly live in nine provinces, all south of the Yangtze River, among which Guizhou province accommodates for approximately four million. Within this province most of the Miao people live in the mountainous area of the Yun-Gui Plateau, which provides them with an abundance of natural resources such as plants, animals, mines and rivers. The She and Miao languages both belong to the Miao-Yao language branch, which also reflects their similarities in culture and frequent interactions in history. Without texts, the Miao language includes eastern, central and western dialects according to different living areas. The Miao songs in this album were recorded in the Southeast Qian Autonomous Prefecture of Miao and Dong, where the Miao people speak the central dialect. The Miao are known for their gorgeous female clothing, which include more than 160 garments. These all differ in length, color, decora­tion of the collar and front placket, type of embroidery and silver ornaments used. The Miao people believe in the worship of ancestors, totem, ghosts, and witchcraft.
The Li people were the earliest residents on Hainan island, with their villages scattered in the middle and south. Hainan Island is a tourist attraction for its tropical landscape and island scenery. ‘Sai’ is the general self-designation of the Li people, but other names like ‘Mei fu’ or ‘Run’ are also used in different areas. The Li language has five dialects, which include a lot of Chinese words; they all write in Chinese. The Li people mainly get by on farming, but also grow rubber trees, Betel nut, coffee plants and tropical fruits. The traditional Li clothing is usually black and blue, but are only worn by the elderly in remote villages now. The festivals celebrated among the Li are almost the same as those of the Han Chinese. Their folk beliefs include the worship of ancestors and nature.

THE MUSIC OF THE SHE PEOPLE
Musical Categories
The She people call their folk songs ‘Guo’, which is divided into monophonic and two-voice songs. The monophonic ones refer to ballads, miscellaneous songs, and costume songs. The Ballads describe both the history (or legends) of the She, as well as stories adapted mainly from Han Chinese literature (as heard in tracks 7 and 8). Track 7 describes a love story between two young lovers who turned into a pair of butterflies. Track 6 features a costume song that is sung when people attend an elderly person’s birthday party.
Based on different interactions between the two voices, there are three ways for the She people to perform the two-voice songs: alternative, harmonic and imitative. This album mainly incorporates the alternative form that is very similar to duets in miscellaneous songs. However, in the alternative two-voice style, the second voice starts before the first voice has finished. This can be heard in tracks 3 and 5.
Instruments and Musical Features
The She people’s ensembles use wind and percussion instruments, which were imported from the Han area. A big ensemble consists of eight instrumentalists playing suona, drums, gongs and bells. A small ensemble includes just four performers with a flute, two huqin fiddles, and a four-stringed plucked lute with a full-moon shaped soundbox. Most of their repertoire comes from the Han Chinese. She folk music adopts the Chinese music system, yet typically uses scales of four notes. With an even rhythm, the vocal range is often within an octave. Most She folk songs are syllabic.

THE MUSIC OF THE MIAO PEOPLE
Musical Categories
Miao folk music includes folk songs, instrumental music, dance music, and narrative singing. There are different methods to categorize the folk songs of the Miao. According to their themes, there are nearly a hundred subcategories, including thirteen subcategories of love songs. And, based on the literary genre of lyrics, there are also long and short songs. The Miao songs featured on this album are categorized based on where, or when, they are sung. For example, they are divided into mountain songs, wandering songs, wine songs, custom songs, sacrificial songs and children’s songs.
Mountain songs are named differently according to the three differing dialect areas. The Miao people speak central dialect, and call them flying songs. Tracks 9 and 13 are both flying songs, which are lyrically sung falsetto in the wild. With free rhythm, the powerful flying songs include great disjunctive melodic motions. The ending notes of a phrase are very long and often include glissandi.
A Wandering song is a poetic name given to love songs from the central dialect area. This is due to a tradition where Miao villages prepare an area for young unmarried people to come and sing together in antiphonal style. The young men wander in from other villages and meet the local girls in this location. The songs sung in this social activity are mostly themed with love. Tracks 12, 14, 15 and 18 are all love songs with lyrical melodies.
Wine songs include long and short songs that are sung in various banquets, festivals, weddings and funerals. Short songs are often improvisations for welcoming guests or urging guests to drink alcohol (as heard on tracks 16 and 17). Long songs, also called ancient songs, narrate their history, legends and folklore. Track 11 is an example of this type of ancient song.
Instruments and Musical Features
The Miao people perform on dozens of blown, percussion, bowed and plucked string instruments, in which the Lu sheng and the bronze drum are very popular, and characteristic. Lu sheng is a mouth organ usually with six bamboo pipes, each fitted with a free reed. The Lu sheng produces different scales and musical ranges depending on its size. As a harmonic instrument, it can simultaneously perform two notes that are a fourth, fifth, sixth or an octave apart. The Lu sheng ensembles within the three differing dialect areas all play various types of Lu sheng and other instrumentation.
Generally speaking, the Miao people who speak the eastern dialect are more influenced by Han Chinese music. Yet, those who speak the western dialect adopt musical features from the Tibetan-Burman speaking ethnic groups. And the folk songs popular in the central dialect area preserve more of their own features. In terms of common characteristics, the Miao folk music mainly employs pentatonic scales, and often include disjunctive melodic motions. Polyphonic folk songs and harmonic instrumental music also play an important part in Miao folk music.

THE MUSIC OF THE LI PEOPLE
Musical Categories
Li folk music, employing the Chinese musical system, includes folk songs, dance music and instrumental music. The five branches of the Li people have each developed their own musical features. The Li people adore singing and it appears in every celebration, sometimes lasting for the whole night. The Li folk songs are sung in Chinese or the Li language. The Chinese lyrics usually contain five syllables in a sentence, while those in the Li language often have seven.
The Li people have an enormous number of love songs including short songs and long ballads. Short love songs can be solo or duet, which are sung indoors as ‘night songs’ or outdoors as ‘mountain songs’. Long ballads are usually sung in the Li language, and includes male tunes and female tunes. Tracks 22, 23 and 26 are all love songs.
Track 28 is an example of a Li lullaby. In Li folk songs, the lullaby is a significant category and includes tunes to be sung to both boys and girls. There are also short and long songs. The long ones usually tell the history of the Li. Unlike the lullaby of other ethnic groups, the Li not only sing a lullaby for their children, but also sing it as the accompaniment to dances performed by sorceresses in rituals.
Instruments and Musical Features
Among various instruments played by the Li people, the yehu, ding dong and the nose flute are very distinctive. Yehu is a bowed string instrument of the huqin family. Its body is made of coconut, which is a special local product of Hainan. Ding dong is a percussion instrument made of two hanged tree stems. Two sticks are used to play ding dong, and it can produce four notes. The nose flute, made of bamboo, is blown with the left nostril. The folk songs in the Li language incorporate more traditional features of Li music. These songs usually use pentatonic scales. The rhythm of the Li folk songs and its lyrics are closely linked.

Tracklist:
01. Lan Shenghua - A Wine Song (04:47)
02. Lan Shenghua - Being in Love (03:46)
03. Lan Shenghua - Song of Four Seasons (04:41)
04. Lan Shenghua - Song of Appointment (04:21)
05. Lan Shenghua - I Miss You Song (03:15)
06. Lan Shenghua - Birthday Congratulations for the Elderly (04:36)
07. Naxos World Music - Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (04:21)
08. Naxos World Music - Xue Rengui (04:57)
09. Naxos World Music - A Song at Miaoling Mountains (01:09)
10. Naxos World Music - A Song of Welcoming Guests at Miao Villages (02:48)
11. Naxos World Music - An Old Song at Jidao Miao Village (05:26)
12. Naxos World Music - A Love Song Solo of Basha (01:29)
13. Naxos World Music - A Song of Xijiang Miao Village (01:06)
14. Naxos World Music - Love Song of Xijiang Miao Village (1) (01:42)
15. Naxos World Music - Love Song of Xijiang Miao Village (2) (01:02)
16. Naxos World Music - Wine Song of Xijiang Miao Village (1) (01:07)
17. Naxos World Music - Wine Song of Xijiang Miao Village (2) (00:47)
18. Naxos World Music - A Duet Love Song of Basha (04:06)
19. Wang Yulian - Don't Want to Leave (01:23)
20. Wang Yulian - An Educational Song (01:43)
21. Wang Gaozhi - Sing All the Songs You Can (01:02)
22. Wang Yulian - A Song of First Lover (02:12)
23. Wang Yulian - Deep in Love (01:12)
24. Wang Gaozhi - A Duet (01:14)
25. Wang Yulian - An Ancient Song (02:11)
26. Wang Gaozhi - A Love Song (01:31)
27. Wang Yulian - The Sun Is Setting Soon (00:56)
28. Wang Yulian - A Lullaby (01:24)
29. Wang Gaozhi - Gun Long Diao (00:48)
30. Wang Gaozhi - A Song of Educating Sons (01:14)
31. Wang Gaozhi - A Matchmaking Song (01:06)


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