The Dong Grand Song (standard English translation: Kam Grand Choirs) is a kind of multi-voice, conductor-less, unaccompanied, natural-harmony folk choral music sung by folk singing groups in the Dong region of China. The Kam Grand Choir is mainly popular in the second dialect of the southern Dong language, the center of which is in the southern part of Liping County and the northern part of Congjiang County, which borders it. It is centered in the southern part of Liping County and the northern part of Congjiang County, bordering on it. It includes the townships of Yandong, Koujiang, Shuangjiang, Yongzhong, Zhaoxing, Shukou, Long'ei in Liping County, and the townships of Heodong, Guping, Gaozeng, Guandong and Luoxiang in Congjiang County. Folk customarily call these areas "six holes" and "nine holes". The representative songs of the Dong ethnic minority include "Ye Old Song", "Ga Gao Sheng", "Ga Yinyi", "Ga Opera" and so on.
Da song--Dong language called "Ga Lao" (Gal Laox), "Ga" is the song, "Old "Ga" is the song, "Lao" has the meaning of grand and old. The main singing method of the Dong Song is the polyphonic chorus with "all low and one high". It takes more than 3 people to sing the song, and the more people participate in the song, the better the result. Almost every Dong village has a song team, and some have as many as 10 song teams. Songs and competitions are usually held on festivals such as "Dong New Year Festival", "Eat New Festival", "Spring Festival" and so on. What's more interesting is that villages and villages hold song competitions. At that time, young men and women constantly peeked at each other with their eyes, each other with affection, they often sing this form of song through the first acquaintance with each other, until they tied the knot.
"Rice nourishes the body, song nourishes the heart," is a saying often used by the Dong family, which means that they regard "song" as equally important as "rice". The Dong people regard songs as spiritual food and use them to cultivate their minds and emotions. The Dong people regard songs as treasures and believe that songs are knowledge and culture, and whoever masters more songs is a knowledgeable person. In the Dong area, the song masters are recognized by the society as the most knowledgeable and reasonable people, and are thus respected by the Dong people. So they love songs, learn songs, sing songs, sing for fun, "can sing, can sing more" as the honor, with songs to express their emotions, with songs to talk about their joys and sorrows. Songs and the social life of the Dong family members are related and inseparable, and the various folk songs of the Dong people, especially the Dong Da Song, has become an ancient song that has been sung by them for a long time. As the most important part of the Dong songs, its singing content and expression are closely related to the customs, character, psychology and living environment of the Dong people, and it is a true record of the history of the Dong people and a direct manifestation of the Dong culture.
"The Chinese characters have books to pass on books, the Dong family has no words to pass on songs, the grandparents sang to their fathers, and the fathers sang to their children and grandchildren". This Dong family song clearly indicates that the essence of Dong culture is Dong songs. The Dong people are an ethnic group without writing. From ancient times to the present, they have narrated, passed on history and expressed their feelings through oral tradition. Because of this, the Dong culture, despite the storms of history and the vicissitudes of life, has been preserved by a single branch and gradually attracted the attention of the world.
The Han people have words to pass on books, but the Dong people have no words to pass on songs
The Dong people, a member of Chinese minority, is rumored to be the descendant of the ancient Yue people, with a history of more than 2,500 years so far. They mainly live in four provinces of China, Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi and Hubei, with a population of about 2.96 million (data from the fifth population census in 2000), mainly engaged in agriculture and forestry production, while Liping County in Guizhou Province is the county with the largest number of Dongs in the country, with a population of 350,000 Dongs. The Dong people are not only simple, but also extremely creative. A folk proverb says: "The culture of the Dong people is characterized by three treasures: the drum tower, the great song and the flower bridge". One of the songs is invisible and untouchable, and can only be captured and appreciated with the ears and heart of the unique folk music of the Dong people.
The great song of the Dong people in the Dong language commonly known as "Ga old", "Ga" is the song, "old" has a grand and ancient meaning. It is a kind of "low and high" music, which must be sung by more than three people. Multi-voice, no conductor, no accompaniment are its main features. Simulating the sounds of nature, such as birds and insects, mountains and rivers, is one of the major features of the song, and it is the natural root of the song. Its main content is to sing about nature, labor, love and friendship on earth, a kind of harmony between man and nature, man and man.
The "low and high", polyphonic chorus of the Dong songs is rare in Chinese and foreign folk music. The singing occasion is more delicate, in addition to the usual training, the song in major festivals, collective interaction or reception of distinguished guests from afar can only be sung in the Dong village landmark building Drum Tower, so the Dong song is also known as the "Drum Tower Song". The songwriters are over the age of old, and there is a lack of successors
The Dong Da Song is one of the most distinctive Chinese folk music arts, and is also a rare pearl in the international folk music art world. The polyphonic polyphonic chorus of the Song of the Dong is rare in Chinese and foreign folk music, and has very important academic value and appreciation value. The Dong Da Song is not only a kind of musical art, but also an important part of understanding the social structure, marriage relationship, cultural inheritance and spiritual life of the Dong people, and it has the research value of social history, ideological history, educational history, marriage history and other aspects.
Before the founding of New China, because the Dong people had no written language, for a long time it could only be passed on orally in the folklore, and little was known about it as it was inherited from generation to generation. Therefore, some foreign scholars have asserted that "Chinese music has always been monophonic" (Leipzig, Germany, 1911, "Supplement to Chinese Music", by Feiguer); "Chinese music has no polyphonic progression at all, let alone harmony and chords! " (Chinese Music by Alster, published by Shanghai Publishing House in 1933). Chinese musicians and culturists at that time also had little or no knowledge of the folk polyphonic music of the Dong and other ethnic minorities, so no one came out to refute it.
In fact, the formation of the Dong Da Song has a history of nearly 1,000 years, and this unique Chinese folk music is like a nest of bright and beautiful pearls hidden in the mountains, forests, and oceans, emitting an enchanting fragrance and glittering with light day and night. Until after the liberation of the country during the land reform, only for the old generation of musicians Xiao Jiaju, Guo Kesuwa and other discoveries, and organized music workers deep into the mountains of Liping County Dong to collect excavation, recording and finishing.
In October 1959, the Liping County Dong folk choir organized a strong lineup to perform in Beijing, bringing the people sound and original Dong songs, sung on the stage of the capital city, breaking the closed state of the Dong songs which had been isolated from the outside world for a long time, and causing a strong reaction, and at that time, the China Record Society also recorded the records for the Dong songs. That was an important step for the Dong song to go out of the mountains, to the whole country and to the world.
Liping County's Dong chorus, since liberation, there have been 35 young men and women of the Dong family to France, Italy, Singapore and so on more than ten countries and regions to sing the "Great Song of the Dong". 1986 October 3, Guizhou Province, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture government organization of the Dong chorus of 11, the first time out of the country to go to Paris, France, to participate in the activities of the Autumn Festival, they were in the Chateau de Charlemagne in Paris! The performance was so well received that the curtain call alone amounted to 37 times. The executive chairman of the festival, Markel Vidor, said excitedly after watching: "Beautiful! Beautiful! In the East of a population of only more than a million people of the Dong ethnic group can create and pass on such an ancient and pure, so glittering art, in the world is really rare".
In the 1994 Spring Festival Gala and the 2001 Spring Festival Gala, Liping County's Dong folk songs such as "Song of the Cicadas" and "Bugu Prompts Spring" were sung by the Dong folk song team, thus making Liping County, a wonder of folk art hidden in the mountains, famous both at home and abroad.
However, with the gradual acceleration of the process of human modernization and the in-depth implementation of China's reform and opening-up policy, the Dong folk songs are facing an unprecedented comprehensive impact of modern culture, foreign culture and market economy. The economic foundation and cultural soil on which the Song of the Dong is based is being destroyed as never before, and the Song of the Dong is facing the embarrassing situation of having no one to follow in its footsteps and being on the verge of being lost.
The protection of the Dong songs and the "heritage"
With the Dong songs appearing frequently at home and abroad, experts and scholars in and outside of Guizhou Province have paid more attention to them. 1984, Rongjiang County, primary and secondary schools in the county carried out the "Dong songs into the classroom" experiment. In 1984, Rongjiang County launched the experiment of "Dong songs in the classroom" in primary and secondary schools in the county, and its influence was extended to Liping, Congjiang, Jinping, and radiated to Hunan, Guangxi and other Dong ethnic areas. The "Dong Song in the Classroom" has gone through 18 years of ups and downs and has made certain achievements, but the lack of financial resources, institutional guarantee and teacher support have made it difficult to be practiced. In Gaozeng Township, Congjiang County, due to the increase in the number of people going out to work, there is a serious fault line phenomenon of singers, most of the people who can sing Dong songs are old people over 50 years old, and very few young people have learned to sing Dong songs.
The natural ecology needs to be protected, and so does the human ecology. The rare "species" like the Dong song should be rescued and protected scientifically and effectively as part of the intangible cultural heritage of mankind. Only in this way, human beings can always live in a rich and colorful, coordinated development, continuous progress in the natural and social environment. In such a realistic situation and humanistic concept, Liping County has put forward the action plan of "rescuing, protecting, inheriting and developing the great songs of the Dong ethnic minority".
A pilot base for the protection of the Dong songs has been set up in Yandong Town, Liping County, Guizhou Province, the main popular area of the Dong songs, through a series of activities to establish a virtuous cycle mechanism for the self-development of the songs; to study and formulate a policy of rewarding and naming the singers and masters of the Dong songs; to incorporate the Dong songs into the music education system of the schools; to explore, rescue and organize the dying works of the Dong songs and to write down, record and produce publications. The work of the Dong ethnic minority song is also being carried out.
"If you don't sing, your youth will be like running water, if you are over thirty, it will be like green leaves turning yellow, if your life is short, if you have already spent the spring and autumn, if you have more than enough energy, if you and I go on our way, if we meet together, we should always remember it in our hearts" - this is the lyrics of one of the songs in the Song of the Dong, which fully illustrates the importance of Dong people to their music. This is the meaning of the lyrics of one of the songs, which fully illustrates the Dong people's love for songs. May this melodious, mysterious and heavenly song last forever, and may the world be intoxicated by this fantastic melody. Historically, the Dong area was divided into several "holes", each of which governed a large area (several villages). With the development of history, some holes refer to a general area which is not clear, but "six holes", "nine holes", "ten holes" has been used. "Six holes" is centered on Zhaoxing Pilin in Liping and Longtu Guandong in Congjiang; "Nine holes" is centered on Zengchong and Xindi in Congjiang; "Ten holes" is centered on Yandong and Xindong in Liping. The Dong Da Chop is mainly popular in the areas of "Six Dongs", "Nine Dongs" and "Ten Dongs", as well as the areas or villages adjacent to them. Miao Lan, Zaidang, and Gasho areas in Rongjiang County's Cultivated Hemp Township, which belonged to the scope of "Nine Caves" in ancient times, are also one of the popular areas of Daqiao. Due to the different singing places, performance forms and the gender and age of the singers, dagongs can be divided into "drum tower dagongs", "sound dagongs" and "ritual dagongs", "Narrative Song", "Children's Song", "Opera Song"; or divided into "Male Voice Song", "Women's Songs", "Children's Songs" and so on. Drum tower song, the Dong language called "Gad Lou", which is the different villages men and women singing team in the drum tower singing the main song, the other to the center of the liner notes to the title, there are "sniffing ho top" and "dry Sai "Two kinds of content is mostly love songs. "Dry Sai" is the main tune of the official song, but also the main body of the "ga old", men and women everywhere have their own voice, more popular areas to name, such as "Garland" (Miaolan song), "Gaddi" (Miaolan song) ), "Ga Di" (Cao Di Dong's song), "Ga Zaidang" (Zaidang's song) and so on. The big song of sound, called "Ga Dui" (al soh) in Dong language, is not the main song of Gulou antiphonal singing, but a wonderful interlude in the process of antiphonal singing. Most of the songs are sung at the request of the audience or by the singing team in order to show their voices, commonly known as "changing voices". The lyrics of the songs with big voices are short and small, mainly showing the musical tunes, often imitating the chirping of insects and birds, and the singers will take turns to sing the high notes when they take over, which is beautiful and beautiful, and it is the best way to bring into play the overall singing level of the singing team. From a musical point of view, the sound song is the essence of the Dong multi-voice song. The names of the songs are often named after fish, insects, birds and animals or the season, such as "Garlunlang" (Cicada Song), "Gar Night" (Frog Song), "Gar March" (March Song), etc. The narrative songs, in Dong language, are the most beautiful songs in the world. Narrative songs are called "Gajun" (al jenh) or "Gajue" (aI jebl) in Dong language. It is both a kind of folk song and a kind of music. According to the genre of lyrics, it can be divided into two kinds: "Ga Jun" which sings stories and "Ga Xiang" which sings reasons; according to the music, it can be divided into two kinds: "Ga Jun" and "Ga Du". According to the music, it can be categorized into "Ga Jun" and "Ga Du". Songs are often named after the main characters or the center of the story, such as "Zhulang Niangmei", "Jinhan Lemi", "filial piety parents", "persuade lazy people" and so on. Rites and customs song, Dong language called "Ga Li Xiang" (al liix xangh), is a variety of ritual occasions sung on the general name of the multi-voice song. It is generally divided into three kinds of songs, namely, "road blocking song", "wine ritual song" and "stepping on the hall song", which are sung by the leader and chorus. The children's song, called "Gala Wen" (al lagx uns) in Dong language, is a polyphonic song sung by children when they are playing games and having fun. The lyrics are short, the tunes are cheerful, and they are mainly sung in unison, supplemented by chorus. The names of the songs are mostly based on the content, such as "Ant Song", "Little Goat", "Visiting Grandma" and so on. The opera song, called "Gawa" (al wagx) in Dong language, is a multi-voice song sung during the performance of Dong opera. It is mostly used in the opening or closing of an opera, or in scenes where immortals and officials appear, and is sung by the actors and actresses in the front and backstage, with a warm atmosphere. There is no fixed name for the song. The reason why "Ga Lao" is called a big song is that it should be sung by the Dong folk chorus; secondly, it has two voice parts; thirdly, it is sung in the drum tower in front of the crowd; fourthly, the lyrics are long, and the long song is sung only after 40 to 50 minutes, which often gives a person the feeling of "long song with eyes closed". "The fourth is that the lyrics are very long, and it takes forty to fifty minutes to finish a song.
Da song popular areas of villages and cottages have big song team, these big song team are folk amateur organizations. Free combination of men and women, as few as four or five people, as many as more than a dozen people ranging. Men's and women's singing team is divided into age: children's singing team, teenage singing team, youth singing team, adult singing team, the elderly singing team and so on. Children's song team
is under the guidance of the song master or song brothers and sisters, to receive the initiation of the song training, in order to learn to sing children's songs, but also to learn other songs, to cultivate interest.
Junior song team
is under the guidance of the song master or song brother and sister, began to comprehensive song training, the young girl song team often spinning, doing needlework, while learning and practicing songs, all kinds of songs have to learn, in order to lay a solid foundation for the song. If a visiting team comes into the village to sing, they will stand beside it and apprentice.
Youth Song Team
Under the guidance of the Song Master, they have mastered a large number of major songs and lyrics, and have high singing skills, and they are the main force of the Song Team in this village, and sometimes they also take the initiative to visit other villages. Adult song team, usually assist the song master song brother song sister training, as a good youth song team staff, is the strong backing of the youth song team.
Elderly song team
Mainly for the youth song team as a demonstration, but also the need for old people to have fun, to sing narrative songs. Song team in the most prestigious is the song master, they are song team organizers and leaders, generally older, more experienced. Song masters should have the following conditions: one is the original is an excellent singer, long after the exercise of the song; two is proficient in a variety of songs and singing methods; three is to master a large number of lyrics, and can be adapted and improvised; four is a decent style of work, as a teacher, have the ability to organize and lead; and five is the spirit of dedication. Song masters are the people who have the most national cultural knowledge among the Dong people, and are most respected and loved by the people. In order to promote the excellent music culture of the Dong people, the cultural department of Gejiang County, introduced ethnic music into schools. And the Golden Cicada Dong Children's Art Troupe was established in Chejiang Elementary School to learn to sing Dong children's big songs and other excellent folk songs. It has made remarkable achievements and become a banner for promoting the excellent national culture in the Dong village. Dong Da Song is a Dong folk literature voice polyphonic chorus songs, except for a few areas of male singing drum tower Da Song with three strings big pipa accompaniment, the rest are unaccompanied ten days conductor chorus. The basic tuning of the songs belongs to the natural five-tone plummet style. However, there are cases of modal shift. The common intervals are third, fifth, fourth, seventh, second, rarely sixth, not using octaves and other intervals. Of these, the third is the basic interval relationship in the Great Songwriter's Polyphony, and the third is a concordant interval regardless of size. The Dong family is also very used to the appearance of the fourth, seventh and second intervals, which are not in complete harmony or not in harmony. The big song is basically two voices, the bass is the main voice, sung by the crowd; the treble is all derived, led by one person or led by many people in turn, which is a feature of the big song and a creation of the Dong people for folk chorus. Especially when singing big songs of voice, the liner notes are led by several singers in turn, simulating the chirping of insects and birds, one after another, which not only makes the song continuous, but also seeks for the contrast of sound quality, timbre and volume. The bass voice is transferred to a long main low continuity, retreating to a subordinate position as a background, giving the main character to the high sound impact, and letting it play freely. The "Dong Da Song" is one of the earliest songs in China to be discovered, brought to the stage, edited and published, performed in the world, and noticed by the world music community. This kind of beautiful music really represents one aspect of our country's level. There was once an argument in the world that China only had monophonic music, that Chinese music was one-dimensional. In fact our Chinese nation has a rich variety of polyphonic music, and the Dong Da Song is the best proof of this. Therefore, the existence and development of the Dong Da Song is the pride of the Dong people and the whole Chinese nation.