She Music What are the characteristics of the She music culture?

The Wonderful She Music Culture

The She people are a nomadic people in southern China, and songs are one of the essential elements in their lives for the She people. Whether it's a festival, a marriage or a drinking party, the She people can't help but sing a mountain song. Just because the She people love to sing, it has developed into the current music culture.

The She people live in the mountainous areas of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Anhui provinces in China, with a population of 368,832 (1982 statistics). The She language belongs to the Miao branch of the Miao-Yao language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family, and only a very small number of She in eastern Guangdong use the Bunu language of the Miao-Yao language family. Folk music is mainly folk songs, of which most are mountain songs, commonly known as "Guo", or "Xia Guo" (i.e. She songs). Every year, there is a grand song festival. Festivals vary from place to place, including the Meeting of Relatives Festival, the Festival of the Splitting of the Dragon, as well as the February 2, March 3, June 1, July 7, August 15 and September 9 of the lunar calendar. There are a series of wedding songs when men and women get married.

In the traditional culture of the She people, mountain songs occupy an important position as the main oral literature of the She people. She people call mountain songs "songs", and "songs" have been one of the indispensable contents of She people's life since ancient times.

She songs can be divided into three categories: ordinary songs, wedding songs and wine songs. Because the weeping marriage song and wine song have their unique historical background and folklore heritage, they have been independent from the mountain songs to form a folk music culture with She characteristics, so they are not discussed here.

She songs can be divided into seven categories according to different themes: historical songs, story songs, love songs, labor songs, riddle songs, miscellaneous songs, and liberation songs after the founding of New China (also known as new songs or songs on current affairs), etc., which reveal the social life of the She people from ancient times to the present day, reflect the people's thoughts and feelings in a certain period of history, carry forward the moral qualities of praising the good and depreciating the bad, and express the pursuit of a happy life and the pursuit of a long and happy life. It also expresses the pursuit of a happy life and the longing for a relaxing atmosphere.

Luoyuan's She songs are centered on the local tunes, fused with the tunes of Lianjiang, Jin'an and the southwestern part of Ningde City, forming one of the three major tunes of Fujian and Zhejiang's She songs, the "Luolian Tune".

It is characterized by the close integration of the tune with the lyrics, and the starting tone of the tune is determined according to the tone of the starting word of each section of the lyrics, and people will naturally adjust the song sheet during the singing process.

The paragraphs in the singing process, often in the same tonal tonality (containing wandering horns of the pentatonic scale Gong mode) within the scope of the range and melodic changes, the basic tone as "do, re, ↑ mi, sol, la", the melody of the basic proceeding to "sol, ↑ mi, re, do". The basic melodic progression is "sol, ↑mi, re, do", with more second and third degree progressions and fourth degree jumps, as well as some octave transitions, fewer fifth degree jumps, and more ornamental tones in front of the leaning tone. The speed of the song is generally smooth, and the style is more simple and fresh.

China's first academic book on She music, She Folk Music, has been published in Ningde, Fujian Province, where the She people live. The publication of this book is of great significance for the research and protection, inheritance and development of Chinese She folk music, and is the first "History of She Music" to appear in the history of Chinese minority music, as well as an important achievement of the cultural and artistic circles in Ningde, Fujian.

"She Folk Music" was created by Li Chen, Chairman of the Fujian Ningde Musicians Association and Director of the Art Museum, who spent nearly two decades of hard work to comprehensively collect information about She music and to summarize, sort out, and expound on it.

The "research" part consists of "Min Dong She traditional folk music", "Fujian Ningde She folk two-voice songs and their singers interviews", "Min Dong She mass music life survey", "She music history" and other twenty academic research papers.

The "Creation" section includes five choral She folk songs composed by Li Chen, such as "Source Song", "Song on the Road", and "Farewell Song", and one instrumental piece, "Random Thoughts of the She Countryside".

History of She Music was awarded the Silver Prize for Cultural Research Achievements by the Ministry of Culture; and Double Tone Declaration of She Songs for Two Voices was included in the list of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritages in 2006.