The Origin of Han Chinese Folk Songs in Relation to Folklore

Folk Song (FOLK) originally refers to the traditional songs of each ethnic group, the ancestors of each ethnic group have their own songs since ancient times, the vast majority of these songs do not know who is the author, and the oral transmission, one by one, one by ten, one by one, one by one, one by one, one by one, one by one, one by one. However, the folk songs (FOLK) we speak of today mostly refer to the folk songs of the pop era (FOLK), which are mainly accompanied by wooden guitars, sung in a natural and frank way to express the feelings of a pure and simple life. American folk singer WOODY GUTHRIE's recordings in the 1950s are the earliest recordings of folk songs, so they are generally recognized as the grandmasters of modern folk songs (FOLK). PETE SEEGER and THE WEAVERS continued to promote this type of music. The Vietnam War in the 1960s made anti-war folk singers such as BOB DYLAN, JOAN BAEZ, PETER, PAUL AND MARY the voice of the times.

Folk songs, songs of the people. From ancient times to the present, regardless of the east and west, north and south, each era, region, ethnicity, country; in different geography, climate, language, culture, religion, under the influence of, will inevitably produce a category of human self-entertainment, cultural legacy, or the substance of the life of the catharsis. They will convey their history, civilization and love in different forms, and ballads are one of the important links, which are called folk songs/ballads in sociology or popular culture.

By analogy, I realize that there can be Chinese folk songs, American folk songs, English, Russian, Scottish, Australian or African folk songs, and so on. For example, if you have been to the Oktoberfest on the rooftop of the Ocean Terminal these days, you would have heard a lot of Prussian folk songs played on guitars, accordions and so on.

The character of a folk song/ballad lies in its ability to reflect its origins and environment, its cultural characteristics/quality, and not just in the number and weight of the instruments used. (Of course, it is undeniable that the musical instruments themselves can often reflect the cultural context of the folk songs themselves.) Today, we live in Hong Kong, where the culture of folk music has long been dominated by the Western tent, and most of the folk songs we speak of today are Western (American) folk songs.

America's cultural contrasts (Chinese, British, continental Europe, etc.) are relatively short; in addition to the American grudge songs, dance music, and jazz tunes we hear, in the hearts and minds of the people of the Midwest and West, we hear a lot of second-generation Native American folk songs, such as Country Fork Music by the pioneers, Woody Guthrie's 'This land is my land' and 'This land is my land'. Woody Guthrie's 'This land is my land', Oh Susanna, Michael, Row the Boat ashore, etc. These are classic American folk songs. The Weavers (Pete Seeger), The Kingston Trio, The Highway Man, etc. are the pioneers of American folk songs that I know.

As for Bob Dylan, he is known as the father of modern American folk music (in the sixties it was called modern, but in 2004 we are at the end of the postmodern era). Bob Dylan is known as the 'father of modern folk music' because in the sixties he first wrote a lot of songs that represent the contemporary American land, culture, and the new generation of intellectuals, with his classic rebelliousness, indictment, and his lyrics. American land, culture, and the mentality of the new generation of intellectuals and young people. And these words and songs have really influenced the culture (not only the music culture) of the United States and even the rest of the world, directly, indirectly and from generation to generation.

Ps. As for other western folk singers you can often hear:, PPM's favorites (I believe) are Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Donovan, Joni Mitchell, John Denver .......

The Tang Dynasty poet Cui Yi wrote a song <Yellow Crane Tower> that has been recited throughout the ages, causing Li Bai, who later climbed the Yellow Crane Tower, to sigh at the view in front of his eyes, but he had "the view in front of his eyes that he could not say, Cui Yi inscribed a poem in the top.

Of course, I am not Li Bai, just kidding. Originally, I wanted to write about the topic of "What is Folk Song" from a macro point of view, but unfortunately, Mel beat me to it (a laugh). I'm going to have to add a few bits and pieces here and there.

There is a difference in meaning between folk songs and ballads. The word "ballad" in "ballad" has the meaning of "false" and "nothing", i.e. the so-called rumors and ballads. "The word "ballad" is used to refer to songs that were circulated among the people in ancient times, and the composers of which are no longer traceable, and these are what we would call ballads (of course, they can be called folk songs as well), and that is why we would say modern folk songs or urban folk songs, but not modern ballads.

As to whether there is a distinction between ancient and modern "folk song" in English, I do not have any research and dare not talk nonsense.

It is not difficult to find music in Western operas or Chinese local operas that fully reflects the colorful character and cultural tradition of an ethnic group. However, we would not call it a folk song, not because it is rich in artistic connotations, but because this kind of traditional music, in the era before the phonograph, was a "patent" for the aristocrats of the imperial court, the intelligentsia, or the upper class, and was not popularized by the general public. Therefore, the "popularization of folk music" is the most basic condition for a folk song to become a folk song.

English has been the strongest language in the last century, influencing the world in many fields, and so has folk music. My generation has been nurtured by European and American folk songs, which have been diversified in the 1960s under the influence of market forces, and have reached a state of maturity. In fact, the value and significance of European and American folk songs in music is worthy of our full respect and recognition.

Folk songs are one of the "tools" for people to express their thoughts and feelings, and each ethnic group has its own unique cultural traditions and personality colors, so the styles of folk songs vary from place to place. In my opinion, to play a good folk song, the key to play the true nature of the folk song, the folk song feel, this "feel" word, folk song friends at a glance will be clear; but the more unfamiliar friends of the folk song may not know why. I can't specify what "feel" means, but I'll try to give you two examples to conclude: a friend said to me back then, "Luo Dayou's compositions are really good, but his singing is not so good. I listened to a smile, answered him: "Do you think Luo Wen sing & lt; deer harbor town & gt; sing & lt; the future master & gt; will sing better than Luo Dayou?

Types and Characteristics of Folk Songs

Labor songs, in a narrow and broad sense. The narrow sense refers exclusively to trumpets, with the strong rhythm of sound that goes with labor movements and the function of directly promoting labor as their basic characteristics. The broader sense includes songs sung during labor, such as prairie pastoral songs and tea-picking songs. The latter type of songs, some of which are also sung in conjunction with labor movements, can generally play a role in encouraging and regulating the mood of labor, but there is no obvious strong sound rhythm that matches the labor movements. Labor songs in a broader sense can sometimes be classified as life songs.

Ceremonial songs are chanted and sung in conjunction with folk rituals such as praying for the New Year, celebrating festivals, celebrating joyful sacrifices to avoid calamities, sacrificing to ancestors and mourning, as well as daily customary activities such as welcoming relatives and sending off friends. There are roughly three types of songs, namely, the "know-how song", the "ritual song" and the "custom song". Tactics songs are folk songs and incantations that are believed to have magical effects, such as "Heavenly Emperor, Earthly Emperor, there is a night cryer in my house, and if a passing gentleman chants it three times, he will sleep until the light of day" and so on. Ceremonial songs, is celebrated with festivals, other rituals and other ceremonies combined with the chanting of the song, the main content for the gods to seek blessings, praying for a good harvest, and so on. For example, the song sung by sacrificing Lord Zao to seek blessings and Lord Dragon to seek rain. Customary songs are used for occasions such as marriage, child birth, birthday celebration, funeral, house building, and other red and white events and welcoming guests, such as spreading the tent song, crying marriage song, house-covering song, toasting song, etc. This is the largest number of ceremonial songs. This is a part of the ceremonial songs which are mostly in number, less superstitious and of higher literary value.

The current political songs, the main content is to reflect the people's knowledge and attitude towards certain political events and people. It has considerable literary value. In ancient China, many of the current political ballads appeared in the form of nursery rhymes, and their written records were more often found in the "five lines" of the history books of various dynasties. Current political ballads can be roughly divided into three categories: ① ballads exposing and satirizing rulers, which are the most numerous; ② ballads praising incorruptible and patriotic officials; ③ ballads of peasants' uprisings in the past dynasties, which, reflecting the awakening of the peasants, have the fullest and most politically charged colors.

Life songs, reflecting the people's general social and family life and various aspects of daily labor life, especially the expression of the life of peasants and women are more. Songs about the life of peasants reflect the inhuman life of peasants in the old society and expose the cruel exploitation and greedy nature of landlords. The December Song of the Long Workers, which is widely circulated, reflects the sharp conflict between the long workers and the landlords. Most of the songs about women's lives come from the mouths of folk women. From the childhood when women were discriminated against at birth, to the marriage when they were bought and sold like goods; from the abusive and destructive career of a young daughter-in-law, to the lifelong misery of becoming a wife without any happiness to speak of, they are all reflected in the women's life songs. In a large number of bitter love songs, there is often a longing for a happy life. In the modern songs after the rise of capitalism, the strong voice of the era of resistance often burst out.

Love songs, according to some scholars, probably the earliest in the pair marriage and pair marriage from the husband to live in the monogamy of the alternating period, is the largest number of folk ballads, but also a more popular one, in the successive generations of the laboring people, especially the minority people's love life, occupies a very important position. It can be roughly divided into the following categories: ① confiding mutual love and indicating the criteria for choosing a lover, such as "Silk Thread Drawing Bridge Sisters Dare to Pass", "Gold and Silver are not as one wishes". ② Expressing feelings of parting and missing, such as "Painting you on the eyes" and "Pinch and come to be a person". ③ Expressing the firm love of vowing not to be separated, such as "Willing to be beaten but not to lose the groom" and "Holding hands after leaving the Yamen". (4) Songs of complaint and criticism, such as "To learn amaranth to be red until old age, don't learn peppercorns to blacken your heart" and "Little Sister Lang Duo has messed up your heart". ⑤There are many love songs such as "Family flowers are not as fragrant as wildflowers", which contain some unhealthy thoughts and feelings, but often show the desire and pursuit of a happy life of people deprived of a normal love life.

The term "children's song" came into common use after the May Fourth Movement in China. In ancient times, it was called "children's songs" and "children's ballads". Children's songs have a narrow sense of the broad sense. The narrow sense refers to songs created by children themselves and sung by adults, but the content is in line with children's physiological and psychological characteristics and ability to understand. In the broader sense, they also include songs taught by mothers and grandmothers that reflect the life and feelings of adults, especially women, in the old society, but are sung by children. The so-called "nursery rhymes" that have the nature of current political ballads are generally not true children's songs. According to their functions, children's songs can be roughly divided into three categories: children's songs for games, children's songs for teaching, and tongue twisters for training language skills.

Not only do different ethnic groups and regions in China often have different forms of folk songs, but even within the same ethnic group and region, there are often a variety of styles.

Sentence: For example, Han folk songs, in addition to the seven-word body, there are three, four, five, six, eight words or as many as a dozen words a sentence. Naxi folk songs and Miao ancient songs, almost all of them are five-word sentences, and most of the songs of the Water Tribe are special compound sentences with three words in the front and four words in the back.

Chapter and paragraph structure: four sentence head is the most. Southern Shaanxi, western Hubei, and parts of Hunan, Anhui, and Sichuan provinces are popular for catching five sentences. The two sentences of a song are Shaanbeishentianyou, Inner Mongolia climbing mountain song, the northwest of Jinshanqu, Zhuang "division" body song and so on. Tibetan "Lu" body song, more than three to five sentences into a chapter, three chapters into the first, and between the sentences to pay attention to the correspondence." Harmonized" songs have four lines, and some have six or eight lines. The Lisu folk songs, where two lines are sung, are divided into the upper and lower lines, and the upper and lower lines are required to be in counterpoint. The lyrics of the ditties circulated throughout the Han nationality, each of which has its own style, such as the four seasons of the tune for the four-step style, the five-step style of the tune of the fifth shift, the ten-step style of the ten sends, such as the twelfth month of the tune of the twelfth twelve-step style and so on. Northwest "flower" of Huangshui, Taomin, Longzhong three schools, different formats. Folk songs of various ethnic groups, there are many chapters, paragraphs, the number of sentences is not fixed.

Rhyme: Han folk songs rhyme with the end of the majority, four lines of a more than one, two, four lines with rhyme, five lines of a one, two, four, five lines with rhyme, two lines of a line with rhyme. The Mongolian folk songs are mostly rhymed with the first rhyme, in most of the four lines of a chapter, the upper and lower two chapters into a folk song, generally each line is required to rhyme. In the folk songs of various ethnic groups, there are also waist rhymes, waist and foot rhymes, head and foot rhymes or waist rhymes and tail rhymes for each other. The Zhuang's "Lekouhuan" and the Northwest's "Huaer" have special rhyming methods.

Expression techniques: Bixing, exaggeration, overlapping, harmonization and other techniques are often used in folk songs. Harmonization and cryptic phrases are often used in current affairs ballads to expose and criticize. Puns are more often used in love songs. Anthropomorphism is more common in children's songs. The Naxi's meeting tune, while using a large number of harmonies, anthropomorphizes objects throughout, such as the use of bee flowers, fish and water meeting, as a metaphor for the love between men and women. The style of folk songs varies according to regions and ethnic groups. The Dai folk songs are bright and beautiful, and the Herzhe folk songs are rough. Han Chinese folk songs, the north of the more in favor of bold, the south of the general more euphemistic. But the same as the southern folk songs, Wu Ge is more delicate than Chu Ge. Different ethnic groups or regions also have their own specialties.

The China Central Television (CCTV) has a program called "Charming 28", hosted by Dong Qing, which uses a variety of different techniques to interpret a folk song, and also tells the origin of the folk song.