Gongs and drums for weeding (gongs and drums for weeding in Xuanen)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: weeding gongs and drums

Applicant: Xuanen County, Hubei Province

Item No.: 58

Project No.: Ⅱ - 27

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Hubei Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Xuanen County, Hubei Province

Protection unit: Xuanen mass culture center

Brief introduction to the drum and Gong for weeding (Xuanen drum and Gong for weeding)

Applicant: Xuanen County, Hubei Province

As a popular form of folk songs in Tujia inhabited areas, the drum and Gong for weeding grass is also known as "Da Nao song", commonly known as "Da Nao". During the weeding season, Tujia people gather dozens or even hundreds of people to work together. At this time, they often invite two singers to perform in front of the weeding crowd. One is beating drums, the other is beating gongs. They sing and dance with the sound of gongs and drums, while the weeding crowd sings from the side. Most of the lyrics are rhymed to the end, and the content is divided into "Song head" (commonly known as "Introduction"), "please God", "Yang Song", "send God" and other parts. When dancing, the hands swing with the steps, the left hand with the left foot, and the right hand with the right foot. It is light and lively, soft and firm. The music is flexible and diverse. The singers can change their lyrics according to the time sequence and the weather, so as to activate the atmosphere and turn the monotonous and hard-working farming into a lively collective activity.

Xuanen grass collecting gongs and drums, also known as "mountain gongs and drums", is a kind of folk song and drum accompanied by productive labor. Its origin can be traced back to the drum beating sacrifice in the Zhou Dynasty, and then developed into an independent music type. It reached its peak from the yuan and Ming Dynasties to the early Qing Dynasty. Now it is mainly popular in the Wuling Mountainous Tujia inhabited areas bordering Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou, as well as the adjacent Han and other ethnic areas.

Generally speaking, four or more songists sing gongs and drums in front of the labor force. The accompaniment instruments are as follows: at least one Gong and one drum; at most, there are four kinds: Horse Gong, head cymbal, two cymbals and suona. The singing procedure includes three parts: the beginning, the singing and the ending. The beginning and the ending of the song are the fixed ceremony of asking God to send God. The singing of Yangge is impromptu. The singing forms include the lead singer, the chorus, the dressing song, the interlude and so on. The singing is divided into two kinds: high tune and flat tune. There are two kinds of libretto: fixed libretto and impromptu libretto. The multi paragraph words form the structure of the ballad or change the structure of the ballad, and most of them are folk songs. Due to different musical instruments, xuan'en's gongs and drums can be divided into three categories: Wenluo, Wuluo and Jialuo. There are more than 30 gongs and drums, including more than 10 commonly used ones.

Xuanen grass collecting gongs and drums mainly include historical legend songs, long narrative songs, life style love songs, children's songs and other types, with rich themes, involving all aspects of Tujia people's life, and rich ancient cultural relics, which provide valuable materials for the study of folklore, folk literature and musicology. With the passage of time, Tujia people's traditional way of life and labor has changed, the large-scale collective work mode no longer exists, and the living space of weeding gongs and drums has been shrinking. Under the impact of market economy and foreign culture, people are increasingly indifferent to traditional folk activities. More and more Tujia young people have come out of the mountains in Western Hubei, and the artists who have mastered the skills of collecting grass, gongs and drums have passed away one after another. The living have reached the age of decline, and there is no successor to the ancient folk art. Therefore, the relevant rescue and protection work is imminent, and we must start as soon as possible.