From worshipping the gods to the reproduction of life, diverse folk songs and dances
Yunnan is blessed with unique biodiversity and rich natural resources, and the people of all ethnic groups have created, passed on, accumulated and developed the tradition of showing production activities in the form of song and dance, recording cultural history, etc. in the long-term production and life and interaction with nature, which has continued to this day.
Yunnan ethnic folk dance has a relatively long history, distinct cultural characteristics and artistic style. In the dazzling dynamic world of dance, it can not only show national customs, history, aesthetics, etc., but also show the mysterious, wild, and simple general cognition and exploration of the objective world. Therefore, Yunnan is known as the "ocean of national dance", one is to say that it is numerous, and the other is to say that it has a rich background of colorful colors.
invigorate
Most of Yunnan is an agricultural culture area, and when it comes to farming culture, we cannot but mention "encouragement". "Drum" symbolizes the spiritual strength of the farming cultural area, which can fully mobilize people's enthusiasm for participating in agricultural affairs, coupled with the legends about drums that are constantly circulating, which paints a strong mysterious color on the drums. To this day, there are still many ethnic minorities who have inherited the inspiration culture, and the folk dances that circulate are "copper encouragement" and "wooden encouragement". Take, for example, the Wa wood encouragement. The Wa people use high-quality logs to make drums, called "wooden drums" or "leather drums" and "big drums". The Wa people regard the "wooden drum" as the source of wa reproduction, and are enshrined as "artifacts", which are difficult to reach and have a very special status. The Wa people believe that beating a wooden drum can dispel the spirits, exorcise demons and bring down auspiciousness, wooden encouragement is an indispensable part of major activities, and beating wooden drums means blessing. On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2020, when General Secretary Xi Jinping came to visit the villagers in the three villages of Qingshui Township, Tengchong City, he picked up the drum stick and sounded three wooden drums in accordance with local customs, wishing the wind and rain smooth, Guotai Min'an, and the sea rising, and extending New Year blessings to the villagers.
Cigarette box dance
Dance can often present the spatial imagination of history. For example, the "cigarette box dance" of the Yi people is said to have originated from hunting, and the ancestors created it by imitating the movements of the beasts at that time; the Bai "Tian Jia Le" dance is an extended imitation of the action of ploughing the field in the process of production and labor, accompanied by the imitation of the action of "barking cattle" and "supporting the plough", which vividly and vividly reproduces the labor scene at that time. At the same time, through these quaint and original action plots, it also satisfies people's needs for dance aesthetics and enjoys the beauty brought by dance.
Peacock dance
In the process of historical development, most of the ethnic groups in Yunnan believe in the relationship between man and nature as "the unity of heaven and man", which is intuitively reflected in religious rituals, folk customs, and folk songs and dances. They revere nature and obey its order, believing in their belief that harmony between man and nature can only be achieved by being friendly with nature. Under the influence of such the idea of the relationship between heaven and man, many original ecological folk dances with their own beauty and reflecting the harmonious coexistence between man and nature have been born.
Among them, the theme of many works is animistic nature, including natural mountains, water, trees and symbolic animals. Among them, the peacock dance is a very representative folk dance of the Dai people in Yunnan, which clearly reflects the worship and love of the Dai people for this animal with both spirit and beauty, and the local people express their emotions and ideals through the peacock dance and praise the beautiful life. For example, "The Spirit of the Sparrow" created by the famous dancer Yang Liping is a natural tribute with the theme of peacocks.
The song and dance of the goats
The Lisu dance Arumu, which is included in the national intangible cultural heritage list, means "song and dance of goats". Originating from the Lancang River Basin of Weixi Lisu Autonomous County, Arumu is a kind of self-entertaining song and dance of the masses, and it is also an artistic presentation of the cultural history and production life of the Lisu people. With its enthusiastic and vigorous and rough and powerful songs and dances, Arumu vividly reflects the historical evolution process of nomadic, hunting, gathering, and slash-and-burn cultivation of the Lisu people. In the long process of migration, the Lisu people's food, clothing, shelter and travel have formed an indissoluble relationship with the goats. For example, people's sheepskin gowns made of goatskin can not only keep warm, but also shield the wind and rain, and are essential items for life. Therefore, the Lisu people's simulated goat habits and creation of the "A-ruler", the dance posture is vivid, the mood is joyful and warm, rich in changes, fully expressing the Lisu people's love for goats and the optimistic and upward spirit of not being afraid of the harsh living environment, retaining the original artistic style and characteristics of the rich and simple.
water
The Dai people like to live at the water's edge, and the water nourishes all things and nourishes human beings to reproduce and live. Performed by dancer Dao Meilan in the 1980s, "Water" revolves around the true feelings between Dai girls and water, expressing the Dai people's love for water, showing a tender and water-like national temperament, praising the nourishment of the source of life to all things, and also reflecting the beautiful life of the Dai people.
Ethnic instruments
There are also a wide variety of ethnic instruments with their own characteristics. According to statistics, there are about 100 kinds of national musical instruments in Yunnan, with a long history, and each of them is full of rich cultural heritage and connotation. In general, Yunnan national musical instruments have two major characteristics: one is mostly local materials, handmade; second, it pays great attention to instrument type and decoration. From any angle, the profound impacts of biodiversity can be discerned.
From the perspective of the choice of materials, the impact of biodiversity on the production of musical instruments is very direct. In Yunnan, there are bamboo forests everywhere, and there are many kinds of bamboo musical instruments. People use local materials to make their favorite instruments such as mouth strings, flutes, sheng, and bamboo pipe organs. In the Yi patriarchal poem "Ashima", it is recorded: "Break the bamboo into four pieces, draw the bamboo into eight pieces, what a good bamboo, take it as a mouth string." "It's a vivid description of making bamboo instruments. Bamboo can be made into flutes, gourds, mouth strings, etc. The mouth strings popular among ethnic minorities such as Yi, Hani, and Lahu, also known as "ringing", are small instruments that are blown by mouth. Lisu people like to play the flute to jump, because the flute is more convenient to carry, simple to produce, low cost, a flute can make the whole scene happy boiling, in the jump play a very important role. People who blow the flute well are usually the "stars" when they jump, which can bring the atmosphere to the climax and are popular with everyone.
Due to the abundant plant resources, the ethnic groups in Yunnan have accumulated various skills of leaf playing through long-term exploration. In Tang Dynasty documents, it is recorded that in the Nanzhao region at that time (present-day Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan), young men and women often expressed their admiration with the sound of leaves when they fell in love. After the 1950s, the art of leaves continued to develop, and poets had more detailed and vivid depictions of leaf blowing. Zhong Qianning wrote in "Wooden Leaves": "Pluck the tender turquoise leaves and stick them tightly to the thick lips. It gushes out such a wonderful sound, with the breath of the MiaoShan countryside swirling... It is as if the entire life and love of the Miao family have been injected into your veins. ”
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Author Affilications:Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences
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Producer 丨 Wang Cheng Editor 丨 Wang Yifan, Xu Yongjin