AHP 12 Silence in the Valley of Songs: Work Songs from the Sman shod Valley (original) (raw)
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AHP 12: Silence in the Valley of Songs
The text and more than one hundred full-page color plates document Tibetan folk music (particularly work songs), and local life in the Sman shod Valley, Sde dge County, Dkar mdzes Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Bo nyed, a local elder, describes the situation that motivated this timely documentation, "In the past we sang constantly, but now people don't sing no matter where they are or what they are doing. Now everyone is silent." The text includes richly contextualized and annotated transcriptions of the songs' Tibetan lyrics with English translations. Audio materials related to this publication can be found at: http://www.oralliterature.org/collections/zlaba001.html
AHP 39: BEING ANYTHING AND GOING ANYWHERE: AN A MDO TIBETAN AUTO-SONG-OGRAPHY
Sangs rgyas bkra shis describes singing in a pastoral community in Mtsho sngon Province, China. Performances at weddings, family gatherings, neighborhood gatherings, and on the grassland while herding are richly contextualized. Musical instruments, what it means to be a singer, the worries of singing publicly, the introduction of electricity and cell phones and their impact on singing, singing competitions, generational preference for song types, recent prohibitions on alcohol consumption, and access to social media are examined. Musical notation, oral and literary texts, and English translation are given. Sang rgyas bkra shis’ BEING ANYTHING AND GOING ANYWHERE is a rich, vivid, and immensely informative account of songs and singing in Amdo. Written from personal experience but with a rigorous coverage and excellent illustration of music, texts, and contexts, this book is the next best thing to actually visiting Gcan tsha County. A beautiful and invaluable resource.--Anna Morcom, University of London See and listen to videos of all twenty-six songs performed by Sang rgyas bkra shis that are included in this book at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/koknor/albums/72157660291081020
AHP 4: China's Namzi Tibetan Songs, Engagement Chants, & Flute Music
The namʑi are one of several scattered groups of people, officially classified by the Chinese government as Zang 藏 (ethnic Tibetans), who live mostly in southern Sichuan 四川 but also in a few places in the north of the province. Certain of these Qiangic-speaking peoples were once referred to in historical documents as 'Xifan' 西番 (Western Barbarians) (Harrell 2001:69). Strongly influenced by other local cultures, cultural and linguistic connections between these groups and the larger Tibetan communities to the north and west vary in degree. The namʑi who figure in this study live in the vicinity of Xichang City 西昌市 , the capital of the Da Liangshan Yi Nationality Autonomous Prefecture 大凉 山彝族自治州 where the dominant ethnic groups are the Han 汉 Chinese and a major subgroup of the Yi ethnic group, the Nuosu 诺苏 . The namʑi maintain a sense of distinct ethnic identity within their compact communities, though many individuals are conversant in the languages and customs of their neighbors. Among the features that distinguish the namʑi are language, ritual traditions, foodways, aspects of material culture, and traditions of oral performance. The present study is a straightforward, pragmatic attempt to document the particulars of namʑi song and musical traditions comprising the local 'performance-scape'. The primary researcher, Libu Lakhi, is a native of the community who was trained in a specialized mode of auto-ethnography developed by Charles Kevin Stuart and Gerald Roche at Qinghai Normal University 青海师范大学, Xining City 西宁市 , Qinghai Province 青海省 . Drawing on ethnomusicology, socio-linguistics, and the 'performance' school of folkloristics, the model is intended to enable local peoples to document and display their own traditions in a form available to scholars and interested persons on a global scale. This efficient system can be effectively utilized in the sort of small-scale formats familiar to folklorists and ethnomusicologists. In spirit, the system of training is not dissimilar to the methods employed in China since the May Fourth Movement era (1919 to the early 1930s) where college students were trained to collect local song and story texts, methods revived and recalibrated during government-sponsored folklore collecting activities in the 1950s, and again since the 1980s. The present study, however, not only stresses the collection of song and chant texts, but contextualizes them by providing detailed descriptions of the performers and their lives, multi-linear representations of the song lyrics and musical notation, and details of the performance process. While the authors have not attempted to place the songs and music in a greater regional context, the level of detail and documentation will allow the collection to serve as material for in-depth comparative study in regards to other traditions. In the immediate vicinity, comparative studies could be made among the melodies, lyrics, and dynamics of performance in traditions of the various Nuosu and Han communities, as well as the Mosuo 摩梭 people of the Lake Lugu 泸沽湖 area on the border of Sichuan and Yunnan 云 南 where the phrase mada mi, an element of many songs in this volume, is also part of song lore. In a broader context, this study will take on new meaning as it is (hopefully) joined by other works that bring attention to the multitude of sub-traditions grouped under the larger official ethnic categories, as the mosaic of ethnicity in southwest China is further explored, documented, and made available for appreciation to audiences beyond the local. ---Mark Bender (The Ohio State University)
ASIAN HIGHLANDS PERSPECTIVES 64, 2023
A Lovely Long-life Son! features graphic, real-life stories of Lhun 'grub (born in 1991) and his relatives, with memorable folksongs and photos from Mdo ba (Duowa) Town in the east of Qinghai Province, PR China. Two prominent genres of Tibetan folksongs - glu and la gzhas - are precisely categorized and vividly presented in both oral and Literary Tibetan, followed by the English translation and musical notation. The narratives, songs, singers, photographs, comments, and analysis depict the author's homeland from the 1930s to 2020, providing valuable materials to those interested in Tibetan folksongs, culture, education, love stories, community transitions, and social and cultural studies. -Tshe dbang rdo rje ཚེ་དབང་རྡོ་རྗེ། (Caixiangduojie 才项多杰) Qinghai Normal University青海师范大学 In A Lovely Long-life Son! Lhun 'grub, a native Tibetan, takes readers on a journey from his birth and through his childhood within the historical and social dynamics of his home community. This sets the stage for how he learned and performed songs and the songs themselves as sung, in Literary Tibetan and English translation. The performers, the settings for particular song genres, and the lyrics are described, with the music notation provided by Qi Huimin. Readers gain rare, intimate insight into singing culture and its significant role in local cultural identity while hearing Lhun 'grub’s concern for the marginalization of singing traditions in today's rapidly changing society. This is one of the few books richly detailing personal experiences with learning and performing Tibetan songs in a very local context and is a must-read for anyone interested in life-writing, the importance of cultural preservation, and Tibetan Studies. -Kelsang Norbu (Gesang Nuobu, Skal bzang nor bu སྐལ་བཟང་ནོར་བུ།) Lhun 'grub's well-organized collection of songs, life experiences, interviews, and stories in his autobiographical A Lovely Long-life Son! provide intimate insight into Amdo pastoral life in the 1990s. Featured songs include celebrating three-year-old children to eighty-year-old elders, communication between lovers, celebratory moments of reunion, and local entertainment. The lyrics and melodies typify nomad lifeways characterized by the intertwining of human and livestock lives with nature. Lhun 'grub is a gifted singer whose shared authentic experiences of learning, listening, and singing with locals empower and validate the transmission of these songs to future generations of pastoral people and bring back memories from my childhood and youth in Golok, a time when singing was tightly interwoven with daily life. -Rigdrol Jikar (Rig grol རིག་གྲོལ།) Victoria University, Australia A Lovely Long-life Son! Living & Singing an Amdo Tibetan Pastoral Life triggers concerns about the sustainability of Tibetan culture in this constantly modernizing society and the struggles of ordinary Tibetans to maintain their culture and identity. Lhun 'grub is fortunate to have been born and nurtured in his native culture with its joys and challenges. Unfortunately, the happiness Lhun 'grub experienced with song and singing will likely not be shared by younger Tibetan generations, including Lhun 'grub's children. Poignant accounts of his childhood, interviews with singers, beautiful lyrics, valuable music notation and commentary, and amazing photographs make this book invaluable documentation. -Klu rgyal 'bum ཀླུ་རྒྱལ་འབུམ། Lhun 'grub, born in a black yak-hair tent in Amdo in 1991, recalls his life of songs and singing occasions as an integral experience of being a member of a mobile pastoralist community herding yaks, sheep, and horses. In many ways, his early life differs little from that of his parents and grandparents. Three life narratives plus biographical sketches of other community members allow for a rich appreciation of the social circumstances in a frontier space where wolves and bandits were constant threats. Rifles, horses, and idealized manhood were no-nonsense responses to living on the periphery. His childhood memories and elders' accounts convey intimate knowledge of a culture of songs and singing that was, in sharp contrast to today's world, far more than mere entertainment. Lhun 'grub's portraits of singers are a meaningful tribute. Moreover, lyrics transcribed in multiple Tibetan formats with English translation, plus musical notation (by Qi Huimin), provide readers with an exemplary model of weaving songs, music, life, and memories into a precious tapestry of Tibetan community life. This book will greatly interest scholars and students of the Tibetosphere, Tibetan music, cultural preservation, local history, indigeneity, and the impact of globalization and modernization on once remote, traditional peoples. -Gengqiu Gelai (Konchok Gelek, Dkon mchog dge legs དཀོན་མཆོག་དགེ་ལེགས།) University of Zurich A Lovely Long-life Son! is an exquisite achievement in the genre of Tibetan ethnoautobiography, highlighting the impact of accelerating access to digital media and use. Exploring and documenting Tibetan traditional songs and the lives of their practitioners in an Amdo Tibetan pastoral community, this is essential reading for those interested in Tibetan traditional singing and the changing cultural landscapes of Tibetan pastoral lives. -Tshe dpal rdo rje ཚེ་དཔལ་རྡོ་རྗེ། University of Canterbury As the title suggests, Living & Singing an Amdo Tibetan Pastoral Life does precisely that in depicting Lhun 'grub's life through the celebration of songs and how they convey a wide range of intentions and emotions from lamentations to romantic love to praising religious personalities. Lyrics in oral and Literary Tibetan (Tibetan script and Wylie) with English translation and music notation (thanks to Qi Huimin) provide an invaluable resource of interest to readers and scholars of various disciplines. Born in 1991, before the ubiquitous presence of social media via cell phones, Lhun 'grub experienced a traditional education among Tibetan nomad community members as they maintained and enhanced cross-generational connections among people of varying social status (religious figures, political leaders, men, women, children, thieves) and connections with the surrounding environment and animals through singing. Of note is how antiphonal singing resembles Namuyi Tibetans' singing during weddings and gatherings of relatives - a powerful artistic, joyful way of communication transcending mere conventional linguistic expression. This book is invaluable. -Li Jianfu 李建富 (Libu Lakhi, Zla ba bstan 'dzin ཟླ་བ་བསྟན་འཛིན།) Qinghai Normal University 青海师范大学 Lhun 'grub's ethnographic description of his pastoral life, interlaced with traditional A mdo Tibetan folk songs, is a valuable record detailing songs, singing, and singers that now confront unprecedented challenges amid China's transformative modernity. Though some find Tibetan folk songs annoying, given their remarkable high-pitch and (to them) unfathomable lyrics, others who do understand may burst into tears when a good singer performs - testimony to the songs' expressive power. Meticulous contextualization of traditional folk song performance, meanings of songs and singing, ways of singing, song genres, and sketches of singers' lives give profound insight into the world of Tibetan singers in a fast-changing world. -Nyangchak (Snying lcags rgyal སྙིང་ལྕགས་རྒྱལ།) Living & Singing an Amdo Tibetan Pastoral Life is a beautiful ethnography of singers, songs, and life in an Amdo pastoral community. Lhun 'grub's own and other locals' rich accounts of their experiences introduce readers to a traditional herding society where songs were central to the communities' value system, serving a deep purpose beyond just entertainment. Song varieties are presented in rich social and cultural contexts through the intimacy of lived interactions with songs and singing. These lives, memories, and hopes demonstrate a major concern with the imminent loss of local song lore transmission. -Rin chen rdo rje རིན་ཆེན་རྡོ་རྗེ། Lanzhou University Living & Singing an Amdo Tibetan Pastoral Life is a profoundly personal ethnographic account with fine observations focused on Tibetan songscapes. Lhun drub's engagement with various Tibetan songs and singers from childhood to young adulthood, and his contemporary observations of how and why traditional Tibetan songs were learned, the performance contexts, the texts as sung and in Literary Tibetan, English translation, and music notation (by Qi Huimin) are extremely valuable. This book is beautifully written and intensely observed with thoroughly translated Tibetan song texts. Requisite reading for a better understanding of pastoral life in the last three decades. -Duojie Zhaxi (Rdo rje bkra shis རྡོ་རྗེ་བཀྲ་ཤིས།) Qinghai Minzu University
ASIAN HIGHLANDS PERSPECTIVES, 2023
Chos skyong skyabs. 2023. Traditional Tibetan Songs, Instruments, and a Dmangs glu Singer in Mdo ba (Duowa) Town, Mtsho sngon (Qinghai) Province, PR China. Asian Highlands Perspectives 63:36-97. This article focuses on pastoral Mdo ba (Duowa) Town, Thun rin (Tongren) City, Rma lho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Mtsho sngon (Qinghai) Province, PR China. I examine my personal experiences related to local dmangs glu and la ye, traditional songs (dmangs glu/glu 'folk songs', la ye (la gzhas) 'love songs', and rdung len 'singing with Tibetan lute and mandolin'), local musical instruments (sgra snyan 'mandolin', mnga' ris sgra snyan 'Tibetan lute', and gling bu 'flute'), a local dmangs glu singer (Sgrol ma skyabs, b. 1978), and the results of surveys on attitudes toward traditional Tibetan songs among locals in Mdo ba Town and students in a boarding primary school in a pastoral area in Mgo log (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Mtsho sngon Province. Five photographs are included.
LADAKHI TRADITIONAL SONGS: A CULTURAL, MUSICAL, AND LITERARY STUDY
This dissertation examines the place of traditional songs in the Tibetan Buddhist culture of the former Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh. I look at how Buddhism and pre-Buddhist religion informed the texts and performance contexts of traditional songs, and how Ladakhi songs represent cultural self-images through associated musical, textual, and visual tropes. Many songs of the past, both from the old royal house and the rural Buddhist populations, reflect the socio-political structure of Ladakhi society. Some songs reflect a pan-Tibetan identity, connecting the former Namgyal dynasty to both the legendary King Gesar and Nyatri Tsangpo, the historical founder of the Tibetan Yarlung dynasty. Nevertheless, a distinct Ladakhi identity is consistently asserted. A number of songs contain texts that evoke a mandala or symbolic representation of the world according to Vajrayana Buddhist iconography, ritual and meditative visualization practices. These mandala descriptions depict the social order of the kingdom, descending from the heavens, to the Buddhist clergy, to the king and nobles, to the common folk. As the region has become more integrated into modern India, Ladakhi music has moved into modern media space, being variously portrayed through scholarly works, concerts, mass media, and the internet. An examination of contemporary representations of “tradition” and ethnic identity in traditional music shows how Ladakhis from various walks of life view the music and song texts, both as producers and consumers. Situated as it was on the caravan routes between India, Tibet, China, and Central Asia, Ladakhi culture developed distinctive hybrid characteristics, including in its musical styles. Analysis of the performance practices, musical structures, form, and textual content of songs clearly indicates a fusion of characteristics of Middle Eastern, Balti, Central Asian, and Tibetan origin. Looking at songs associated with the Namgyal dynasty court, I have found them to be part of a continuum of Tibetan high literary culture, combined with complex instrumental music practices. As such, I make the argument that these genres should be considered to be art music.
Echo from the Mountains: Documentation and Revitalization of Liangmai Folksongs
Lokaratna E-Journal, Folklore Foundation India, 2021
Folk song plays a very significant role in the socio-cultural life of Liangmai people. It is a medium to express pleasure and pain, sorrow and joy, spiritual and moral values, and traditional and cultural knowledge. It is a rich form of cultural heritage that contributes towards maintaining the history of the people and plays vital role in connecting generations, establishing cultural identity and helps transmit cultural values, beliefs, knowledge, etc. The notable significant of these folk songs is that people do not learn it through established institution, but by participation. They are narrated from memory and transmitted verbally from one generation to another. Liangmai has very rich repository of folk songs and these songs are referred to as pou-peh lui, meaning ‘grandfather-grandmother song’. Different genre of Liangmai folk songs may be conveniently classified as songs of love and yearning, work songs, recreational and merrymaking songs, village guarding songs, rhymes, children songs and lullabies. The Liangmai community, however, is undergoing a stage of transition due to the influence of modernization thus causing a neglect to the ethos of traditional culture and the oral tradition. Many facets of their culture, like singing of folk songs, are no longer practice by the current generation. Folk songs have been replaced by Christian hymns in most domains in present Liangmai society. As such many Liangmai youths do not realize the importance of their folk songs. However, if the vibrancy of these songs is taught to these young people there are high chances of reviving the once popular folk singing tradition. This paper is an attempt to unearth the beautiful world of folk songs in Liangmai culture and document it. The study explores different genres of Liangmai folk songs and the role it played in building society, acquiring and transmitting knowledge and wisdom. The paper aims to bring back the ‘echo from the mountains’ in the present modern society.