Folk songs sung in traditional funeral ceremonies in China. Also known as "coronach", "Nocturnal Song", "Mourning Song", "Elegy", "Mourning Drum" and so on. Most ethnic groups in China have the custom of funeral singing or singing and dancing. According to historical documents, "An elegiac is the joy of bereavement. The executioner, the voice of harmony is also. There are two chapters in the lyrics of Wan, namely, "Lu" and "Hao Li" ... It's easy to fade away when people are exposed. That is to say, people's dead souls belong to Artemisia "(Gan Bao, Jin wrote" Sou Shen Ji ",Volume 16); "Zhuangzi wife died, keiko hanging it. Zhuangzi, on the other hand, sits on a square basket and sings with drums and pots "(Zhuangzi Zhile), which shows that the origin of funeral songs can be traced back to before the Qin and Han Dynasties. Funeral songs are generally sung only in funeral rituals and customs after the death of the elderly and middle-aged people. All the elders of the deceased will not participate. Singing forms include solo, duet, chorus, lead singer and chime. There are three different forms of singing: sitting, walking and dancing, which are adapted to the ritual procedures of "wake", "funeral" and "burial". The contents of the funeral song: ① Crying about the grief of losing loved ones and the deep memory of the dead; (2) praise the spirit of hard work and entrepreneurship of the deceased to educate the younger generation; ③ Narrating historical stories and knowledge of secular life; (4) gather people to sing in groups, in order to remember their ambition of harmony and unity. The tunes of funeral songs can be roughly divided into the following types: ① Mourning songs. Most of these songs are based on the intonation of weeping and crying, and some are actually the musicalization of this intonation. The rhythm is free, there is no certain structural pattern, and a euphemistic downward crying is carried out continuously. For example, the mourning tune of Daur nationality, Mao Er of Yi nationality in Chuxiong, Yunnan, and the mourning songs of Dai nationality called "sad tune", "crying cavity" and "crying for relatives" in various places and ethnic groups. (2) folk songs, minor and dance music. For example, the singing style of "Mourning Drum" in Hubei is mostly folk songs, among which Jiayu's set around the city includes three kinds of plates, such as "flat cavity", "high cavity" and "sad cavity", which belong to folk songs chorus. The funeral songs in Daoxian county, Hunan province, such as "Lu Qiang" and "Scattered Flowers" in Xiangyin, are all in minor style. In addition, some funeral songs need to be accompanied by sacrificial dances. For example, Tujia and Miao people in Xiangxi, Yi people in Guizhou, Jingpo people in Yunnan, Mo Cuo Cuo of Hani people, Wo Re of Naxi people and Zhi Gan Shou of Qiang people. (3) chanting songs. Most of them are sung by the priests. A set of "filial piety songs" of Gold Lake in Daye, Hubei, and "funeral songs" of Confucianism in Xiangyin, Hunan, etc. belong to this category. Another part of the chanting songs that sing historical stories, their musical characteristics, have been similar to rap style. Playing funeral drums is a hundred generations of folk customs in Shennongjia. Its origin is so long that there are many different versions. Some people say that it originated from the death of Zhuangzi's wife, and the drums and pots sang; Some people say that Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, and because there were too many dead people, he finally cleverly turned sorrow into carnival; Some people say that it originated from Tang Zilian's monk mourning and drumming to mourn. There is also a plain and credible saying that mourning originated from Chu customs. Because of fear that wild animals would spoil the bones of the dead, they lit a bonfire and gathered people to knock and sing, which was a complete success. Playing funeral drums is a special ceremony to mourn the dead in Shennongjia. Playing funeral drums in Shennongjia is also called "playing funeral songs", "mourning songs", "Yin gongs and drums", "jumping funeral drums" and "playing mourning for the dead". Its main function is to replace the relatives and friends of the deceased to remember the merits of the deceased before his death, wish the deceased to ascend to heaven, and pray for future generations. It is a common funeral custom with strong ancient national cultural traditions and superstitious colors. Shennongjia's funeral drum song is in the same strain as that of other places, belonging to "turning to funeral drums". However, the tone of Shennongjia's funeral drum song is more primitive and desolate, and its content is extremely rich. Heaven and hell, mountains and rivers, birds, animals and flowers, gods and ghosts, life events, ancient heroes, all things included, nothing involved. It is not only praying for gods, turning over dead souls and singing praises, but also an encyclopedia reflecting nature and society. For example, "The Song of Opening the Road" says: "One opens the water house of heaven and earth, the other opens the starlight of the sun and the moon, the third opens the ancient Buddha in heaven, the fourth opens the temple on earth, the fifth opens the five places, the sixth opens the lightning goddess, the seventh opens the founder of Wudang, the eighth opens the donkey kong, the ninth opens the local land and the tenth opens the local city god." Villagers believe that it is a normal phenomenon to die of old age: life in the world is like duckweed on the water, and a thousand years is like lightning in the air, spring flowers and autumn moon. It is hard to stay in popularity soon. Since ancient times, there have been ups and downs, and there will be deaths. Where there is life but not death, impermanence has come to the end of the world, and the dead are advised not to go to their hometown to persuade their children not to be sad. Perhaps it is based on this understanding that the death of the elderly is a natural phenomenon and an irresistible natural law. Therefore, death is not sad, but regarded as a happy event. Seeing old age and dying is driving to Yaochi and returning to the mountains for a hundred years. In Shennongjia Mountain Township, whenever there is a funeral for relatives and friends, singers will be invited to play drums to compete for songs, and relatives and friends will come to sacrifice and play drums all night to "accompany the spirit" and "make a funeral". This is not so much a mourning for the dead as a welcome to the dead. Although death is an irresistible natural law, people would rather live than die after all. The dead are also nostalgic for their relatives and children, and the living are inevitably nostalgic and sad about the departure of their elders. For example, the survival of Qinghua House is deserted by the hills, and the white snow in the ten fields is empty for thousands of years. Therefore, I later asked for food only to see cups, chopsticks, bowls, mountains and water. The green mountains and green waters are still dead for thousands of generations. How to find the sorrow of the filial son holding the coffin? In order to appease the "ghosts", comfort the living and dilute this bleak atmosphere, people not only sing about the dead.