Tibetan Music

Tibetans mainly live in Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan and other provinces and regions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, with a population of. Believe in Buddhism (Mahayana Buddhism). Tibetan belongs to the Tibetan branch of the Sino-Tibetan family of Tibetan-Burmese languages, and there are three dialect areas: Wei-Zang, Kang and Amdo. The Tibetan-speaking areas include the whole of Tibet (except Qamdo); Kang dialect area includes Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan, Changdu Prefecture in Tibet, Diqing Prefecture in Yunnan and Yushu Prefecture in Qinghai. Amdo dialect area includes Hainan, Huangnan, Haixi, Haibei and Guoluo in Qinghai, Aba in Sichuan and Gannan in Gansu. The Tibetan people have created a splendid national culture, which is rich in cultural heritage in literature, music, dance, painting, sculpture, architectural art and so on. As early as around the 12th and 13th centuries, monographs on Tibetan national music appeared, such as On Tibetan Music written by Sakya Bandazhi Gonggejianzan. Up to now, the temple has preserved and used the ancient Tibetan graphic music score-Central Shift Music. Tibetan traditional music has distinctive features and various kinds, including folk music, religious music and court music. Folk music can be divided into five categories: folk songs, song and dance music, rap music, opera music and instrumental music. There are obvious differences in style and types of folk music in the three major dialect areas of Weizang, Kang and Amdo. Religious music includes chanting music, religious ritual music and dance Qiang mu, and temple instrumental music; The court music and dance Gaer only spread in Potala Palace in Lhasa and Tashilhunpo Temple in Shigatse. Folk music occupies a major position in traditional music. The folk songs of the central shift spectrum include folk songs (pastoral songs), labor songs, love songs, folk songs, ode to classics and so on.

Folk songs are called "Lalu" in Weizang area, "Lulu" in Kang area and "Le" in Amdo area, which are freely performed in Shan Ye. Folk songs have a wide range, free beat and rhythm, large ups and downs in melody, long and high-pitched, and full of plateau characteristics. The folk songs in Amdo area are also called Jiuqu locally. Pastoral songs are popular in pastoral areas, which are similar to folk songs. There are many kinds of tunes in folk songs and pastoral songs, most of which are in the form of upper and lower sentences, and they are commonly used in the five (or six) tones of feather, sign, Shang and Gong. Ganzi folk song "A Zhong" is a representative one. Labor songs are called "Lexie" in Tibetan, and there are many kinds, and there are specific songs in almost all kinds of labor. Some have distinct rhythms, which are closely coordinated with labor actions, such as beating highland barley, digging, hitting the wall, etc. Some rhythms are more free, such as grazing, plowing and milking. Labor songs have the forms of solo, chorus and chorus.

Love songs include love songs, tea songs and other love songs, which are called "Rai" in Amdo and "Galu" in Weizang. Some love songs are more affectionate, others are more open and free, close to the folk song style. Love tea songs, known as "Kejia" in Tibetan, are popular in Zhongdian, Yunnan and other places. They are songs sung when young men and women get together and drink tea to show their love, including greeting songs, entrance songs, antithesis songs, thanks songs and farewell songs. Folk songs include wine songs, guessing love songs, wedding songs, arrow songs, farewell songs and so on.

① wine songs. Tibetan language is called "Qiang Harmony", which spreads all over Tibetan areas and is sung when toasting at festivals. "Zerou" in Amdo area and "Geer" in Gannan area belong to the category of wine songs. The singing forms of wine songs vary from place to place, some sing while dancing, and some just sing without dancing. The music is cheerful and enthusiastic, mostly in palace mode. Here's an example:

② Guess the song. It is called "Cijia" in Weizang area, "Yemo" or "Gomo" in Kangkang area, and "Harmony Mo" in Amdo area, etc. It is a song sung by Tibetan youth when they get together for entertainment or play divination games, which is widely spread. Youth games in Tibetan areas of Sichuan often use rings as tokens of divination, so they are also called "hoop divination". The music of guessing love songs is relaxed and lively, and the mixed beat of five beats and four beats is often used, with palace, feather and tone-calling styles as common.

③ wedding songs. Wedding songs and singing forms vary from place to place, including wedding songs, leaving home songs, on-the-way songs, wedding songs and so on. Some of them have long melodies, and some are cheerful with the nature of dance music.

④ the arrow song. The Tibetan language is called "Daxie", which is mainly popular in Linzhi Prefecture, Tibet. It is also called "Gongbu Arrow Song". In spring and summer, it is sung while playing dam in Linka, which is a song sung by archers boasting about bow and arrow and archery skills. Singing is accompanied by dancing. Accent, triplet and syncopation are commonly used in music, which is fresh and lively.

⑤ farewell song. Popular in Danba, Sichuan and other places, it is sung by middle-aged and elderly women when they bid farewell to distinguished guests and relatives and friends. The songs are sincere and moving, and they are often used in seven-tone feather mode, which includes changing palace tone and clearing feather tone. Ode to scripture is also called six-character mantra song. In Tibetan, it is called "Manai", which is sung by the people who believe in Buddhism when they worship the Buddha in the temple. There are different tunes in different places. In addition, the melody of children's songs is concise and lively, and the rhythm is lively. Bitter songs, called "Juelu" in Tibetan, have a slow music speed and a sad melody. Zamunie (Liuxianqin) plays and sings, which is mainly popular in Xigaze, Linzhi, Tibet, and Gannan, Gansu. The music is fresh and lively, with a little dance music characteristics, and more feathers are used. Others include hypnotic songs, quiz songs and humorous songs.

Song and Dance Music Tibetan folk songs and dances have various forms and distinctive features. Songs and dances have a wide range of lyrics, such as praising the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains and rivers, praising the beauty of women's looks and costumes, thinking of their loved ones, wishing each other a good luck, and religious beliefs. Since the 195 s, the masses have composed and sung many lyrics reflecting their new life.

Guo Xie, an ancient form of singing and dancing, means dancing in a circle, which is widely spread. It is called Suo in Sakya, Bo or Bo Qiang in Gongbu, Zhuo or Guo Zhuo in pastoral areas, Kang areas and Amdo areas in northern Tibet (commonly called Guo Zhuang). Guo Xieduo sings in festivals, after work and religious ceremonies. Participants hold hands and shoulders with each other, singing and dancing without musical instruments. Fruit harmony music in Tibet is simple, enthusiastic and concise in structure. Generally, it consists of two parts: slow song section and allegro section. The latter is the simplification and contraction of the melody of the former, which takes the foot as the prelude, interlude and ending of the music. Beat is the main thing, but the rhythm often changes in the prelude, interlude and ending. Multi-tone music is based on five-tone style, and individual music is six-tone and seven-tone scale; Commonly used palace, feather and tone-calling styles. Some of the outstanding operas circulating in Kang area have been expanded into a three-part structure by adding a lead singer in front of the slow song section; Triple, quintuple, syncopation, dotted sound and decorative sound are often used in slow songs, and the music is rich and deep, while the melody of fast songs is concise, the rhythm is distinct, and the music is vigorous and dynamic. Pot-houses popular in Jiarong Tibetan area of Sichuan can be divided into two types: big pot-houses and small pot-houses, which are commonly used in seven-tone feather and horn mode. In addition to natural sounds, variations or clear-feather sounds often appear in melodies, and the music style is unique. The following example: Duihui is a song and dance in western Tibet. Dui means highland, which refers to the whole area of Yarlung Zangbo River basin from the west of Shigatse to Ali. Heap harmony is very popular in Lhasa. At first, it was only accompanied by Zamu Nie, and then it developed into a small band accompaniment. The structure of heap harmony consists of prelude, slow song segment, interlude, fast song segment and ending. The slow song segment is beautiful and cheerful, and the fast song segment adopts the method of pulling tightly and singing slowly to make the music cheerful and compact. The melodies of the prelude, interlude and ending are basically fixed, but the melodies of slow and fast songs are different. Palace mode is often used, and there are also feather and Shang modes. There are often interchanges between palace and feather modes in the song, and at the end, the tone is transferred from the main tone to the subordinate, which becomes the unique termination of heap harmony.

The following example is a fragment of a heap of harmonic tunes: Killer Tibetan is called "Page", "Yi" or "Kangxie", which is popular in Kang, Wei and Tibetan areas. Because men lead the dance in front of the team with a horn beard or erhu when singing and dancing, it is called Killer. Killer originated in Batang, Sichuan, and Killer in Batang is famous for its beautiful tunes, rich repertoire and stretching dance. Killer's music is full of singing and concise structure, mostly in feather mode, followed by sign mode and Shang mode, and there are often modes alternation in music. The song takes 6 syllables as a sentence and 4 sentences as a song; Most tunes are free to fill in new words. The following example: Nangma is mainly popular in Lhasa. Nangma's music is basically composed of three parts: medium-speed intro, adagio songs and allegro dance music. The music in the song part is elegant and beautiful, accompanied by simple dance movements when singing; The dance part is warm and lively, the dance is brisk and stretched, and the performers only dance but don't sing. The tune of the introduction is basically fixed; In the dance part, the songs are similar, most of them are Shang mode, and some of them end in feather and palace mode; The tunes of some songs are different, and some songs have close tone sandhi; The form of accompaniment is the same as that of heap harmony.

Heqin is an ancient ritual song and dance form that spreads in Lhasa, Shannan, Xigaze, Ali and other places in Tibet, and is often sung at grand festivals or ceremonies. Heqin is generally composed of many songs and dances with titles. The first and last songs are called "Heguo" (introduction) and "Tashi" (auspicious) respectively. Each song and dance is composed of adagio and allegro, or adagio, adagio and allegro. The music is simple and enthusiastic. The lyrics include human origins, historical legends, praises and blessings, etc. Reba Harmony is a song and dance performed by wandering artists popular in Kangba area. Including drum bell dance, vaudeville, musical, wooden stick dance, deer dance, knife dance, Reba Killer and other forms of performance. Reba Killer's music is the same as the popular folk strings. The drum and bell dance music includes the male lead singer of the scattered board and the adagio chorus. The music is warm, beautiful and full of charm. In addition, there are Zhuoxie (Encouragement) popular in Tibet, Xiongchong and Zhuojian popular in Zhongdian, Yunnan, Duodi Dance and Gaba Dance popular in Gannan, etc.

rap music Tibetan rap music has several kinds, such as Zhongxie, Zhega and Mamani, which are mostly sung by folk artists and monks. "Harmony" means a story-telling song, which is widely spread, and its content is mostly long folk stories or narrative poems, such as "Biography of King Gesar" and "Zangling Nimai Gongjue". There are a large number of vocals, most of which have the characteristics of recitation, and the structure is mostly paragraphs composed of upper and lower sentences and their changes and repetitions.

Zhega is a kind of rap music that is performed by poor vagrants when they beg, or by tourists when they beg for alms. Accompanied by horns and huqin, I played and sang by myself. Some artists only use sticks as props, rap and perform actions at the same time. Some of the lyrics tell stories, and some improvise lyrics, mostly to praise the master's auspicious words. The music is simple and simple, with the characteristics of rap. Mamani is an ancient form of rap. Most of the singers are nuns or folk artists. They hang up axial paintings depicting Buddhist stories and rap the stories in the paintings to the crowd.

Opera Music-Tibetan Opera includes Tibetan Opera (Ajram), Amdo Tibetan Opera (Nanmut), Dege Tibetan Opera and Qamdo Tibetan Opera, which have different characteristics in singing, music, performance and costumes. Western Tibetan Opera and Amdo Tibetan Opera are widely spread and have great influence. Tibetan opera in Tibet has a long history, and its origin can be traced back to the Chisong Dêzain period in the 8th century. At the ceremony of the fall of the Sangsi Temple, artists combined Tibetan folk dance with Buddhist stories to form a pantomime-style dance ceremony. In the past, Tibetan operas were performed in the square, accompanied only by drums and cymbals, with human voices as the actors' voices. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tibetan opera has been put on the stage, and the singing and bands have been reformed, enriching the expressive force of Tibetan opera music. The traditional structure of Tibetan opera in Tibet is divided into three parts, the first part is "dun", which is the prologue; The second part "heap" is the main play; The third part, "Tashi", is the ending song and dance that wishes good luck. Traditional vocals of Tibetan opera are scattered boards with free rhythm, which can be divided into five types: Daren (long tune), Datong (short tune), Blocking Lu (anti-tune), Juelu (sad tune) and Harmony Wood Rhonda (folk song type vocals), as well as some folk songs and dance music. Among them, the long tune and short tune are set by people in each play, and the vocals are named after characters, which are different and cannot be used arbitrarily. There are dozens of vocals, some of which are similar in melody. Anti-tune, sad and folk songs are universal vocals, which can be used by any repertoire and characters. The lyrics are mostly 7-9 words in one sentence, and every two sentences are one paragraph. The beginning and end of "Xiongmalanda" is a aria, and the middle is a recitative rhyme. The number of words in the lyrics is relatively free and can be mastered as needed.

Tibetan opera music in Tibet is closely related to Heqin (large-scale song and dance) and post-Tibetan folk songs. The distinctive "true and solid" singing method (a decorative coloratura) in Tibetan opera singing originated from wine songs and post-Tibetan folk songs. The vocals of Tibetan opera help, mainly by repeating the end of singing phrases. The vocal range of Tibetan opera is generally within octave, and the female voice sings with true voice, and the vocal range is mostly between ~; Male voice adopts the singing method of combining true and false voice, and the voice area is high, often between ~; Both male and female vocals focus on the use of retroflex singing, and the lines are loud and clear.

There are many kinds of Tibetan national musical instruments, such as Zamu Nie and dulcimer. Bow string instruments include horn beard, stick piano, root card, huqin, Juma piano, etc. Wind instruments include clarinet, bone flute, tuba, horn, suona, brass flute, conch, oral string, bamboo flute, mud flute, etc. Percussion instruments include drum, Reba drum, Damma drum, Balang drum, gong, cymbal, string bell and so on. Among them, Zamunie, Niujiaohu, tuba and clarinet are the most distinctive. Zamunie, the six-stringed instrument, is said to have a history of 6 ~ 7 years, and it is the main accompaniment instrument for folk songs and dances, playing and singing by Suoma and Zamunie. Niujiaohu, called "Biwang" or "Biyong" in Tibetan, is similar to erhu in shape, but the piano barrel is made of horns, mainly for strings and folding ga. Because the bow of the piano is short, all the long notes in the melody are played as homophony repetitions of the eighth notes, and the leaning or double leaning sounds of the second or third degree are added to the weak beat, which forms the main characteristics of Killer's music. Vertical flute and bone flute spread in pastoral areas. The clarinet is made of wood, and the bone flute is made of eagle leg bone or sheep leg bone. It has a high sound range, low volume and a shrill voice, and is often used to play pastoral songs. The tuba, called Tongqin in Tibetan, is made of copper, with a non-porous tube body, about 3 meters long, with a big beep at the lower end, which can blow out the pitch and the fifth overtone with a loud volume, and is mostly used in temple ceremonies and Tibetan opera music.

since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially after the democratic reform in Tibet in 1958, Tibetan music culture has developed greatly. Mass art museums and professional cultural and artistic performance units have been set up in various regions, such as the Tibet Autonomous Region Song and Dance Troupe, the Tibetan Opera Troupe, the Qinghai Provincial National Song and Dance Troupe, and the state (district) and county-level cultural and art troupes and teams belonging to various provinces (regions). Famous Tibetan opera artists include Tashi Dhondup (deceased) and Amatsering. The rap artists of King Gesar include Zhong Kezha Bayumei, etc. Folk singers include Amayor (deceased), Poor Buzhen (deceased), Anne and so on. Singer Cai Danzhuoma, composers Bai Denglangji, Ge Sang Daji, and conductor Otsuka Duoji are professional musicians trained after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Luo Nianyi, a Han composer, has long been rooted in the plateau and made valuable contributions to the development of national music.