The songs played by the dead with gongs and drums are called funeral songs, funeral songs.

Custom songs sung in traditional Chinese folk funeral rituals. It is also called "funeral song", "night song", "filial piety song", "elegy", "elegy song", "mourning drum", etc. Funeral songs are generally sung only during funeral rituals after the death of the elderly and middle-aged people. Funeral songs are roughly divided into four types of content and three types of tunes.

The content of funeral songs: 1. Crying out the grief of losing a loved one and the deep memory of the deceased; 2. Praising the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of the deceased to educate future generations; 3. Narrating historical stories and secular stories Life knowledge; 4. Gather people to sing, dance and sing to remember their aspirations for harmony and unity.

Most of these songs are based on the weeping intonation, and some are actually the musicalization of this intonation. The rhythm is free and there is no certain structural pattern. A euphemistic descending cry is carried out continuously in similar ways. For example, the Daur people's "crying tune", the Yi people's "Mao'er" in Chuxiong, Yunnan, the Dai people's "shouting sea", as well as the funeral songs called "sad tune", "crying tune" and "crying for relatives" from various places and ethnic groups.

The origin of funeral drum songs:

Playing funeral drums has been a folk custom for generations. Its origins are so old that there are many different versions of it. Some people say that it originated from the death of Zhuangzi's wife, who sang in the drum basin; some people say that Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall because too many people died, and finally cleverly turned sorrow into carnival.

Some people say that it originated from monk Zilian in the Tang Dynasty who beat drums to mourn the death of his concubine. There is also a simple and credible saying that mourning originated from Chu customs. They were afraid of wild beasts destroying the bones of the deceased, so they lit bonfires. , gather the crowd to beat drums and sing, and achieve complete success.

Playing funeral drums is a special ritual to commemorate the deceased. Playing funeral drums in Shennongjia is also called "funeral songs", "filial piety songs", "yin gongs and drums", "funeral drum dancing", "Dadaisi (waiting for the corpse)" and so on. Its main function is for relatives, friends and neighbors to commemorate the merits of the deceased on behalf of the deceased's family members, 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.