Nanyang Folk Songs

Nanyang has a splendid music culture in history, and its folk songs are particularly rich and colorful, so it is known as the "Hometown of Music". Nanyang folk songs mostly reflect labor, life, love and workers' resistance to the old society, etc., and have a strong and simple flavor of life; the tunes are beautiful and melodious, the singing styles are smooth, flexible, and diverse, and they are easy to remember, learn and transmit, and are deeply loved by the masses. What the masses like to hear and see.

Directly and strongly influenced by geography and landforms, various folk song genres developed first, including folk songs, field songs, and labor chants, followed by lantern songs, minor tunes, etc.

1. Haozi. There are four water systems in Nanyang from west to east, including Danjiang, Baihe, Tanghe and Huaihe, which have become natural bridges for water and land transportation between the north and the south. Under different conditions, boatmen created their own sets of sailing chants, such as Danjiang chants, Baihe chants, Tanghe chants, etc. There are many chants in Danjiang, the famous ones include "Tugboat chant on the water", "Rolling oar chant on the launch of the water", "Anchor hauling chant on the bay boat", "Anchor lifting chant", "Carrying the boat chant", and "Polo pole chanting". "Haozi", "Crossing the Street Haozi", etc. Tanghe's chants include "Pole-holding Horns", "Shaking Oar Horns", "Doufeng Horns", "Stretching Chant" and so on. These chants may express the joyful mood of the boatmen when the river is calm, or they may express the exciting scene of the boatmen working together to fight against the wind and waves when there is a storm on the river or when they sail into dangerous shoals. No matter entering or launching the boat, the boat anchors, weighs anchor, or punts, there are songs of boatmen everywhere, showing their perseverance, bravery, and hard-working character everywhere.

2. Folk songs and field songs. Nanyang's folk songs are mostly distributed in mountainous areas such as Tongbai, Xixia, and Xichuan. Most of the lyrics have five sentences, each sentence has seven characters, and they are all in the five-tone mode. However, the styles of Tongbai folk songs are completely different from those of Xixia and Xichuan folk songs: the former is high-pitched, upright, and has free rhythm; the latter is graceful and graceful, with a stretched and regular rhythm. For example, Tongbai folk songs such as "Pomegranate in bloom and sparse leaves", "Little carp with red mouth and gills", "A round of red sun shining on the mountains and rivers", "Singing about Liu Bei selling straw sandals", etc., all have high pitch and free rhythm. Tongbai folk songs are unique and thought-provoking in their lining words and phrases using laryngeal vibrato. The "Jiaduo" of Xixia and Xichuan folk songs, which is what the masses call "folk songs with rolling", is even more unique. In addition to five-line folk songs, there are also four-line pangees and antiphons, which are a folk song genre sung by shepherd boys on the hillside, such as Tongbai's "Anthems" and Xixia's "Folk Song of Herding Cowboys." Field songs are a genre of folk songs sung by farmers when they are engaged in agricultural activities such as driving and hoeing, such as Tongbai's "Kouluohao Diao" and "Car and Water Song", Xichuan's "Da Xiaohou", etc. One person leads the singing and everyone picks up the chorus. Lining words, the lead part is lyrical and beautiful, the following part is lively and prosperous, and the up and down sentence structure is repeated freely, which has the characteristics of a chant.

3. Lantern songs. Nanyang has had the traditional habit of playing with lanterns in ancient times, and lantern songs are widely spread throughout 13 counties and cities, especially Nanyang County (city), Zhenping, and Xichuan. This part of folk songs is actually a form of folk song and dance that integrates song, dance and music. The main ones include "Nine Lotus Lanterns", "Cloud Dance", "Land Boat", "Stilts", "Car", "Bamboo Horse", etc. The songs sung are called "Land Boat Tune" or "Bamboo Horse Tune". It's also their basic tune. In addition, many folk tunes are also used as lantern songs, such as: "Ten Thoughts", "Double", "Double-fold Green", "Opening the Door", "Catching the Meeting", "Selling Bianshi", etc. It is often used as a land boat or a bamboo horse. In towns where lantern songs are popular, many people are good at writing and singing by themselves, singing impromptu songs with popular, simple and humorous lyrics. Nanyang's lantern songs are mostly in the five-tone palace and Zheng mode, and the rhythms are generally similar. However, due to the change of melody, the colors of the same tune are very different. Xichuan's "The Eldest Lady Returns to Her Mother's Home" and Zhenping's "Pushing the Trolley" are typical examples. example.

4. Minor key. Minor tunes are the most numerous type of music in Nanyang area, with not only diverse forms, but also a wide range of themes. Some reflect the lives of working people in the old society, such as "Refugees Cry at the Fifth Watch" and "The Tears of the Poor"; some reflect the struggle between farmers and landlords, such as "Follow the Leader to Conquer the World"; some reflect the struggle of young men and women in the old society for freedom of marriage and liberation of personality Some of them reflect love life, such as "Ten Thoughts", "Ten Hatreds", "Fifth Watch", and "Asking for Dowry"; some reflect love life, such as "Sending My Cousin" and "Sending My Man"; some reflect the taste of working people's life, Such as "The Lazy Woman Scolds the Chicken", "The Queen's Matchmaker", "The Queen Nails the Crock", "The Beating of Eight", etc.; some reflect major revolutionary historical events, such as "Overthrow of the Manchu Qing Dynasty", "October War of Resistance", "Oriental War", etc. Soldiers Arrive in My Village" and so on.

The lyrics often use numerals such as "four seasons", "five o'clock", "twelve months", etc. as clues to connect different events, allusions or historical figures in a folk song, making the whole song coherent.

With the development of history, some Nanyang folk songs have died out, while others have developed and changed. In the temper and test of time and history, Nanyang folk songs, with their unique charm, have become a pearl in the treasure house of excellent music culture of the Chinese nation.