Chapter V Analysis the Selected Buyi Folk Songs in Guizhou Province, China
1. Classification of Buyi Folk Song
The dissertation is based on the social function and characteristics of folk songs as a classification basis, which can be divided into formal songs and informal songs. This classification is currently the most popular and common among Buyi people.
The formal songs are usually performed indoors or at home. Singing in the courtyard is used for serious occasions such as customs and etiquette, moral education, toasts and welcoming guests, weddings and funerals. Formal songs can be divided into wine ritual songs, narrative songs, ancient songs, question songs, production songs, sacrificial songs, funeral songs and wedding songs according to their different social functions. Such songs are widely used in festival celebrations and daily life of the Buyi people. Whenever relatives and friends gather together, the Buyi people will sing this kind of folk songs, which can not only entertain the audience, but also enable more people to receive the extensive education of their own traditional civilization.
Informal songs are generally sung in outdoor places such as villages and fields. They are love songs that express personal emotions when men and women are in love. They are not sung in front of public and elders. Such songs can be subdivided into: love songs (called "Lang Shao" in China), mountain songs, and children's songs. The children’s songs have short structure and strong tune. They belong to "Xiao Ge" in terms of musical form. Informal songs are for seeking spouses, forming marriages, and entertaining relationships. Most of these folk songs are related to marriage and originate from primitive collective weddings. With the progress and development of society, it has evolved into the traditional social mode of Buyi people.
The classification concepts of formal songs and informal songs not only reflect the differences in cultural functions, but also the differences in morphological characteristics. The content of formal singing is extensive, involving all aspects of social life, and the themes are generally serious and grand. The length of the song is relatively large, and the singing is generally performed with a loud voice. Informal songs are relatively short and refined in form and structure, can be independent into chapters, pay attention to the expression of emotions, have strong tunes, and are often sung with false voices or a mixture of true and false voices.
65 1.1 The formal song
The formal song covers a wide range of content, involving all aspects of social life, such as the formation of the universe, the origin of mankind, national origin, social struggle, national etiquette, and interpersonal communication. In serious and formal ceremonial occasions, the Buyi people gather and sing, and they are entertaining and entertained in singing. The folk songs of the Buyi ethnic group play a huge role in national cohesion, moral education, cultural transmission, and emotional exchange. When singing, the singer should follow the traditional procedure, which varies according to the region and occasion. However, from the point of view of commonality, the formal song singing procedure in ceremonial and customary occasions in Guizhou Province can be roughly summarized as the following steps:
a. Opening. For the Buyi people, wine is an important etiquette for dealing with others and a way for them to express their heartfelt passion. The Buyi people use wine rituals to express their worship of gods, their admiration for ancestors, their love for nature, and their sincerity to people.
Before the ceremony, the Buyi people will sing the wine ritual song, one is to express the singer's respect to the audience, and the other is to set off the atmosphere and kick off the ceremony. For example, in marriage ceremonies, the content of the wine ceremony song is "in the village song",
"open the door song", "divide cigarettes and deliver tea song", "banquet song", "toast song", "supper song" and so on.
b. Proceed. After the opening, the etiquette and custom ceremony officially began. This link generally uses the form of narrative song to explain the content of the ceremony, the purpose of the ceremony and people’s prayers, such as the song of acknowledging the relatives, the song of building a house in the cube, etc. After the narrative song is over, ancient songs will be sung to tell ancient myths, legends, stories, and tracing history reflect the Buyi people’s strong sense of national identity and belonging.
c. Interaction. Interaction means that both singers sing the song in a question-and-answer manner. They cross-examine each other. They have a wide range of topics and test the talents of the singer. They are often used in occasions such as welcoming and sending, producing labor, entertainment and communication, and chatting about love. For example, "Peony Flower Tune" in Guiding County, Qiannan Prefecture, in the form of guessing flowers, female questions and male answers, shows the wisdom of men in duet singing, and enhances the feelings of the two.
66 d. Ending. The final procedure of party ritual singing is often led to the narration of marriage and love. This kind of marriage song tells the historical encounters and tribulations of predecessors in ancient times, and is a narration of the history of love from an objective perspective. The most representative one is the "Twelve Songs" known as the "Epic of Love of the Buyi People". Each one presents a link in the love process with a love story. The content is separated from the social function of ordinary courtship and summarizes the old time the tortuous course of the development of Buyi marriage in the era occupies an important position in the history of Buyi music.
1.2 The informal song
The informal songs are mainly love songs ("Lang Shao "). These songs are used in the love of young men and women in Buyi, as a medium of emotional communication. But unlike other love songs, "Lang Shao" is a group activity. Although the content of its singing is related to marriage and love, it is also sung in a group and rarely acts alone. In the love song due to men and women of the Buyi ethnic group, the singers sang are composed of male and female groups, and the number of each group ranges from 2 to more than ten people, rather than one male and one female. In the long-term antiphonal activities, singers usually find a partner who cooperates with them tacitly and form a combination (called " Dui Zi " in China). In ceremonial and customary occasions, in order to show strength and overwhelm each other, it is necessary for everyone to unite and sing to help each other out. For example, singing in the middle of the town, you can see men and women singing in groups and confronting each other on both sides of the street.
Although informal songs are not as serious as formal songs, they are also regular and normative. In informal singing, the singer sometimes improvises and sings according to the situation. Singing is relatively free, which tests the singer's ability very much. For example, "Lang Shao" in love songs, although the singing content includes impromptu singing content, but its stylized features are very obvious, the singing procedure is standardized, and it follows the objective law of love development (Li Jichang, 2010). The following is the general process of "Lang Shao" singing:
a. Acquaintance. When young men and women meet for the first time, they must first introduce themselves. In the folk songs of the Buyi ethnic group, it is necessary to use a period of self-humility to confess the reason for singing with each other to "sing" acquaintance. This kind of
" opening song" uses various forms of ingenious rhetoric to express mutual respect and goodwill
67 for each other, express the urgency of wanting to communicate with each other, and test each other's heart. It is the beginning of a love.
b. Cross-examination. After the singing of the initial acquaintance process, the man and woman have established a certain emotional foundation, and naturally there will be many questions in their hearts and want to know each other better. At this time, question song ("Pan Ge") is the most suitable type of song. Singers use question songs to cross-examine each other's questions and learn about each other's name, age, family, and knowledge of production and life, labor ability, hobbies, and so on. The original function of question song is funny and entertaining, but here it is for the purpose of in-depth understanding of marriage.
c. Miss. After cross-examination, the two parties have improved their understanding and answered their doubts. As long as they agree and both agree, they will turn their admiration into a voice of praise, and infuse their endless love and longing into their love songs, and pass them on to their loved ones and express them. The reverie of a happy marriage.
d. Pledge love. After understanding and testing in the previous links, the two are in agreement and ready to enter into marriage, they will sing the "Vow of Oath" and "Song of the Exchange Love Token " to show their firmness and faithfulness in love.