Dong People's Dage
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Music Right from the Heart
Music is never far away in the Dong villages of Liping County in Southwest China's Guizhou Province. Dong folk music at its finest was showcased at a festival during the National Day holiday in Liping County, which is home to 320,000 Dongs. Folk singers of the Dong and Miao ethnic groups from Guizhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Central China's Hunan Province took part in the three-day festival. For generations, Dong folk singers have developed a unique style of chorus called "dage" in which a group of mostly young men and women sing without any instrumental accompaniment. Known as the birthplace of dage, Yandong Town, located 28 kilometres from Liping County, has cultivated generations of well-known folk singers such as Wu Peixin. In 1957, Wu dazzled a Western audience with her wonderful singing in Moscow. It was not until then that Dong folk singing was known to the world. In October 1986, when the dage Chorus of Dong Ethnic Group participated in the Paris Art Festival, the beautiful and pure human voice emulating the sound of cicada enthralled Western audiences and musicians. Some researchers of Dong ethnic history believe dage came into being during one of the prime times of the group's history, because without such an era of prosperity it's difficult to explain how an ethnic minority with a population of only 1 million could retain such mature and harmonious music. For the Dong people, singing has always been an indispensable part of their lives. They like to sing after a day's hard work, at festivals, weddings and funerals, and to communicate happiness and wishes. The songs are about anything they see and hear, or anything they feel and think. Most Dongs begin to study singing in their early childhood - generally with their mothers as their first teachers. By the age of 6 or 7 they join a singing group, which is formed by several clan members or relatives, and become apprentices of a well-known master singer in the village. They start their study from the basic singing techniques to the traditional folk songs. Teenage singers start to take part in singing gatherings, where they are able to further their studies, without the guidance of their parents. Within a few years most are able to sing several traditional folk songs, and they start to participate in formal singing competitions. From then on, they will step into the golden time of their singing career. On the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the local Dong people dress in their best festival attire and gather at the Yandong Town to watch bull fighting, local Dong Opera and demonstrate their singing skills in friendly competition.
Dong folk traditions come alive in Beijing musical
By Chen Nan Xiaohuang village is located in the hilly Congjiang county of southwestern China's Guizhou province, and is some four hours by road from Guiyang, the provincial capital. Xiaohuang is home to the ethnic Dong group, members of which call their abode the "village of songs", owing to the dage (polyphonic folk songs) played there. Dage are often described as a cappella performed by multiple singers. More than 60 Xiaohuang residents, aged from 5 to 80, traveled from their village to Beijing on Jan 8, to participate in a musical titled Sing for Love at the National Center for the Performing Arts. The musical was based on a traditional Dong tale of Zhulang and Niangmei, two young lovers who flee their respective homes in the fear of being forced into arranged marriages. The show also witnessed performances by a 90-member ensemble from the Chinese National Orchestra, an established orchestra known for performing traditional folk music, and the Singing and Dancing Troupe of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, from Guizhou province. The dage performers sang songs that portrayed the Dong people's long history, the natural beauty of their village and their daily lives. Jiang Buxian, a member of the singing and dancing troupe of Qiandongnan, wrote the script for the musical. He is the artistic director of the troupe and also the director of Dage Art Troupe of the same prefecture. Jiang Buxian, who plays the niu-tuiqin (traditional string instrument), played a solo piece onstage during the show. According to him, the Dong people do not have their own written language, so they record their history and culture through songs. They sing about farmlands, mountains, rivers and romance. In 2009, dage was recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. "There is an old saying of the Dong people that 'rice nourishes the body and songs nourish the soul'. The tradition of dage is protected and passed down to younger generations. It remains a crucial symbol of Dong identity," says Jiang. As part of the project initiated by the Chinese National Orchestra, which aims to revive traditional folk music, young composer Chen Si'ang went to Xiaohuang village in October 2012, along with Jiang. Overwhelmed by the sound of dage, Yang was inspired to integrate other Chinese folk music instruments such as erhu and pipa, into Dong music. Sing for Love came out as a result of this effort. "Although those songs are thousands of years old, I felt connected to the melodies. I hope more young audiences living in big cities can enjoy the art," says Yang. According to Xi Qiang, director of the Chinese National Orchestra, the orchestra had cooperated with the Singing and Dancing Troupe of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture for an earlier show, called Niangx Eb Sangb, telling an enchanting story of another major ethnic group in southeastern Guizhou, the Miao people, who share the same passion for liquor and singing as the Dong. The show premiered in Beijing in August 2013. The 2013 show toured much of China and was also staged in the United States and Europe. It also became an often-shown program at tourist destinations in Gui-zhou province. "Both traditional Chinese folk music and ethnic group music need to be inherited and renovated. We have been thinking about how to make those art forms enjoyable for today's audiences," says Xi, who also mentions that in 2016, he plans to present a concert, gathering ethnic folk instrument players from across the province.
Xiaohuang Dong Village
Xiaohuan Dong Village is located 20 kilometers away from Congjiang County of Southeast Guizhou. There are 680 Dong Family living here, totally over 3300 people. Seldom connected with the outside world, Dong people still living in very primitive way, every family doing farm, hunting and weaving cloth. Xiaohuang Dong Village is praised highly as the Village of Songs because the villagers are be accomplished in singing a kind of polyphonic folk songs, which are called “Galao” or “Dage” in Dong dialect. It gained a title of the Village of China Folk Art from the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China 1996, which makes it renowned. Xiaohuang Dong Village is surrounded by mountains with a stream passing through. Row upon row of houses are in close order. The sound of singing fills the ear almost everywhere, no mater on the farmland or on the routes between the houses. Dong Ethnic Minority has no their own character. From ancient time to the present, Dong people all use “Dage” (a kind of polyphonic folk songs) to narrate their life, express their feeling and record their history. Song is their langue and history. From this point of view, Xiaohuang Dong Village is the representative among Dong villages. The Dong people of Xiaohuang Dong Village are born to love singing. The villages are all good at singing, from little children of three or four years old to senior people of eighty. There are many bands of different ages in the village. Lutes and another traditional Chinese music instrument “Niutui Qing” are their main instruments. The songs are all original and characteristic. Every band has their achievements; especially the band formed by senior women, whose songs fills with their love for life and intelligence. Villagers are used to keeping late hours and singing from afternoon till evening. The best time to tour around Xiaohuang Dong Village is during Spring Festival (traditional Chinese New Year), because there are many grand parties of “Dage” (a kind of polyphonic folk songs) and singing competitions. Dong girls of Xiaohuang Village are very hospitable. If tourists request for listening to Dong ethnic songs, Dong girls will invite him or her to sit on her knees to listening to the songs. This friendly custom may make tourists have no idea what to do with their hands and feet. Well, just accept the invitation. That is the best choice. In Rome, does what the Roman do.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 There are many kinds of Dong song and dance, among which the Grand Song (the Dong people's Dage in Chinese) is the best known.
2 Since "Galao" is an archaic song type which is sung by a chorus consisting of many people, it is also known as Dage.
3 The Liping Dong nationality dage is not only one of the most characteristic folk music types of China, but also a precious "bright pearl" of the international folk music types.