Instrumental Traditions of China's Ethnic Minorities

Introduction

Morin khuur, lusheng, dombra and bronze drums: the instrumental heritage of China's many peoples

This record gathers the solo and ensemble instrumental traditions of China's ethnic minorities, whose instruments are closely tied to herding and farming life and to festivals and rites. In the north are the Mongolian morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) and sihu, the Kazakh dombra and the Kyrgyz komuz; in the south-west the lusheng reed pipes of the Miao and Dong, the bronze drums of the Buyi, Zhuang, Yao and others, and the Qiang flute and jaw harps. Bronze drums are the oldest surviving objects: drums excavated at Wanjiaba in Chuxiong, Yunnan, are about 2,700 years old, and the Buyi still strike the 'twelve bronze-drum tunes' at celebrations and ancestral rites. In 2006 and 2008 morin khuur music, the twelve bronze-drum tunes, the Qiang flute, lusheng music and dombra art entered the national ICH list.

Timeline

1. 700 BCEOriginBronze drums excavated in 1975–76 from the Wanjiaba cemetery in Chuxiong, Yunnan, are held by the bronze-drum scholar Jiang Tingyu to be the earliest known, dating to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods about 2,700 years ago; they define the Wanjiaba type.
2. 2006ImpactThe first national ICH list of 2006 included Mongolian morin khuur music (II-35), Mongolian sihu music (II-36), Qiang flute playing and making (II-38) and the Buyi twelve bronze-drum tunes (II-60).
3. 2008ImpactThe second list of 2008 added lusheng music (Dong lusheng and Miao mangtong lusheng, II-129) and Kazakh dombra art (II-132), and extended morin khuur music to Qian Gorlos in Jilin.

Heritage Listings

1. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · II-35 Mongolian morin khuur music · no. 66 · Inner Mongolia · extended 2008 to Qian Gorlos · Jilin
2. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · II-36 Mongolian sihu music · no. 67 · Tongliao · Inner Mongolia
3. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · II-38 Qiang flute playing and making · no. 69 · Mao County · Sichuan
4. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · II-60 Twelve bronze-drum tunes · no. 91 · Zhenning and Zhenfeng · Guizhou
5. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-129 Lusheng music: Dong lusheng · Miao mangtong lusheng · no. 628 · Tongdao · Hunan · and Danzhai · Guizhou
6. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-132 Kazakh dombra art · no. 631 · Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture · Xinjiang