MUZI MUZIChinese Matrix

Ritual Music of Ethnic Minorities

A shake of the spirit bell sends the soul home to the ancestors

Introduction

Chant, song and ensemble music of minority priests and ritual singers at sacrifices, blessings and funerals: Yi bimo, Zhuang wudiao and the Naxi Baisha xiyue

Ritual music of ethnic minorities is the chant and ensemble music that priests and ritual singers of China's minority peoples perform at sacrifices, blessings and funerals. The national items are the bimo music of Meigu, Sichuan (II-163), in which the Yi bimo priest chants scripture with a tube of divining slips on his back, shaking a spirit bell and a spirit fan, in two classes: gaji, on the origin of things, and gaha, for sending off the soul and honouring the ancestors; the seventy-two wudiao songs of the Zhuang of Lingyun, Guangxi (II-162), sung by Zhuang women at blessing rites to the sound of bells and stamping feet; and the Baisha xiyue of the Naxi of Lijiang (II-152), a suite of instrumental music, song and dance of which eight tunes survive, played and danced at funerals. Naxi dongba chant and other traditions have no national music item yet, and ritual dances such as the shaman dances and cham belong to Chinese dance.

Timeline

Mid-Ming to present
1253 · EvolutionBy tradition, when Khubilai passed through Lijiang on his southern campaign in 1253, he left a band and its scores as a parting gift, so the Baisha xiyue is also called 'the parting thanks' and is described as 'music left by the Yuan'; another account makes it a Naxi lament for the war dead. Neither account is proven.1500 · OriginIn the mid-Ming, the seventy-two wudiao songs of the Zhuang of Lingyun, Guangxi, took shape: rooted in the old Yue spirit religion and sung in Zhuang by women at blessing rites, they flourished in the Qing (according to the ICH listing).1800 · EvolutionAccording to the lineage records handed down by the late master He Xidian, the Baisha xiyue was already widely played in Lijiang at least two hundred years ago; it is said to have had ten tunes, of which eight survive, among them 'Du', 'A Letter' and 'The Princess Weeps'.2011 · ImpactIn 2011 the Naxi Baisha xiyue entered the third national ICH list (II-152), and in 2014 bimo music (II-163) and the Lingyun Zhuang seventy-two wudiao music (II-162) entered the fourth.
  1. 1253EvolutionBy tradition, when Khubilai passed through Lijiang on his southern campaign in 1253, he left a band and its scores as a parting gift, so the Baisha xiyue is also called 'the parting thanks' and is described as 'music left by the Yuan'; another account makes it a Naxi lament for the war dead. Neither account is proven.
  2. 1500OriginIn the mid-Ming, the seventy-two wudiao songs of the Zhuang of Lingyun, Guangxi, took shape: rooted in the old Yue spirit religion and sung in Zhuang by women at blessing rites, they flourished in the Qing (according to the ICH listing).
  3. 1800EvolutionAccording to the lineage records handed down by the late master He Xidian, the Baisha xiyue was already widely played in Lijiang at least two hundred years ago; it is said to have had ten tunes, of which eight survive, among them 'Du', 'A Letter' and 'The Princess Weeps'.
  4. 2011ImpactIn 2011 the Naxi Baisha xiyue entered the third national ICH list (II-152), and in 2014 bimo music (II-163) and the Lingyun Zhuang seventy-two wudiao music (II-162) entered the fourth.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2011National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · II-152 Naxi Baisha xiyue · no. 1082 · Gucheng district · Lijiang · Yunnan
  2. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · 2014: II-162 Lingyun Zhuang seventy-two wudiao music [no. 1256 · Lingyun · Guangxi] · II-163 Bimo music [no. 1257 · Meigu · Sichuan]