MUZI MUZIChinese Matrix

Folk Ritual and Funeral Music

When the basin drum sounds, the dead are seen on their way

Introduction

Wind-and-percussion music and sung storytelling for village rain-prayer processions, river-god rites and funeral wakes

Folk ritual music is the wind-and-percussion music and sung storytelling of village rain prayers, offerings to the gods and funerals. The national items are the Puhua water-assembly music of Lantian, Shaanxi (II-62), played on the march when water was fetched in rain prayers and seated at night in the temple, with hand-copied scores in Tang banquet-music half-character notation holding more than eighty labelled tunes; the basin-drum songs of Jingzhou, Hubei, and Lixian, Hunan (V-32), also called funeral drumming, sung to a drum in the mourning hall to console the dead, with more than eight hundred traditional texts; and the duangu songs of Dongping and Weishan, Shandong (V-114), sung by fishing families honouring the river god as they beat sheepskin hand drums, a form in being by the mid-Qing at the latest. The Zhuangzi tells how Zhuangzi, when his wife died, 'drummed on a basin and sang', a story often cited as the root of the basin-drum custom.

Timeline

Mid-Qing to present
300 BCE · EvolutionIn the Warring States period, the Zhuangzi records that 'when Zhuangzi's wife died, Huizi came to mourn, and found Zhuangzi squatting with his legs spread, drumming on a basin and singing'; later ages used 'drumming the basin' for singing at funerals, and the basin-drum song takes its name from it.1750 · OriginBy the mid-Qing, the duangu songs (also called duangong songs) of the Dongping Lake area in Shandong had taken shape; at first they were sung only when fishing families honoured the river god, and later also at harvest celebrations, weddings and birthday feasts.1805 · EvolutionIn the Jiaqing reign, the lines of the basin-drum songs changed from five to seven syllables; the form was the 'seated funeral drum', sung by one performer with one drum in the mourning hall, telling stories of historical figures to console the dead.2006 · ImpactIn 2006 the Puhua water-assembly music of Lantian (II-62) and the basin-drum songs of Jingzhou (V-32) entered the first national ICH list; the duangu songs (V-114) followed in the third batch in 2011, and the basin-drum songs of Lixian were added as an extension in 2014.
  1. 300 BCEEvolutionIn the Warring States period, the Zhuangzi records that 'when Zhuangzi's wife died, Huizi came to mourn, and found Zhuangzi squatting with his legs spread, drumming on a basin and singing'; later ages used 'drumming the basin' for singing at funerals, and the basin-drum song takes its name from it.
  2. 1750OriginBy the mid-Qing, the duangu songs (also called duangong songs) of the Dongping Lake area in Shandong had taken shape; at first they were sung only when fishing families honoured the river god, and later also at harvest celebrations, weddings and birthday feasts.
  3. 1805EvolutionIn the Jiaqing reign, the lines of the basin-drum songs changed from five to seven syllables; the form was the 'seated funeral drum', sung by one performer with one drum in the mourning hall, telling stories of historical figures to console the dead.
  4. 2006ImpactIn 2006 the Puhua water-assembly music of Lantian (II-62) and the basin-drum songs of Jingzhou (V-32) entered the first national ICH list; the duangu songs (V-114) followed in the third batch in 2011, and the basin-drum songs of Lixian were added as an extension in 2014.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · 2006: II-62 Lantian Puhua water-assembly music [no. 93 · Lantian · Shaanxi] · V-32 Basin-drum songs [no. 268 · Jingzhou · Hubei]
  2. 2011National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · V-114 Duangu songs · no. 1138 · Dongping and Weishan · Shandong
  3. 2014National ICH extension itemV-32 Basin-drum songs: Lixian · Hunan