Song of the Cicada

Introduction

A celebrated Dong sound song in which the lead singer imitates cicadas with a trilled tongue

Song of the Cicada belongs to the sound songs of the Dong grand song tradition, which imitate the noises of nature, and it is one of the pieces most often sung for outside audiences. Dong grand song is polyphonic choral singing without a conductor or instruments, needing at least three singers, with a group on the low part and a single voice leading above. In this women's song the leader trills the tip of the tongue at high speed to mimic cicadas, so that the calls seem to rise and fall across the choir. Dong legend counts it among the earliest polyphonic songs, together with songs of the bayberry worm and the frog. In 1986 nine Dong girls from Liping County sang it at the Paris Autumn Festival, where it was repeated five times, and Dong grand song was inscribed on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2009.