Songs of Guangzhou Boat Dwellers
Songs of Guangzhou Boat Dwellers
Nominating Unit: City of Guangzhou
Nicknamed as “Cantonese Songs of the Fisherman”, Songs of Guangzhou Boat Dwellers are popular in Haizhu District, Panyu District and Nansha District in Guangzhou. They serve as an entertainment for the Tan Ethnic Minority and a singing and dancing form for celebrations of marriages and Mid-Autumn festivals. According to historical records, Songs of Guangzhou Boat Dwellers have been in existence for over 600 years and reached its heyday during the Ming and the Qing Dynasties.
Most of the lyrics are impromptu innovations with lots of colloquial expressions and idioms. Divided into the upper line and the lower line with no strict requirements for the number of characters, the lyrics are often composed of either long or short sentences. The short ones usually have five or seven characters with“li”, “ah” and “ne” and “loving sister or brother” as ornamental expressions.(https://www.daowen.com)
Songs of Guangzhou Boat Dwellers are mostly performed in a male-female dual pattern. Its music forms include a single-segment made up of upper and lower lines and a compound segment made up of four lines. Most of the musical modes belong to a Wei Tone that is melodious, natural and pleasing to the ear. The Tone can be sub-divided into “Gaotang Tone”, “Gumei Tone”, “Dansan Tone” and “Dazeng Tone”, etc. Though“Dansan Tone” and “Dongfeng Tone” are found in Nansha District, “Gumei Tone” is the mainstream there.
Songs of Guangzhou Boat Dwellers are of great value to the study of the history and culture of Tan Ethnic Minority. However, with the development of a market economy accompanied by diversified ways of entertainment and consumption culture, more and more Tan people settle down ashore, and are no longer willing to live again in the old-day harsh living style. Therefore, very few people today know how to sing Songs of Guangzhou Boat Dwellers, and those who do sing them are already very senior in years. In the light of this, the future for Songs of Guangzhou Boat Dwellers is dim, and thus requires strong and forceful measures to improve the situation.