Shatian Folk Songs

7.Shatian Folk Songs

Nominating Unit: Zhuhai City

Based on Danjia People’s Folk Songs and Fishman’s Songs in Zhuhai District and after being sung and improved by Danjia People generation after generation, Shatian Folk Songs have gradually become a common name for folk songs that have a distinct local color. Popular in water-town zone of Shatian in Zhuhai City along the west bank of Pearl River, the songs are sung on such occasions as weddings, funerals and libation celebrations, etc. to express one’s feelings, according to Taiping Geographical Records (Taiping Huanyu Ji) in the late Northern Song Dynasty.

Belonging to the Zhi Mode of hexatonic scale, Shatian Folk Songs are sung in Cantonese with a Shatian accent without accompaniment. Differences in terms of singing environment, occasion and form, etc., divide the songs into different categories such as Gaotang Songs, Songs of Boat Dwellers, Chant songs, Aunt-sister songs, Large-square-net Songs and Woodblock Songs, etc.(https://www.daowen.com)

Gaotang Songs gain their name from the venue where wedding ceremonies take place in the main sitting room. Performed in solo, it has both long and short lines with each period made up of four sevencharacter lines. Lines one, two and four are rhymed; the interrogative word among the first six characters sets the tone while the last word of each line has a fixed pitch with an ornamental word “luo” added to lines one and three. Songs of Boat Dwellers were named after the salty river near the seas. Often in the appearance of love songs, the lyrics have both short and long lines. And the most outstanding characteristics are that there are lots of appellations such as “good sister (brother) ya li” and other ornamental expressions smartly added to the beginning like “bamboo comb and wood comb”, “raw onion and boiled onion” and “ding-dong ding-dong” sounds, making the singing full of wit and humor. Chant songs, also called Chant of Elder Sister, are sung while singers are weeping as the girl in the family is getting married. They pay tribute to decreased ancestors and to family members that are still living with the meaning of cherishing the memories and educating the living, so the appellations are addressed to families like “ah Mom”, “ah sister”, etc, ornamented with “alas”, “yah lo” and “woosh”. Gaining their names out of the appellation in the song, Aunt-sister songs are usually sung in antiphonal style between singers on boat and river bank. They are divided into two seven-character lines with the same structure, rhyme and rhetorical device as the Songs of Boat Dwellers. Large-square-net songs gain their names because singers are fishermen whose job is making square fishing nets. They are seven-character lines as well with the appellations such as “sister (brother) ya li”, “ah sister” and ornamental expressions like“ya”, “ya luo” and “hai”. Woodblock Songs, according to legends, come from the tune of knocking the woodblock while paying homage to the gods. Performed in solo, the repertoire is mainly about eventful historical stories deeply loved by the audience. In the past, many blind people make a living by singing woodblock songs of which two lines make up a period with the first line ending on Shang Tone and the second on Zhi Tone. Depending on the content, an unfixed number of seven-character lines make up the song. Though rich in subject matters and forms, the songs have a relatively fi xed melody; and more often, the performer will improvise while singing according to the scene and atmosphere at that moment.

Long in history and abundant in content, Shatian Folk Songs represent the local conditions and customs in Shatian District, and a unique grass-root culture from the assimilation of Hai River culture with farming culture. Discovering, rescuing and protecting Shatian Folk Songs are of great significance to the study of Dan Ethnic Minority’s labor customs and living conditions in Zhuhai City and Pearl River Delta.

Zhuhai City, one of the Special Economic Zones in China, is well-known for its diversified cultures. There, people enjoy great freedom in choosing their own way of cultural and economic life. Under this circumstance, Shatian Folk Songs as an art form face influence from various areas. Its room for survival and development is shrinking so that immediate and forceful measures are required to stop things from worsening.