General & Specific Characteristics Of Music In Cross-Cultural Areas

The culture and folk music of the Huzhu Monguor in China's northwest Qinghai Province is among the best of China's rich ethnic folk heritage. Using modern ethnomusicology theory and techniques, this thesis broadly introduces the folk music of the Huzhu Monguor including its origin and traditions as well as introducing the life and living environment of the local residents in relation to their impact on local folk culture and songs. Based on fieldwork, the paper also takes a closer look at both famous and ordinary local singers in the context of their performances, their own views on local song culture, evaluations from the audience, and the creative contributions of these singers to the tradition, transformation and development of this unique local song culture. A further examination is made of geographical features, culture background and cross-culture communication in the area and it is shown how these influence Huzhu Monguor folk song characteristics. The phenomena of monathematism, one-tune repertoires, and a key formulae in the song structure, either in the form of four and two intervals or in the form of four and three intervals, are argued to be the prominent features of Huzhu Monguor folk songs. Furthermore, the diversity and combination of languages in the song texts, that is, the language of the song texts can be Monguor language, a mixture of Monguor and Tibetan languages, a mixture of Monguor and Chinese, and mostly Chinese. Finally, an attempt has been made in the paper to classify the Huzhu Mongure folk songs according to the language of the song texts.