Music associations of village rituals in the rural areas of Hebei Province (China)

Since the Ming and Qing periods, there developed numerous village wind and percussion music ensembles in the rural areas of Hebei province, collectively called Yinyuehui (Music Associations). These are voluntary amateur music organizations that play an important role in ritual activities in the village.; The Music Associations perform without charging any fees (this is unlike the other type of village wind and percussion ensemble chuidaban in the region, theatrical associations that performed for a fee). The Music Associations work under the umbrella of lishihui (village affairs' committee), whose membership is held by respected village elders who make decisions over village affairs, including communal ritual activities. One of the main activities of the Music Associations is to perform at the funeral ritual, particularly that of the fang yankou (releasing the flaming in the mouth), a Buddhist salvation ritual for the deceased. When someone dies in the village, the family, having contributed a donation to the Music Association during the lunar New Year period, receives the service of the Music Association for “free”. Here, the relationships between individual members of the village community, the clan, patron, and their associated village economy are interesting issues to explore and require in-depth study. Furthermore, the repertories of the Music Associations, with their accompanying scores (which I have collected 80 collections from various Associations in the region), indicate that there is a direct link between the tradition of village Music Association, and the traditions of Buddhist and Daoist as well as court music tradition.; For the past seven years, I have conducted fieldwork on these Music Associations and had studied the temperament and development of the instruments used in the ensemble, and have written my previous graduate theses and published a number of articles on this topic. For my present paper, I would like to concentrate my study on the contextual issues of the Music Associations and how their ritual activities function within the fabrics of the village socio-economic entity. Also essential to the understanding of the cultural role and meaning of the Music Associations is the linkage, if there is any, between village music tradition and temple and court traditions.