The Performing Traditions Research On Folk Songs Of The Yao Ethnic Township Of Tiger-shaped Hill

The Tiger-shaped hill Yao village, located in the Longhui country in Hunan province,is a multiethnic area, which contains the Han ethnity and the Hua Yao ethnity, the HuaYao ethnity is just a branch of Yao ethnity. The Yao village is located at the bottom ofXuefeng mountain, which is almost1300metres above the sea level, with lots of highmountains and it’s really hard to get to there. People in the village have been living onfarming and hunting for a long period, surrounded by huge trees and live next to thehuge rocks. However, it is merely because of living in the inconceivable environment,then the people in the Yao village create a kind of unimiginable civil music-The folksong in the Yao village.The folk song in the Yao village is a kind of civil singing art that is full of unique localelements. It is created by both the Han ethnity and the Yao ethnity in the long historyof living in the mountains, which represents the deep friendship that is created by thepeaceful coexistence and friendly dealings between the Han ethnity and the Yao ethnity.According to the different singing fields and particapants, the local singers divide thefolks songs into five kinds:Loving songs, Wu-Wa songs, Ma-Lan songs, mountainsongs and Jei Sai songs. Except the Jei Sai songs, the others share several thousandtraditional lyrics. The traditional lyrics can be regarded as the core lyrics, they areusually five sentences for each song and seven characters for each sentence, thestructure is symmetrical, the lyrics apply to different melodies in different fields. Thefolk songs are all in rhyme, there are15rhyme groups, they constitute one of the deducetraditions of folk songs together. The folk songs have some specific regulations withperformance space(or deduce field), such as the Wu-Wa songs are usually sung in thecase of working, while the Jei Sai songs in the wedding of the Hua Yao ethnity. In termsof the text, its lyrics and subjects are mostly formalized, but the singers do not stick tothe core lyrics completely, they will use the “procedure” to arrange the lyricstemporarily according to the specific situations. Along with the changing of the context and values in the Yao village, the folk songsare getting weakenig. For the moment, the folk songs in the Yao village have been listedas intangible cultural heritage, but because of the unsuitable policies from the localgovernment, the situation of the weakening folk songs is not getting better. Morever,the deeds of the local government even make the situation worse. The research on thefolk songs in the Yao village is still stay on the elementary stage, a lack of field survey.Therefore, we can’t clarify the doubts about the folk songs, which makes moremisunderstandings. Accordingly, we need to rethink the research and protection of thefolk songs in the Yao village, step into the fields with a more honest and practicalattitude, and begin with the collection of the field materials of the folk songs in the Yaovillage.