Chinese Culture

A Jia and New Folk Songs

2004-12-17 18:39:06 CRIENGLISH.com

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of China Roots. I'm your host , today bringing you some new folk songs performed by the ethnic singer A Jia.

A Jia is an Yi ethnic singer, so it'll be no surprise for many of you that she comes from Yunnan, the most multicultural of China's many provinces. Despite the many kinds of folk music in Yunnan, A Jia is prepared to extend her range and sing songs from other regions, including the same we are currently hearing. Entitled "I Don't Want to Sweep Mud off My Shoes", it's taken from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and adapted by the late Wang Luobin.

For many Chinese ears, the songs of Wang Luobin are so familiar that they have come to symbolize western China. However, the song we've just heard is slightly eerie in its evocation of this region, since it's one of two Wang Luobin compositions that weren't made public until eight years after his death. It was last year that Wang Luobin's son, Wang Haicheng, gave the two songs to the 17-year-old A Jia, and expressed the wish that young folk singers could continue the good work that his father had conducted in the field of Chinese folk music.
But there is another, more specific reason, why Wang Haicheng gave his father's two songs to a folk singer from Yunnan. In 1937, Wang Luobin was traveling from Beijing to seek shelter with his sister in Yunnan, only to sleep through the station where he should transfer on to a southbound train. As an eventual consequence of this small incident, he and his then partner ended up in northwestern China. If things had turned out a little bit differently, who knows, maybe the songs of Wang Luobin would have something more of the atmosphere of Yunnan than Xinjiang.

The other song left behind by Wang Luobin was Yi Ya A Re Luo, another heavily Xinjiang influenced track which we shall now bring you.

We've just been heard two songs composed by the late Chinese musician Wang Luobin, both of which were posthumous releases.

Of course, as a folk singer from Yunnan Province, it would be strange if A Jia didn't perform some of the songs of her own hometown. The next song, Without Raindrops the Flowers Won't Bloom, is a typical Yunnan love song, with its lyrics "Man is like the dragon in the sky, while woman is like the flowers on the ground. Without the dragon rolling over, it won't rain. Without the raindrops, the flowers won't bloom."

That was Without Raindrops the Flowers Won't Bloom, from A Jia's debut album, a collection of genuinely new folk songs. The concept of "new folk songs" is not new concept in China, yet it can be a misleading term, since many so-called "new folk songs" are simply old folk songs with the masking gloss of new arrangements and better production quality. A Jia's album producer, Hong Qi, is therefore quite different in that he writes his own compositions from scratch. He says that he also adds the essence of ethnic music in order to express the feelings and emotions of ordinary people. In his opinion, "new folk songs" should speak using a simple and easy musical language, but they should also touch people's hearts.

Let's have a listen to a song composed Hong Qi in this album, entitled Golden Snow Lotus.

That was Golden Snow Lotus, composed by Hong Qi, a pioneer of China's New Folk Songs Movement and the producer of A Jia's new album.

People well acquainted with Yunnan will probably know the famous folk Flowing Brook. The next song is not that exact composition, but rather a descendent with the similar name "Where the Brook Flows," and a similar tale of love by the riverside.

That was "Where the Brook Flows", a song inspired by the famous Yunnan folk song Flowing Brook.
A Jia's father made a number of contributions to her first album, and even provided her with three compositions of his own. Indeed, he penned the following song, Huayao Girls, a song about the Huayao Tribe of the Yi ethnicity, who are famous for their colorful embroidered costumes.

That was Huayao Girls one of three songs composed by A Jia's father for his daughter. Whereas A Jia's mother is from the Yi ethnicity, her father is from the Zhuang. His other two songs concern themselves with Flower Street, the special day of a number of Yunnan ethnicities. Flower Street is like a local Valentine's Day. On that special day, boys and girls dressed up in their colorful costumes and gather together. The girls carry embroidered pouches or colorful handkerchiefs with them. When a boy and a girl wish to express their love for each other, the boy will take away the embroidered pouch or colorful handkerchief and walk away slowly, while the girl immediately follows her lover. Today, this unique folk custom has developed into a full-blown folk festival, when various performances and activities are held. Let's enjoy the two songs.

After enjoying two songs from Yi ethnic group, we'll now listen to a song of Yao ethnicity.

Named Have A Look, the song is sung in the Yao language, with the words "The sun and the moon could take a rest, but the woman couldn't. When the cold wind blows, the woman would shelter the old man and little child with her body. Without a woman's company, the man would get sick. Without a woman in the mountain, there would be nobody at all.

That was Have A Look, sung in Yao ethnic language by A Jia, a folk singer from southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The last song I'll play for you is entitled The Moon Dance, again coming from a branch of the Yi ethnicity, known as the A Xi. On a clear festival night with the moon shining brightly, the young men and women of the A Xi tribe hold an activity called "The Moon Dance". The men dance and play their musical instruments, while the women dance and clap their hands. They sing the Moon Dance when they are experiencing their happiest moments, and I hope that some of this joy will rub off on you as I leave you today with this Yi ethnic song.

And with our last song, The Moon Dance, we come to the end of today's China Roots. As always, it would be a pleasure for us to hear your comments and suggestions. You can write to us at English Service, China Radio International, Beijing, China. The postal code is 100040. Our email address is chinaroots@crifm.com. You can also logon to our website at www.crienglish.com to listen on-line. I'm your host Xiaohua. Good-bye.

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