Miao bronze drums are mostly performed in grand festivals, such as "Eating Dirty", "Miao Year" and "Lusheng Festival". The bronze drum was erected in the center of the venue, with one drummer beating the drum and the other holding a special wooden barrel, which was placed behind the bronze drum, with a short time and a long distance to enhance the musical effect. There is no limit to the number of dancers, often hundreds or thousands. They form several big circles, which echo the changes of percussion music of bronze drums and perform dances with daily work and life as their content. The drum beating methods of Miao bronze drums generally include fixed drum, chanting and shouting. Because the masses are very familiar with the contents and pronunciation of these drums, drums have the characteristics of drum language. Drummers beat drums with two hammers with special pronunciations: "Dong" means beating drums with the right hand, "Ga" means beating drums with the left hand, and "De" means beating drums with two hammers. For example, "turning over the high beans" means "driving the turtledove". The dance shows that farmers heard that flying turtledoves were digging soybean seeds to peck them, so they rode to the fields to drive them away. Dance movements include: catching turtledoves on the edge of the ground, lifting legs, riding horses, clapping hands, turning around and crouching down to catch turtledoves. Another example is the Pingleng Pan Ladon Gaodong, which means welcome to dance in Miao language, indicating that the host welcomes guests with dance. It is said that this drum beat is inspired by the sound of woodpeckers pecking wood in the mountains. When the guests arrived, the host and the guests were on both sides of the road, clapping their hands and dancing to welcome the guests into the village. Others show that children returning from hunting release ducks to catch shrimps and crabs, and perform sacrificial knife dances while eating dirty meat. They all have different drum reading methods and Miao drum lyrics.
Yao's bronze drums are spectacular: on the first day of the New Year, dozens or even dozens of bronze drums are lined up, and each drum dances while playing; There is also a big wooden drum with a diameter of not less than 60 cm in the middle. The drums are loud and the time is slow. Zhuang bronze drums can be divided into male and female. When dancing, it is divided into two parts, with a big leather drum in the middle, which is mainly performed with bronze drums for men and women, which has a unique charm.
Buyi bronze drums are often performed in funeral ceremonies. When the old man in the village died, two dancers danced slowly with the drums of bronze drums and leather drums to mourn the dead old man. Usually, when dancing the bronze drum, it is often performed together with the brush dance, which is called the brush dance of the bronze drum. In the dance, the sound of the bronze drum and the brush is intertwined, and the performance is unique, adding a strong national color. Shui people have the custom of finishing the festival, which is called borrowing festival in water language. This is a grand festival after harvest. It used to be August and September of the lunar calendar, but later it was changed to the first day of November. At that time, all the villages will beat bronze drums to celebrate the festival, and the venue for the event will be called Duanpo. People will sing and dance at the venue with the music of bronze drums, leather drums and lusheng.
It is a kind of dance with the same characteristics as knocking on bronze drums, which is popular among Miao, Zhuang, Yao, Shui, Buyi and other ethnic minorities in southern and southwestern China. The bronze drum is engraved with patterns, curved waist, hollow and bottomless, with four ears on the side for hanging, and the drum weighs tens of kilograms. Bronze Drum Dance is an important cultural heritage in ancient China. The bronze drum unearthed in Chuxiong, Yunnan in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period is more than 2,600 years ago. This is the oldest bronze drum found in the world. On the halo pattern of a bronze drum shell container unearthed from the Han tomb in Shizhaishan, Jinning, there are three men dancing on the bronze drum, and the rock paintings in Huashan, Guangxi are also painted with dancing images of Zhuang ancestors cheering around the bronze drum.
Yao people in the mountainous area near Nandan County, Guangxi, beat gongs and drums every Spring Festival to celebrate this festival. At that time, several bronze drums will be lined up and hung on the wooden frame. Each bronze drum will be struck by a drummer with a mallet in his right hand, a stick in his left hand and a barrel in the other. With the rhythm of the drum, the barrel will be sent to the mouth of the bronze drum, and its * * * sound will be taken away. Accompanied by the bronze drum team, a dancer danced around a big wooden drum with drumsticks in both hands. The drum is about 60 cm in diameter and 1 m in height. The rhythm of drums is complex, the movements are steady and changeable, and the scene is spectacular.
In November of the lunar calendar, Qiannan Shui people celebrate the Spring Festival of Shui people by singing and dancing with bronze drums. The dancing movements are open and changeable, and they are free. Buyi people have a "bronze drum brush dance". Every year on the eighth day of April, the fifteenth day of July or the Spring Festival of the Lunar New Year, young men and women get together, holding brushes or bamboo poles and beating each other with the rhythm of bronze drums.
In the ethnic cottages across Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, there are not only people dancing around bronze drums, but also men dancing with a small bronze drum in their left hand and a beat in their right hand. Dancing is mainly about twisting the waist and hips, and the movements are simple and powerful.
Zhuang bronze drums in Donglan, Mashan and Du 'an in Guangxi performed during the Spring Festival. When dancing, two bronze drums are hung, which are divided into male drums and female drums. In the middle, one person dances with a big leather drum, accompanied by drums for men and women, and the movements change greatly. Up to now, Zhuang farmers in the mountainous areas of western Guangxi have gathered at the top of the mountain to enjoy the bronze drum competition. Their performances are mostly folk legends and stories, such as "Mrs. Wagang defends the cottage" and "Catch the Mountain Whip", and they play bronze drums to accompany songs and dances.
Wenshan Zhuang bronze drum dance
Because Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture is close to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the bronze drums of Yunnan Yi people and Guangxi Yi people are of the same origin and have similar movements. The bronze drum dance in Guangxi is danced at festivals or funerals. When dancing, one person plays the drums, with men in the outer ring and women in the inner ring, around the bronze drums, dancing with the rhythm of the drums. Dance steps are like climbing a mountain. It's strange that my knees tremble frequently with every step. There are six steps, namely, two steps, three steps, four steps, six steps and eight steps. On the last beat, kick your feet forward. When men and women dance together, they hold hands and sway back and forth. When a man dances in a long line, everyone takes a folding fan and bends it in front and chest. Dance movements are relatively simple, mainly the change of formation, and the rhythm changes from slow to fast until the climax ends. The bronze drum dance of Zhuang nationality in Magui Village, Nasa Town, Guangnan has completely preserved 12 sets of dance movements, reflecting the different production contents of 12 months in a year.
The Wenshan Zhuang bronze drum competition during the Spring Festival was spectacular and exciting. The bronze drum competition is bounded by Hongshui River. The bronze drum teams in each village carry their own bronze drums on the top of the mountain beside the river bank, and the two banks are far opposite each other across the river. At the beginning of the game, the drummers were full of energy and struck hard, and the drums shook the world. The assistant partner took the straw hat, fanned the drummer and cheered, shouting fun. Onlookers are all over Shan Ye, and torches are constantly flowing at night, and the scene is extremely spectacular. The bronze drum has the loudest sound and the longest beating time to win. Both sides often beat the bronze drums to the top of their lungs, and one side gave up. Then the crowd sang folk songs with satisfaction, lined up and returned to the stockade happily.
At present, the bronze drums circulating in Zhuang areas are usually hung under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village and knocked by four young men as accompaniment. There is a big leather drum in front, which was struck by an old drummer with a stick in both hands. He is the main actor in this dance. He dances while playing the drums, and there are various drumming actions such as frontal beating, leg lifting, turning around and turning around. The rhythm changes from slow to fast and the steps are flexible and agile. The other two boys, one with a bamboo tube on his left shoulder and a bamboo stick in his right hand, knocked on the bamboo tube and danced, while the other wore a rain hat and danced for the drummer. The three of them danced with each other in harmony with nature. The scene was warm and the atmosphere was jubilant.
Dance evaluation
Bronze drum dance is a group dance of ethnic minorities. The dancers form a circle and dance counterclockwise to the rhythm of the drum. After one set of dance steps, they danced another. The content is a reflection of the agricultural production and life of Zhuang and Yi people. The bronze drums in Malipo, Funing and other villages are mainly used for folk activities such as praying for rain, seeking a bumper harvest and mourning for the elderly. The bronze drums of Zhuang and Yi people are widely spread, with simple movements and rich dance vocabulary. During the bronze drum performance of Zhuang nationality, one person beats the bronze drum and the other person forms a * * * shape with the help of a wooden box, which is not found in other music performances.
The bronze drum performance of the Yi people is a must. A person can play a twelve-tone combination with bronze drums on both sides of men and women, which is called twelve tones for short. It is said that the male drum represents the sun, the female drum represents the moon, and the twelve tones represent the twelve months of the year. Therefore, the Yi bronze drum also contains the calendar culture content of local ethnic groups, accumulates the worship of nature and ancestors by Zhuang and Yi ancestors, and maintains the survival and development of ethnic groups and many other historical and cultural connotations. It has distinctive ethnic and regional characteristics and has important historical, cultural and artistic values.
Bronze drums and bronze drums are cultural relics and development in the Bronze Age. The cultural creation of ancient farming peoples and coastal fishermen is accumulated on bronze drums, and we can also explore the remains in today's folk dances. Mainly spread in Zhuang, Miao, Yi, Yao, Shui, Buyi and other ethnic groups, it is a relatively remote mountain village today. Bronze drum is the main performance form of bronze drum, which is usually performed during festivals with musical instruments such as lusheng and drums. All ethnic groups have their own special festivals and activities, and their dance styles and styles also have their own characteristics. They inherited the functions of ancient bronze drums and the customs of music and dance from different aspects, and constantly imported new cultural creations.
Dance performance
Every year on the 15th day of June in the lunar calendar, hundreds of Yi people dance "Wife Beauty" and beat the bronze drum for fun, dancing for three days and three nights.
Bronze drum dance is a kind of mass self-entertainment dance with singing and dancing. Both men and women can participate, and there is no limit to the number. The style and rhythm of dance are unique. Based on the sharp twisting of the chest, waist and crotch, the dance style is fresh and simple. The pace is not complicated, basically one step at a time, moving forward or sideways, and the knees bend and stretch with twisting. Sometimes holding hands, sometimes swinging up and down alternately. The man is holding a bronze drum in his left hand and banging on it in his right hand. The steps for men and women are the same. Singing when dancing, shouting when jumping to the climax, emotional.
Because Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture is close to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the bronze drums of Yunnan Yi people and Guangxi Yi people are of the same origin and have similar movements. The bronze drum dance in Guangxi is danced at festivals or funerals. When dancing, one person plays the drums, with men in the outer ring and women in the inner ring, around the bronze drums, dancing with the rhythm of the drums. Dance steps are like climbing a mountain. It's strange that my knees tremble frequently with every step. There are six steps, namely, two steps, three steps, four steps, six steps and eight steps. On the last beat, kick your feet forward. When men and women dance together, they hold hands and sway back and forth. When a man dances in a long line, everyone takes a folding fan and bends it in front and chest. Dance movements are relatively simple, mainly the change of formation, and the rhythm changes from slow to fast until the climax ends.
There are men and women dancing together in the Miao bronze drum dance. When dancing, the drum is suspended, and a drummer beats his waist with a wooden stick in his left hand. The pronunciation is crisp, and the right hand beats the center of the drum surface with a drum hammer. Pronunciation is powerful, and the rhythm is mostly beat and beat. The drummer danced while beating, and with the rhythm, everyone lifted their legs and danced around. With the ever-changing rhythm, he went in and out, advancing and retreating freely. Most of its movements are hunting life, farming life and simulating animal forms, such as riding to catch turtledoves, fishing and shrimp fishing. Miao bronze drums have a strong rhythm, and their arms swing back and forth or left and right.
The bronze drums used to accompany the bronze drums are of different sizes, forming a set. The big drum is "female" and the small drum is "male". The drummer holds a soft wooden stick in his right hand and beats two opposite drums alternately, while the drummer holds a bamboo pole in his left hand and beats the small drum bang. Drummers don't dance.
related data
In ancient times, bronze drums had many uses. They are not only musical instruments, sacrificial vessels and ritual vessels, but also symbols of power and wealth. After the Qing Dynasty, they were still used for activities such as praying for gods, offering sacrifices, treating diseases, funeral and entertainment, and drums were used to convey information. Most of the bronze drums collected or still in use are unearthed cultural relics or handed down antiquities, and all the pieces are works of art with exquisite patterns and exquisite shapes. For example, there is a sun pattern in the center of the drum surface, surrounded by frogs, toads and herons, and there are feather dance patterns, ethnic patterns or moire patterns on the drum body. The decorative pattern on the bronze drum gives people a mysterious feeling and attracts people to explore its connotation.
The bronze drums unearthed today are different from those preserved by ethnic minorities in shape and decoration, which reflects the social life, customs and religious consciousness of the local people at that time and is helpful for us to explore the remains of medieval bronze drum culture. Such as frog ornaments: mostly three-dimensional, four evenly cast on the edge of the drum surface, reflecting the ancient farming people's attention to frogs and their totem worship. Zhuang people still have festivals to worship frogs, believing that frogs are the daughters of Raytheon, through which they can pray for Raytheon to bring people good weather and good agricultural harvest. Another example is the sun pattern: it is related to the sun worship of the ancients. There are many scenes of this type of bronze drums and bronze drums in the famous Huashan rock paintings in Ningming, Guangxi.
On the picture, there are bronze drums by the river, and many characters cheer in the same direction in the same posture, as if beating gongs and drums and dancing to worship the river god. Another example is the world's largest bronze drum in Guangxi Museum: its diameter is 166 cm and its weight is 300 kg. The center of the drum surface is the sun pattern, and the auspicious patterns on the bronze drum are considered to be water cranes and egrets. The crane can measure the wind and rain, and the egret is good at fishing, in order to pin the fishermen's desire for a safe harvest at sea. Feather dance patterns and racing patterns are descriptions of song and dance entertainment and dragon boat racing at that time. These patterns are helpful to study the origin of ancient customs and dance culture.