Northeast Folk Songs

Northeast China's folk songs are mostly xiaodiao, brisk and humorous tunes such as Yueya Wugeng and Xiaokanxi, often tied to dance.

Related

QupaiBanshi (Metrical Pattern)Erhu

Time and place

Northeast folk songs come from Han communities in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, with Manchu, Korean and Mongol tunes also in circulation. After the lifting of settlement bans in the late Qing, migrants brought tunes from Shandong and Hebei, which merged with local speech into a blunt, humorous manner. They are sung in the slack season, at New Year, weddings and markets, and errenzhuan draws on them.

Musical features

Xiaodiao dominate; mountain songs and work songs are fewer. Melodies are mostly pentatonic, often in zhi or yu mode, with short phrases, a brisk beat and many leaps. Words are colloquial, thick with erhua and refrain syllables, and narrative songs often turn comic. Banhu, erhu, flute, suona and clappers may accompany, while errenzhuan adds fans, handkerchiefs and dance.

Repertoire

Yueya Wugeng, Xiaokanxi, Diu Jiezhi, Qiao Qinglang and Dongbei Feng are widely known, and forest regions keep hauling songs such as Haoya Gua.

What to listen for

Start with the five watches of Yueya Wugeng and hear how one tune advances with new words. Then take the short, speech-like phrases of Xiaokanxi. In Diu Jiezhi, the humour comes largely from repetition and refrain syllables.

Common misunderstandings

Northeast folk song is often equated with errenzhuan. Errenzhuan is a mixed narrative and dance genre that uses folk song as material. Nor is the repertoire all cheerful; laments and funeral songs also belong to it.

Sources

• 《中国音乐词典》编辑部编，中国音乐词典（人民音乐出版社）— 条目与年代核对，未引用
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "China" — framework and dates checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.