Salar Music

Salar music joins huaer high song, wedding banquet songs and the mouth harp in the Yellow River valley.

Time and place

The Salar live in Xunhua, Hualong, Datong and Minhe in Qinghai, with communities in Jishishan in Gansu and Yining in Xinjiang. Xunhua in the Yellow River valley is the core, with mosques and old villages around Jiezi and Chahandusi. Salar belongs to the Oghuz branch of Turkic, close to Turkmen, written in Arabic script, with Chinese also widely used. Weddings, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Laylat al-Qadr are the main occasions, and banquet songs are sung in the wedding courtyard.

What happened

Salar musical life centres on religion and weddings. Huaer is sung in Chinese, antiphonally in fields, hills and huaer gatherings, high and long-phrased. Banquet songs are sung at wedding meals with simple steps and blessings for the couple; wedding laments are sung by the bride and her companions. The mouth harp is a women's instrument, quiet, with overtones selected by the mouth. From the late twentieth century Salar huaer entered gatherings and stage programmes, while banquet songs continue at weddings. Published research on exchange with neighbouring Hui, Tu and Bao'an tunes is limited, so this entry describes common occasions.

Musical features

Huaer is mostly pentatonic, with a high opening, alternation of falsetto and chest voice, falling phrase ends and address formulas such as ga-mei and shao-nian. Banquet songs are steady, even-phrased and matched to dance steps. Wedding laments use a weeping tone with a tremble at the end. The mouth harp is very quiet, its overtone melody close to speech. Instruments include mouth harp, suona, erhu and hand drum; the suona is played when the groom's party comes for the bride.

What to listen for

Hear how the huaer opening holds its high note, then how the phrase falls. Essen-008750 is explicitly Salar, with high register and clear endings; essen-000830 is a Tu song and essen-000885 a Yugur song, regional references from the Yellow River and Hexi corridor. Chinafolk-002412 is a drinking song where banquet phrasing is audible, but it is not a Salar recording.

Common misunderstandings

Salar are often treated as a branch of the Uyghur, or Salar music is assumed to be sung in Salar. The language is Turkic but distinct from Uyghur; huaer and banquet songs are sung in Chinese. Nor does every Salar person sing huaer; religious chant and wedding songs have separate occasions. Salar music is still sung at weddings and huaer gatherings, not only in folk-culture villages.

Listen in the library

Salazu renmin bashenfanC10:15C1 撒拉族人民把身翻，标题明确撒拉族，听高腔与句尾DetailsYangguang zhaoliang tuzurenC10:14C1 阳光照临土族人，邻近土族民歌，作河湟参照；非撒拉族DetailsYuguzu renmin xiyangyangC10:14C1 裕固族人民喜洋洋，河西走廊民歌，作地域参照；非撒拉族Details敬酒歌C30:44C3 敬酒歌，宴席歌体裁，听敬酒的句读；C3 民歌，C1 无撒拉族宴席曲录音Details

All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).

Sources

《中国音乐词典》编辑部编，中国音乐词典（人民音乐出版社）— 撒拉族音乐与花儿条目核对，未引用
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "China" — framework checked, not quoted

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

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