Zhuang Music

Zhuang music turns song into social life through song fairs, three-part singing and bronze drums.

Related

Bronze drumShange (Mountain Songs)

Time and place

The Zhuang live mainly in Guangxi, with communities also in Wenshan in Yunnan and Lianshan in Guangdong. Song fairs peak at the third day of the third lunar month, with gathering places at Tianyang, Jingxi and Mashan. Bronze drums were used from the pre-Qin period into the Han. Zhuang opera and shigong ritual drama are performed in villages of western Guangxi. The legend of Liu Sanjie turned antiphonal singing into a shared memory.

Musical features

Songs fall into mountain songs, ditties, work songs and custom songs, and Zhuang tones shape the melodic line. Around Mashan, three-part singing sets a sustained low part under an ornamented high part. At song fairs men and women answer each other in improvised couplets. Instruments include bronze drum, maguhu, tianqin and polie; Zhuang opera is led by the maguhu.

Repertoire

Changge Yao Shu Liu Sanjie, Liaoge and San Yue San are heard both at song fairs and on stage.

What to listen for

Hear how the low part steadies the polyphony, then how the top part adds ornament. In antiphonal singing, listen for how the answering phrase picks up the ending of the question; in the bronze drum, for layers of rhythm.

Common misunderstandings

Zhuang music is often reduced to the single work Liu Sanjie. Song fairs, polyphonic songs and bronze drums each form a system. Nor is it a copy of Han mountain songs; Zhuang tones decide the shape of the melody.

Sources

• 《中国音乐词典》编辑部编，中国音乐词典（人民音乐出版社）— 民歌与乐器条目核对，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.