Singing the Village: Music, Memory and Ritual Among the Sibe of XinjiangThe Sibe are an immigrant group, Qing dynasty bannermen who made a three-year "long march" from Manchuria in the 18th century to serve as a border garrison in the newly conquered Western Regions of the Qing Chinese empire. They preserved their military structure and a discrete identity in the multi-ethnic region of Xinjiang and are now officially recognised as an ethnic minority nationality under the People's Republic. They are known in China today as the last speakers of the Manchu language, and as preservers of their ancient traditions. This study of their music culture reveals not fossilised tradition but a shifting web of borrowings, assimilation and retention. Singing the Village is a readable, anthropologically interesting and musically informed account of culture and performance in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. The book approaches musical and ritual life in this ethnically diverse region through an understanding of society in terms of negotiation, practice and performance. It explores the relations between shamanism, song and notions of externality and danger, bringing recent theories on shamanism to bear on questions of the structural and affective powers of ritual music. It focuses on the historical demands of identity, boundary maintenance and creation among the Sibe, and on the role of musical performance in maintaining popular memory, and it discusses the impact of state policies of the Chinese Communist Party on village musical and ritual life. Singing the Village draws on a wide range of Chinese, Sibe-Manchu language sources, and oral sources including musical recordings and interviews gathered in the course of fieldwork in Xinjiang. It includes musical transcriptions, glossaries of Sibe-Manchu and Chinese terms, and is accompanied by a free CD which includes 30 original field recordings. |
Contents
Talai uçun 440 pp 60 85 106 Yu Mei vocals | 7 |
Agigurun lullaby 130 p 93 Limei | 10 |
Sibe History and Society | 16 |
Danji Aqsu and Shuangji Aqsu 055 p 65 Jiagar dombur | 23 |
Sibe Music | 48 |
Memories of Music Memories through Music | 83 |
Shamans Temples and Ancestors | 125 |
Folk Music and the Modern State | 156 |
Postscript | 194 |
Glossary of Sibe Terms | 201 |
Discography | 224 |
Other editions - View all
Singing the Village: Music, Memory and Ritual among the Sibe of Xinjiang Rachel Harris Limited preview - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
Agebai ancestral spirits ballads Banner system Beijing beilen Bortala bride Çabçal CD track century Chuguchak clan context Cultural Revolution dance described dombra dombur dooçi drum elçin ethnic minority folk music folksongs Fourth Village G'altu G'ojinan garrison genres Ghulja Guan Hairangege Han Chinese hua'er Humphrey ibagan instruments Jihangir jiobiye Kashgar Kazakh Keli Kiçešan labelled melodies Lama laments Limei linked Manchu Mongol music culture musicologist Northern Xinjiang numbers Oirat p.c. Çabçal p.c. Ürümchi performance pingdiao play political Qing Qing dynasty Qinghai recorded reforms refrain region revolutionary rhythms ritual songs Russian saman's Shaanxi shamanic ritual Sibe culture Sibe intellectuals Sibe music Sibe musicians Sibe shamanic Sibe villages Sibe's singers singing siyangtung Slobin social Soviet Stary style sung Taçintai talai uçun tebute Third Village Three Kingdoms Tong Keli traditional tunes Uyghur weceku wedding women Xinjiang Xinjiang quzi Yan'an yangge yuediao opera