Various Artists Miao Mouthorgans And Other Rare Instruments In Guizhou, Sichuan, China

MIAO MOUTHORGANS & OTHER INSTRUMENTS
IN GUIZHOU / SICHUAN CHINA
The term MIAO is a very ancient Chinese misleading pseudo ethnic categorisation, what we call the HMONG in western languages. Miao became a generic term which does not reveal the diversity of 38 subgroups or 9 millions people, mostly in southern China Guizhou province.
I have learned a lot from Stevan Harrell s book "Ways of being ethnic in southwest China", the author is an american professor having very good knowledge of the Nuosu Yi in southern part of Sichuan.
A question came up: why are all those folks called the same name, by the Hans (the dominant ethnic group with 92 % of the population) and they identify themselves with a different name ?
Stevan Harrell is the man who could answer my questions, no Chinese I would ask had an answer, I mean a real answer, I was not satisfied with the general answer that those various ethnic groups had common ancestors, how did they know?
Basically after 1949, the communist inheritated both the remnant cultural nationalism of the republic and the very different marxist leninist views , they had to create a unified country of diverse ethnic groups and recognize the various groups in order to establish equality among all those citizens of the new communist state. Sofar in the Chinese history, the Hans could not ignore the Manchus, the Mongolians, the Tibetans and the Huis (Chinese Muslims), but unless they had been living in areas in contact with non Hans, they usually ignored most of them, it was time in the 50s for political motivated reasons to find out who were those under developed groups in order to bring economical and political development to the remote areas. According to the marxist leninist theories on historical development, they were 5 stages, the primitive, slave, feudal, capitalist and socialist, in China in the 50s, it was obvious that some members of certains ethnic groups were still at a primitive, slave or feudal stage, and in general the Hans with a few Hui muslims , Manchus and Koreans stood at the top, the communists asked the shaoshu minzu (ethnic minorities) to follow the example of the advanced Hans and move quickly forward in history, confirming the Hans in their place of prominence, giving the opportunity or forcing them, depending on one s point of view, to develop in the direction of universal progress.
Classification and scaling (concerned with the distance of each group from the cultural ideal of the Han core), the 2 basic principles of the 50s ethnological project are thus already present in literature from the late centuries of the imperial era. In the 1920s a flood of western ologies flowed into China and among them were ethnology , MINZU being a new term steming from Japanese minzuko . the project of ethnic identification of the 50s, following sovietic criterias, had to determine an ethnic group with 4 common characteristic language, territory, economy and psychological nature manifested in a common culture, the identification project began when local groups were invited to submit applications for the status of minzu, according to later accounts (Fei Hsiao Tung 1981) over 400 groups submitted such applications, which were then judged by a team of researchers, supposedly to determine whether they conformed to Stalinian 4 criterias ,.Researchers compiled the datas and stabilize them in 1962 at 54 shaoshu minzu plus the Hans, the Jinuos of Yunnan were added in 1979. Ever since we have heard of the 56 minzu (ethnic groups) of China ! That was easy in inner Mongolia, Tibet, or Xinjiang,where these people lived in compact territories, were reasonably uniformed culturally and all had historical experience of independent statehood, but in southwest china different minzu or different cultural and linguistic collectivities, live intermixed in that area and there have been ethnically based states there but none in recent history. In fact there was a debate in the 50s as to whether apply the term minzu to groups in earlier stage of history or whether to use distinctive terms such as buluo (tribe) or buzu. Jiang Yongxing (1985) writing about Guizhou, has commented that the identification teams relied too much on historical relatedness of groups and not enough on local s people own wish, with the result that many identities in Guizhou are still disputed and many groups yet to be identified (Cheung 95,96), The Ge did not want to be a Miao sub group. In Sichuan and Northern Yunnan various ethnic groups have been classified as Tibetans, against their will
China having moved towards market economy, a large number of minority regions have marketed a commodity available only to them : their ethnicity itself. Ethnic tourism has developed in a big way in China since the 90s for Chinese and foreign tourists, and is often promoted as the way to create income in those areas for development . I usually stay away from ethnotouristic shows and try to get music which is not a commodity ! I was based in Dali. Yunnan . China between 2006 and 2013.
This is a compilation of 2 trips to Guizhou in 2007 and 2012 + Sichuan 2006
A1 MIAO 3 MOUTHORGANS IN GUIZHOU CHINA
3 men each using a different size LUSHEN (Chinese) or GUÉ (usually 6 long bamboo free reed tubes inserted in a wooden resonance box) and 4 women each blowing in a different MANTONG, (a bamboo tube with a smaller bamboo free reed tube producing one note inside a larger bambootube which is the resonance box). recorded in Paisha village, home of a mouthorgan manufacturer who gathered 2 friends to show us how the GUE sound like, using 3 different sized GUE mouthorgans, each one having 6 bamboo tubes inserted in a long wooden box connected to the mouth by a wooden tube.
April 2012
A2 HUA MIAO WEDDING DANCE IN SICHUAN CHINA
Da liangshan in mountainous southern part of Sichuan is home of various Tibetan, Yi, and other smaller ethnic groups, like this small community of Flower Hmong or Hua Miao in Chinese, they migrated from Guizhou in the 19th century and establish themselves up in mountains around Muli. The main music instrument is the mouthorgan, LUSHEN in chinese, the HULUSHEN ( 5 or 6 bamboo tubes mounted on a gourd) is the predominant kind of mouthorgan being used for entertainment, where the long tubes lushen mounted on a wooden resonance box is here used only for funerals. They do not follow Tibetan buddhism, like others do in this part of Sichuan under Tibetan influence, but have their own animist belief system.
We were invited to a wedding ceremony up in the mountain, taking place in a large wooden house with 2 floors, in one room were gathered mostly teenagers having their rave, while in another room was taking place a circle dance of men and women responding to each others with a HULUSHEN player in the center playing and dancing, the floor was covered of fresh pines from pine trees and alcohol was being served to dancing members of the ceremony.
september 2006 in Chutouwan village, Muli, Liangshan, Sichuan, China
A3 HMOOB DONGLIANG IN GUIZHOU CHINA
recorded in Biasha village, which has recently turned into what i call an ethnic zoo, Chinese tourists pay a ticket to take millions of photos of those costumed girls and the peculiar haircut of men, simplified music and dance are being shown to crowds of Han and western tourists.
Luckily we also found some musical expression which is not part of this touristic fashion, a more intimate set up composed of 2 reeds instruments (DONGLIANG is a bamboo flute with a copper reed inserted in the mouth and requires circular breathing technique ) and male and female singers, intended as love songs.
2 DONGLIANG performed by GUN NADAO 42 years old man and a young man + singing a love song performed by a shy young girl in the background
april 2012
B1 HUA MIAO HULUSHEN IN SICHUAN CHINA
Performed by a one man. The main music instrument is the small mouthorgan, HULUSHEN ( 5 or 6 bamboo tubes mounted on a gourd) is the predominant kind of mouthorgan being used for entertainment, where the long tubes lushen mounted on a wooden resonance box is here used only for funerals.
September 2006 in Baicaoping village, Muli, Liangshan, Sichuan, China
B2 HMOOB MOUTHORGANS IN GUIZHOU CHINA
recorded in Biasha village, a MIAO ( they call themselves HMOOB, pronounced MOO ) This is part of musical demonstration for tourists, armed with heavy cameras, 6 men using 6 LUSHEN of various sizes.
April 2012
B3 GELAO GUPIAOQIN IN GUIZHOU CHINA
recorded in Songlong village, where people identify themselves not as Miao but as GELAO, using a very rare string instrument the GUPIAOQIN (chinese term), played solo or with another gupiaoqin, the wooden instrument is bowed with a bamboo stick rubbed with resin on 2 hemp strings, to be played as home entertainment, at singing and drinking parties. The 2 men made 2 new instruments on the spot from previously carved wooden resonance boxes, taking hours to tune properly, and the result is something i ve never heard anywhere else !
September 2007
B4 GELAO CANON SINGING IN GUIZHOU CHINA
2 old ladies perform canon singing in Songlong village
September 2007
B5 SHUI MIAO TRAVELLING SONG GUIZHOU CHINA
The SHUI MIAO (water MIAO) are a sub group of the MIAOs of GUIZHOU, based in Shidong area outside of Kali in Guizhou.
In Dali, Yunnan we met a group of middle aged SHUI MIAO ladies who come from Guizhou to sell their traditional clothes to tourists in the streets of Dali old town, we recorded them in the mountain and indoor at our home, here you can listen to a mountain song intended to be very loud, performed by an old lady
December 2007
RECORDED BY LAURENT JEANNEAU & SHI TANDING.
NOTES BY LAURENT JEANNEAU.