{"id":5115,"date":"2013-09-02T16:34:53","date_gmt":"2013-09-02T20:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5115"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:49:13","slug":"naxi-music-from-lijiang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5115","title":{"rendered":"Naxi Music from Lijiang"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dayan<\/a>

Dayan Ancient Music Asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion performing<\/p><\/div>\n

Of all the provinces of Chi\u00adna, it is Yun\u00adnan that has fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00aded me most. Remote and moun\u00adtain\u00adous, and for\u00adgot\u00adten by the world in the last few cen\u00adturies, it once played a crit\u00adi\u00adcal role in world his\u00adto\u00adry by being the first region to trans\u00admit major cul\u00adtur\u00adal and tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal influ\u00adences between East Asia and South Asia. The old\u00adest known hominid fos\u00adsils of East Asia were found there. Before the famed Silk Road was estab\u00adlished in the north, trade and ideas wormed their way through the pre\u00adcip\u00adi\u00adtous moun\u00adtain pass\u00ades of Yun\u00adnan, across north\u00adern Bur\u00adma, then over the Naga hills to the val\u00adley of the Brahma\u00adpu\u00adtra in India. Rice cul\u00adti\u00adva\u00adtion prob\u00ada\u00adbly entered India by this route in pre\u00adhis\u00adtoric times, and pos\u00adsi\u00adbly the tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy of cast\u00ading bronze. Some mag\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcent bronze art sur\u00advives from the 3rd<\/sup> Cen\u00adtu\u00adry BCE<\/span>. From that time to the Yuan era, though some\u00adtimes con\u00adtrolled by Tibetan or Han Chi\u00adnese empires, Yun\u00adnan was most often the cen\u00adter of its own king\u00addoms, such as Dian [\u6ec7\u570b], Nangzhao [\u5357\u8bcf], and Dali [\u5927\u7406\u56fd]. A melt\u00ading pot of peo\u00adples spoke var\u00adi\u00adous Tibeto-Bur\u00adman, Tai-Kadai, and Miao-Yao lan\u00adguages. The his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly impor\u00adtant Bai language\u2019s clas\u00adsi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion is dis\u00adput\u00aded. These abo\u00adrig\u00adi\u00adnal lan\u00adguages sur\u00advive and thrive despite the influx of Chi\u00adnese speak\u00aders to the region, as do many ancient tra\u00addi\u00adtions. Shaman\u00adism, Tao\u00adism, Bud\u00addhism, Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty, and even Islam have been influ\u00adences on local beliefs. A syn\u00adchretis\u00adtic reli\u00adgion called Dong\u00adba<\/i>, relat\u00aded in some way to the shaman\u00adis\u00adtic B\u00f6n<\/i> faith that pre\u00adced\u00aded Bud\u00addhism in Tibet, is still prac\u00adticed. It focus\u00ades sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant\u00adly on the sacred\u00adness of trees, and once pro\u00advid\u00aded the spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal basis for care\u00adful (and sus\u00adtain\u00adable) prac\u00adtices in log\u00adging. The Com\u00admu\u00adnist Par\u00adty attempt\u00aded to crush the faith, not only for ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal rea\u00adsons, but to facil\u00adi\u00adtate clear-cut\u00adting and destruc\u00adtive exploita\u00adtion of the forests. The reli\u00adgion, how\u00adev\u00ader, survives.<\/p>\n

Most remark\u00adably, the region inde\u00adpen\u00addent\u00adly devel\u00adoped writ\u00ading. The Dong\u00adba<\/em> Script con\u00adsti\u00adtutes the only hiero\u00adglyph\u00adic writ\u00ading still active\u00adly main\u00adtained. The Com\u00admu\u00adnist Par\u00adty sup\u00adpressed its use, and destroyed thou\u00adsands of ancient man\u00adu\u00adscripts by boil\u00ading them into paste, but many copies sur\u00advived, about half of the extant ones being car\u00adried to the U.S. and Europe. This remark\u00adable form of writ\u00ading presents many inter\u00adest\u00ading puz\u00adzles for lin\u00adguists and pale\u00ado\u00adg\u00adra\u00adphers [ READING<\/span>, August 2013: item 23943 (Alex\u00adis Michaud) Pic\u00adtographs and the Lan\u00adguage of Naxi Rit\u00adu\u00adals<\/i>]. Now, belat\u00aded\u00adly, the script is being encour\u00adaged by local author\u00adi\u00adties, and appears on the sides of buses.<\/p>\n

Of the many cul\u00adtur\u00adal sur\u00advivals in Yun\u00adnan, it\u2019s musi\u00adcal tra\u00addi\u00adtions stand out. I pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly heard some Naxi (or Nakhi) folk\u00adsongs of Yun\u00adnanese migrants in Sichuan [items 16234 and 16239 in Sichuan Folk Song and Bal\u00adlad, Vol.2<\/i>] and thought them par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly evoca\u00adtive. But the more com\u00adplex clas\u00adsi\u00adcal orches\u00adtral music of the ancient king\u00addoms has been aston\u00adish\u00ading\u00adly pre\u00adserved through all the tribu\u00adla\u00adtions of time. The Dayan Ancient Music Association\u2019s album Naxi Music from Lijiang<\/i>, issued by Nim\u00adbus Records in 1997, pro\u00advides an aur\u00adal win\u00addow into antiq\u00adui\u00adty. The instru\u00adments used are archa\u00adic lutes, flutes, shawms and zithers, long since van\u00adished else\u00adwhere. Twen\u00adty-four melod\u00adic qupai<\/i> (leit\u00admo\u00adtifs) are sub\u00adject\u00aded to elab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion and vari\u00ada\u00adtion. This form is known as Baisha xiyue<\/i>, lit\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly \u201cfine music of Baisha\u201d, refer\u00adring to an ancient cap\u00adi\u00adtal of the Naxi, sit\u00adu\u00adat\u00aded near mod\u00adern Lijiang. The music is best described as lean and unclut\u00adtered, but ele\u00adgant. There is none of the crash\u00ading pots-and-pans din asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with old forms else\u00adwhere in China.<\/p>\n

This is to me, a very evoca\u00adtive and enjoy\u00adable album, and will be replayed often.<\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>

View of Lijiang<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of all the provinces of Chi\u00adna, it is Yun\u00adnan that has fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00aded me most. Remote and moun\u00adtain\u00adous, and for\u00adgot\u00adten by the world in the last few cen\u00adturies, it once played a crit\u00adi\u00adcal role in world his\u00adto\u00adry by being the first region \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[947,938],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c-listening","category-cn-listening-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5115"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9145,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5115\/revisions\/9145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}