[Explanation] In Rangtang County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the past, whether it was farming day and night or grazing and riding horses, free and high-pitched singing always lingered in this "dam in front of the mountain".
But with the impact of modern music, the inheritance of folk songs is in jeopardy.
Founded in 2014, the Rangtang Chuanxi Northwest Folk Song Institute, through years of hard work, has picked up this traditional art again, excavating, collecting, researching and sorting out the scattered folk songs of Northwest Sichuan.
[Explanation] In early January, in the Northwest Sichuan Folk Song Training Institute in Rangtang County, the person in charge Hua Ke was giving singing instructions to the students in the training institute.
According to Hua Ke, in recent years, through the continuous efforts of the students in the Institute and the local art troupe, folk songs in Northwest Sichuan have gradually returned to the lives of the people. In recent years, they often appear in some large-scale traditional festivals, such as the Spring Festival.
[Concurrent] Hua Ke, head of the Northwest Sichuan Folk Song Institute in Rangtang County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province
In Rangtang County, we inherit some local folk songs in Rangtang, which have a long history. Some folk songs may be six or seven hundred years old.
Its content is varied, and the most common content is to praise one's hometown, one's hometown, one's life, one's elders and so on.
Our folk songs have already been to Shanghai. When our singers sing in the metropolis of Shanghai, they are very, very popular.
[Explanation] According to Hua Ke, there are 11 towns under the jurisdiction of Rangtang County. In order to collect folk songs handed down by word of mouth as soon as possible, he almost ran all over Rangtang.
It took him three years from the start of the collection and protection work in 2015 to the completion of the first set of "rescue" materials.
In 2020, the second set of "rescue" materials has also been completed.
Today, Hua Ke is leading the students in the training center to collect and sort out the third set of materials.
[Concurrent] Hua Ke, head of the Northwest Sichuan Folk Song Institute in Rangtang County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province
Divide the students in the entire training center into groups. When collecting music, one of them is folk music, folk folk songs, and the scattered folk songs of King Gesar, as well as such Guozhuang, such music Go to the folks to collect, and after the collection is gathered at the transmission and learning center, we will select the things there, and after we organize them, we will form the current numbered notation and music to pass on.
[Explanation] Today, Tibetan folk songs in Northwest Sichuan have become popular again in Rangtang, attracting many young people to join them.
Now, there are more than 30 young students in the training center, and the 21-year-old Shaqiong Nima is one of them.
Because she liked to sing since she was a herder, Shaqiong Nima came to the Institute to learn Tibetan folk songs in January 2022.
Shaqiong Nima said that during the study period, he also performed with the training institute to various places, accumulating experience and earning living expenses at the same time.
[Concurrent] Shaqiong Nima, a student from the Northwest Sichuan Folk Song Institute in Rangtang County, Aba, Sichuan
I especially want to be a singer. I want to come to the training center here and want to record a song. At that time, I want to improve my skills with the teacher (study).
(Now) I want to sing everywhere, and my courage is getting bigger and bigger.
Music has brought me happiness and income. I must study hard here in the future and persevere.
I hope that I will become a singer and use my singing to promote Rambala culture.
[Explanation] In addition, Huake also adapted some of the folk songs collected and created, and adapted stories that the people liked to hear, or transformed policies that benefited the people into easy-to-understand sentences into new folk songs.
The new year is coming, and Hua Ke said that in 2023, he also wants to lead his students to Ganzi, Qinghai and other places to collect more Tibetan folk music, so that the folk songs that exist in the mouths of the people will continue to be sung.
[Concurrent] Hua Ke, head of the Northwest Sichuan Folk Song Institute in Rangtang County, Aba, Sichuan Province
In 2023, we will arrange for the inheritors of our training center to lead the team, (to) Ganzi Prefecture, Qinghai and other places to collect, because although it is not the local culture of Rangtang County, it is all Tibetan. All are treated equally.
[Explanation] In addition, during the holidays, Huake will also take students to the mountains and countryside to deliver a sumptuous cultural feast to the public.
Hua Ke introduced that during the Tibetan New Year in 2023, they will also send the newly collected folk songs and Guozhuang in 2022 to the common people, so that they can have a happy New Year with singing and dancing.
Yang Yudi reports from Aba, Sichuan
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]