Investigation And Research On The Song Of The Yi People

Dage of Yi people, also called "A Kai" in the Yi language of Laluo branch, is an artistic form combing songs, dances and lyrics. The music is quite smooth and touching, dances are full of enthusiasm and liveliness and the lyrics have profound meaning. This kind of form plays an indispensable role in daily lives of Yi people. Since it is also a significant artistic activity in important festivals of Yi people, such as Torch Festival, Spring Festival and funeral, it has considerable cultural significance and artistic value. Owing to change and effect of the field in the artistic external, national arts are suffering extinction and reorganization. Therefore, how to inherit and develop artistic arts became an important project. Dage as a considerably significant recreational activity, it illuminates Yi people’s group memory and cultural expression. Until now, it experiences three transforms of folk, stage, school and hard to escape awkward situation. Therefore, in 2000, the 16th meeting of the 9th Standing Committee of National People’s Congress in Yunnan province passed the Regulations of Protecting National Folk Traditional Culture of Yunnan Province. In 2013, it was revised and re-enacted, including Dage in the list of Second Batch of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yunnan Province. This action aims at reinforcing and raising people’s awareness of studying and protecting Dage culture.The thesis is based on my three-time visits to Yangbi Yi Autonomous County, investigations and information collections, combining related literatures and theoretical knowledge of my major. By adopting anthropology field investigation method and ethnomusicology theory, I refine the main frame and structure of my thesis. Totally, there are four chapters. The first chapter summarizes the natural environment, humanity and history of Dage from the perspective of cultural space. The chapter takes natural environment and culture environment of Yangbi Yi Autonomous County as a breakthrough point so as to introduce the growth environment and historical development of Dage. The second chapter is the most important one. The chapter analyzes artistic representation, such as lyrics, music and dance of Dage. The phenomenon reflects unique expression and cultural attributes of Yi people and lays foundation for describing functions of Dage. The third chapter highlights functional traits by means of religion, communication, entertainment and aesthetics, education and cohesion. Through these attributes, we can also explore the origin and driving force of the development of Dage. The fourth chapter combines the method of anthropology and my volunteering teaching and visiting experience. In line with the inheritance of Dage culture in the school, the inheritance of folk artists and governmental organization of Dage, the chapter describes current surviving situation and restructures its historical development.