2024
Shot in 2021 July
qingxi village in Nakhi
“Women in Nakhi Minority Music - The Decline and Revival of the 'Eastern Country of Daughters'" was accepted to the Women in Music Conference.
2023
Researched and published the article "Yunwei in Nakhi Ethnic Minority Music: Shift from Gongche Notation and Oral Transmission to Simplified Notation Starting 1970s"
Research with Professor Ian MacMillan from Yale University.
Shot in 2021 July
qingxi village in Nakhi
2022
Researched and published the article "Women in Nakhi Minority Music - The Decline and Revival of the “Eastern Country of Daughters”
Mentor: Gender and Sexuality Professor Carly Thomsen from Middlebury University.
2021
Before the Reformation and Opening in 1978, women of Na Xi minority were not allowed to play instruments or join music ensembles. I visited Lijiang in 2021 and shot an ethnomusicology documentary, "Women in Nakhi Ancient Music." I interviewed four Nakhi female musicians from dali town, baisha, and qingxi village, and documented their daily life as housewives and musicians. The documentary explored the role of female musicians in ancient Nakhi music and reflected the unique perspective of women in music inheritance.
Documentary + Interview
"Women in Nakhi Ancient Music"
XiuQiong He
“Women were not allowed to learn ancient Nakhi music because women had an inferior social status then. To study ancient music as a woman would be to starve to death. A woman should learn to do housework.”
-- XiuQiong He
XiuQiong He interview
XiuQiong He lives in Qing Xi village in Lijiang. She was passionate about Na Xi music, but her parents and husband thought she should stay home and be a good housewife. However, after the Reformation and Opening, she joined the Qingxi Village ensemble to study music and instruments. Now she can play guzheng, sanxian, and pipa. Now she is selected as one of the few female inheritor of intangible cultural heritage in LiJiang. As a grandmother, she also starts to teach her granddaughter pipa and NaXi ancient music pieces.
XiuQiong He at the performance
XiuQiong He and her granddaugther
XiuQiong He and ZiyueYang
ChunJuan Yang
“Bai Sha Xi music (a branch of Na Xi music) reflects the complicated feelings of the dragon princess, her anxiety, stress, and sadness as her father attacked her husband's territory. As a woman, a wife, and a daughter, I can relate to such complex feeling too.”
-- ChunJuan Yang
ChunJuan Yang was greatly influenced by her mother who was passionated in singing and dance. Unlike other Na Xi minority girls, she was fortunately supported by her parents. At the age of 17, she became one of the few female disciples of MaoGen He, who was the only inheritor of Bai Sha Xi music at that time. As one of the few female inheritor, she had a unique interpretation of Bai Sha Xi music. As the wife of the Bai Sha village head, she encouraged more female singers to join Bai Sha village music ensemble, and also teaches her son and daughter Bai Sha Xi music too.
ChunJuan Yang interview
ChunJuan Yang's family and Ziyue Yang
ChunJuan Yang singing
Baisha village music ensemble,
ChunJuan Yang, and Ziyue Yang
QiuHong Zhou
“Shan Zhang is the 'conductor' of the music ensemble. They are usually experienced musicians familiar with music pieces and traditional instruments. There were only male Shan Zhang in the past. However, I believe there will be female Shan Zhang in the ensemble in the future, too.”
-- ChunJuan Yang
QiuHong Zhou was born in a musical family. Her father used to host Na Xi musical event in the village. However, during the Cultural Revolution, her father was being persecuted. After the Reformation and the Opening in 1973, she became the first group of female musician who joined the Dayan Na Xi ancient music ensemble. In the past 30 years, she learnt pipa and and all the Na Xi ancient music pieces from other male musicians in the ensemble. Now she is also one of the few female inheritor of intangible cultural heritage in LiJiang.
Ziyue Yang interviewing QiuHong Zhou
QiuHong Zhou introduce us the meaning of NaXi female fur stole
QiuHong Zhou at the backstage
Arrange and organize Nakhi ancient music classes for Nakhi girls
Invited QiuHong Zhou to teach Na Xi minority girls and boys Na Xi music pieces, and provided Na Xi girls opportunities to perform with Dayan Naxi ancient music ensembles.
NaXi girls and boys roster:
杨堪麟 Kanlin Yang
杨晴 Qing Yang
和松慧 SongHui He
和子瑶 ZiYao He
杨裔清 YiQing Yang
Na Xi children, QiuHong Zhou, and Ziyue Yang
Qiuhong Zhou teaching Nakhi girls and boys "Eight Trigrams"
QiuHong Zhou and Nakhi girls and boys at backstage
preparing at backstage
Nakhi girls performing with Dayan Nakhi ancient music ensemble
Organize Gong Che notation classes for Nakhi minority children
Gongche notation was one of ancient China's most traditional musical notations. Most Nakhi ancient music pieces were notated in gongche notation. However, almost no musician is now still studying or using gongche notation, and are using ciphered notation instead. Nakhi music lost its originality during the transcription process.
Over the past few years, I contacted indigenous schools and organized gongche notation classes for Nakhi children (12 girls + 2 boys). I invited musicians including ZhaoLin He as the teacher of gongche notation class.
Record instruments and instrument-making process
recording instruments made by ZhaoLin He
recording instruments made by Dayan Nakhi Ensemble, the first Nakhi music ensemble since the Cultural Revolution
ZhaoLin He making pipa
2020
In 2020 summer, I visited Li Jiang for the first time. I interviewed Xuan Ke, the founder of the Dayan Na Xi ancient music ensemble, Mr. ZeMing Zhang from the Chinese local government, and LinZhao He from the LiJiang village. I started learning Gong Che notation, digitalizing Gong Che notation Na Xi music pieces, and filmed the documentary "Chinese Living fossil: Na Xi ancient music".
Inspired by Na Xi ancient music, compose an electrical acoustic piece "Buried Civilization"
Buried Civilization is dedicated to Naxi minority musicians in Lijiang, China. By intertwining both sound samples of Naxi musicians from my ethnomusicology documentary Chinese living fossil: Naxi ancient music and modern city sounds, including sirens and excavators, the piece reflects how Naxi minorities fight for the preservation of their music and culture, and also how modernization and globalization accelerate the lose of their culture. Through this piece, I hope to start the conversation about the challenge of balancing modernization and preservation of our culture.