Zhuang ritual instrument gets a pop makeover

NANNING — In a scenic spot among the verdant karst hills of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a band consisting of five men and a woman, all dressed in ethnic costumes, are putting on a pop concert.

These amateur musicians belong to the Zhuang ethnic group and are playing not only modern-day guitars, a keyboard and a drum kit, but also a couple of two-stringed tianqin, zithers made from gourds and played like guitars.

The tianqin, or "heavenly zither", was originally played by the Zhuang as a ritual instrument to accompany chants for good fortune. It is currently experiencing a revival, with musicians making efforts to woo young listeners. The band called Dingding is the latest example.

Its six members, aged 31 to 48, include three schoolteachers, a factory worker, a former media worker and a health worker. They live in Longzhou county in the city of Chongzuo in Guangxi, forming the band last year out of a common enthusiasm for music. They rehearse twice a week and perform publicly at the scenic spot, as the local government is attempting to promote the traditional instrument by combining it with tourism.

The tianqin was included in the national-level intangible cultural heritage list in 2021. Great efforts to preserve and revive this artistic treasure have been made, including by local authorities who have integrated tianqin performances in primary and secondary school curricula, by art colleges to refine its artistic delivery, and by grassroots inheritors working to pass down authentic tianqin performances to the next generation.

Dingding is named after the Zhuang word for the tianqin. Apart from playing it alongside Western instruments, the band has also introduced shan'ge, or "mountain song", a genre of folk song, into their repertoire.

Traditionally, aside from rituals, the Zhuang sing shan'ge ballads while playing the tianqin. Sung outdoors with improvised or scripted lyrics passed down by oral tradition, shan'ge is another aspect of Zhuang cultural heritage and is part of Guangxi's appeal.

"As the tianqin is a relatively niche instrument, we decided to amplify the characteristics of shan'ge and infuse them with popular music elements to make the tradition more appealing to young folks," says Lu Qingcong, lead singer of Dingding.

Lei Ya, one of the band's three songs, features a rap segment about the finger-guessing games at Zhuang feasts. Released in March on several social media platforms, the song has won acclaim from net users.

"Although I don't understand the Zhuang language, the song is absolutely fantastic to listen to," wrote one subscriber on the popular social media platform Douyin.

In another song to celebrate the upcoming inclusion of Longzhou county in the country's bullet-train network, electronic music is integrated along with tianqin music.

This combination of a traditional instrument with pop music has drawn interest from curious viewers. "When we perform at the scenic spot, tourists inquire about the playing techniques and even the cost of a tianqin," says Lu.

Speaking of the difficulties they've encountered in blending the Zhuang language, the tianqin and pop music, Lu says the timbre, frequencies and tones of the instrument sometimes clash with the other instruments.

"We have to do some subtractions," says Lu. "When the tianqin plays a dominant role in the segment, the bass and guitar should give way."

Qin Yan, one of the two tianqin players in the band, adds to this. "In Longzhou county, people speak different Zhuang dialects with slight differences in pronunciation from town to town, which requires us to choose the most fitting pronunciations to rhyme better and sound more natural."

The band's new song, which will be released soon, draws inspiration from childhood lullabies. "Our summer memories of cattail leaf fans, fireflies and starry nights, together with Zhuang ballads, will all be part of the new song," says Qin.

"We think culture has 'roots', which means we cannot create things out of nothing," says Ma Shaogang, the second tianqin player and the band's composer. "Looking forward, we will go on creating pop songs based on the tianqin and other Zhuang ethnic cultural elements, because that is where we come from, our roots."

Xinhua