China Popular Itineraries |
|
|
|
|
Field songs are created in the process of working in the field. They are characterized by free and smooth expression, with loud and clear tune and melodious rhythm.
Compared with work songs which are more of practical value, field songs's main function is to express people's feelings, offering people an vent to their distress and delight. Field songs are usually natural and beautiful without any artificial polishing. The words are usually popular and easy to un-derstand. Besides, field songs are also quite impromptu when sung by differ-ent people in different places at different time. Listening to field songs, one can always feel the simple-heartedness and honesty of the singers, their open and frank disposition and their positive attitude towards life. Take as an ex-ample Lan Hua-hua, the most popular field songs in northern part of Shanbei Province, with a loud and clear tune, this beautiful song presents a sketch of the loess plateau. The plaintive and deep melody is so touching that no one is not agitated on hearing it.
Chinese folk songs have distinctive regional characteristics. There are Xin-Tian-You melody, Climbing Mountain melody, Mountain melody and Hua-er in the north-western part of China while in Southern China there are Xingguo field songs, Liuzhou field songs, Wenzhou field songs, etc. Field songs also include some farming songs and herding songs. Farming songs are usually sung in ploughing and irrigating, and they are quite similar to the work songs in that they are to encourage and stimulate labourers' working spirits, thus improving the working efficiency. Herding songs are sung mainly by children to urge on the livestock or play a joke on each other while herding their flock. |
|
