Dong ethnic villagers gather for grand musical festival

GUIYANG — As warm breezes blow on colorful embroidered attire and silver ornaments, singing voices echo above the drum towers.

The Kam Grand Choir Festival was held recently in Congjiang county in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture in southwestern Guizhou province.

The three-day event featured grand choirs and singing competitions along the riverside, along with many traditional festive activities in different Dong villages.

The Kam Grand Choir is a type of polyphonic folk singing performed without musical instruments or a conductor. Also known as the Grand Song of the Dong, one of China’s 55 ethnic minorities, the choir was included in the World Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2009.

In Dingdong village, more than 1,000 villagers gathered in the public playground during the event for “Cai Ge Tang”, a grand spectacle performed as the villagers walk and dance in circles. The spontaneous repertoire lasted for hours.

“Today, on this special occasion, the songs are mostly about how we miss the good old days we spent together as childhood friends, and about our wish to find the love of life,” said Liang Xiangtao, 25, one of the local village women singing and dancing in the circle.

Teenagers in Dong villages usually learn to sing the traditional songs before their coming-of-age ceremony at the age of 15, and then sing in groups with members of the same age, Liang said.

According to Liang, since the dialect of the Dong ethnic group lacks written form, many traditions and customs are passed on via the folk songs.

“My friends and I all left work for this event because we deeply cherish and identify with our cultural heritage,” said Liang, who currently works in a family inn miles away from her village.

“I’ve been thinking about coming back home and recording traditional Dong songs,” Liang said.

According to Liang, although residents are keen on passing on their traditions, young people under her age now know less about the Dong songs as a growing number of them have left for school or work.

“They are more than just songs for us — they are ancient nuggets of wisdom and cultural heritage we would hate to lose,” she said.

Richard Watts, a photographer from the United Kingdom, was among the visitors.

Since his first visit to Guizhou in 1994, his interest in the province has grown tremendously. Watts now spends four to five months traveling and taking pictures of ethnic groups in the province each year.

“It’s my great passion,” he said. For Watts, the ethnic groups’ enduring preservation of and passion for ethnic traditions are what keeps bringing him back to Guizhou.

“The essence of them remains unchanged,” Watts said.

“Modernity has come to their lives, so they’ve changed a little bit, but you can still find many traditional elements.”