Manhan folk songs (蛮汉调; transliterated from Mongolian means “folk songs in desert areas” in Chinese) are very popular in Zhunger Banner (Ordos). Dalate Banner(Ordos)(Banner is a Mongolian administrative unit which equals a county), and Tumote Banners(covering the borderland of Huhhot. and Baotou3) of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China. Melody and lyrics are its two principal features. In melody, it primarily bases on boginoduu(short-tune Mongolian song of Erdos), taking merits of Mountain-climbing Song at the same time; in lyrics, it largely relies on Mandarin Chinese, emphasizing the combination of Chinese and Mongolian language as well. Several masterpieces are “Wang’ai Lama Temple”, “Planting a Willow”, “Chairman Mao brings us Happiness”.
Contents
History
The word “Manhan” originates from Mongolian, meaning “touradon” “sand beaches” or “desert”, a kind of typical landscape of Zhunger Banner (Ordos) which is also the birthplace of the Manhan Folk Song In 1996, Zhunger Banner was named the “Hometown of Manhan Folk Song of China” by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China. In 2008, Manhan folk song was listed into the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Ordos were predominantly Mongoloid The 19th century, during which period the two emperors Jiaqing and Daoguang of Qing dynasty were in their rein, witnessed the flooding of Han Chinese into the Zhunger area where Mongolians gather due to the imperial edict that more people should be reared on that land. The complexity of population and production modes (agriculture and animal husbandry) jointly promoted the flourishing of folk arts and thus gives birth to Manhan Folk Song. In Mongolia's time under the Qing dynasty, a number of Chinese novels were translated into Mongolian Traditionally, Ordos territory has been divided into seven banners. It can be safely concluded that Manhan Folk Song is peculiar to Zhunger Banner for two major reasons. For one thing, many songs are named after places and persons in Zhunger. For example, “Shuangshanliang Song”, “Heyanliang Song”, “Heidaigou Song”, “Jvhetan Song”, “Deshengxi Song” etc. are all named directly from some villages of Zhunger. For example, “The Coquettish Woman”, “A Playboy to Recruit Soldiers” are all famous songs of the second kind. There are several singing styles of Manhan Folk Song, such as solo, love duet and unison. And the love duet is the most popular one. Usually the woman raises a question and the man answers, or vice versa. They make impromptu lyrics and often tell a story about their daily life through performing. When a man and a woman sing in duet with co-tune cavity, the man side often employs falsetto.
Melody
Ordos plateau is vast in territory which helps to nurture the kind of personality of generosity and enthusiasm, and in turn influences the melody of Manhan Folk Song. The Song bases its tuning on a pentatonic (five-note) scale, with great turnings and intensity of emotions. The intervals of octave or even over octave are used frequently in the melody of Manhan Folk Song, which shows the dynamic combination of multi-timbre, but also fluency and integrity.