YUNNAN CHINA by KINK GONG 2012

YUNNAN CHINA

The southern chinese province of Yunnan, bordering Tibet, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar is home of 50 millions people. By 1850 the Hans became half of the population of the province and now ethnic minorities account 38% of yunnanese population.

1 BAI DONGJING The 1st ethnic group on this compilation are the most integrated ethnic group in Yunnan, it s uncertain if the BAI with 2 millions people belong to the tibeto burmese ethno linguistic family, concentrated in Dali prefecture. DONGJING is an ancient ritual music which originate outside of ethnic minority culture, it disappeared from mainstream chinese culture, and is still being performed by the Bai of Dali and the Naxi of Lijiang. Dongjing orchestras gather about 20 musicians with percussion ensemble, stringed instruments and reciting.
recorded in Dali, february 2011
2 LISU SINGERS The 2nd ethnic group are the LISU, a tibeto burmese group of 700 000 in western part of Yunnan, and 400 000 in northern Myanmar and over 50 000 in northern Thailand. On the western side of Canshang mountain in Dali prefecture, communities of LALUO (YI) and LISU occupy those territories for centuries. Yangbing county is famous for walnuts, but corn is essential in their agriculture, here a singing improvisation of women and men while working with the corn coming from the fields on mules backs.
recorded in a village outside of Yangbing, october 2011
3 DAI NUA HULUSHENG The 3rd ethnic group are the DAI (DAI LEU in XISHUANGBANNA and DAI NUA in DEHONG prefectures), 1.2 million people who were in the past the rulers over Tibeto-burmese groups. They were organized in small kingdoms, spreading from northern Vietnam (black and white TAI) trough southern China, northern Laos to the Shan (TAI in burmese language) state of Myanmar. The free reed instrument with a gourd as resonance box , called Hulusheng in chinese, is a a widespread instrument in Yunnan. Here a short track performed by a Jingpaw man in a village outside of Ruili, Dehong county.
recorded in Bangling village, december 2011
4 DAI LEU SINGER / PI player. a duet of ITA RAM a woman in 40s from Mana village outside of Menghun and a younger man playing the PI, a bamboo reed instrument with a copper reed and 7 holes. They were invited to perform for a newly build house in a banana plantation outside of Galamba along the Mekong. Their performance taking place among groups of drunk men and quiet women started at 9 o clock at night and lasted till 9 in the morning without interruption. ITA RAM is praised for her voice, her knowledge of ancient stories and her ability to improvise the words within traditional singing patterns.
recorded in a village outside of Galamba, Xischuangbanna prefecture, november 2012
5 NISU (YI) DRINKING SONGS. The 4th ethnic group are the NISU a sub group of the so called Yi previously called Lolo by the Hans, more than 1 million people in the southern part of Yunnan, belonging to tibeto burman family. The area of Azhahe south of Honghe is home of the southern group of Nisu and other ethnic groups like the Hani or Yao. here is a humouristic vocal improvisation between women and men, forcing mates to drink bai jio (local rice liquor).
recorded in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, november 2007

RECORDED BY LAURENT JEANNEAU & SHI TANDING IN YUNNAN between 2007 and 2012

Under the name KINK GONG you find 2 activities, the 1st one is to record ethnic minority music mostly in south-east Asia, the 2nd is to transform, collage, recompose the original recordings into experimental soundscapes.

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