Chapter 4 Section 3: The Songs and Dances of the Ancestors Painted on the Rocky Cliffs

At the end of 1964, when an archaeologist was conducting an ethnic survey in Manpazhai, Cangyuan County, Yunnan Province, he heard that there were many pictures on a surrounding cliff.At the beginning of the next year, under the guidance of Wa villagers, the archaeologist left his residence and climbed over the mountain. On a cliff facing him, he really saw countless red figures. There were more than 100 different shapes of birds, beasts and The images of the characters, they form a picture of the primitive life of the ancestors, and they are vividly displayed in front of people, which makes the discoverer extremely excited and amazed.This is the remains of Neolithic paintings that have been named "Cangyuan Cliff Paintings" (Wang Ningsheng's "Discovery of Cangyuan Cliff Paintings").

For musicologists and those who want to understand the music situation at that time, the dance images in Cangyuanya paintings are very precious and eye-catching.Although it is impossible for these pictures to depict the specific music at that time, primitive dance is an art that coexists with music. The rhythm of the dancers stepping on the ground, the sound of the impact of the dancers in their hands, and the call sign of the human voice are dance music.The fact that "dance in any period of human beings cannot exist independently of music" makes it possible for us to start from the images of dance movements in the pictures and combine them with relevant historical documents to judge the general appearance of the music that coexists with it. .

On the sixth cliff painting, the ancestors painted a battle dance composed of 21 people. Among the dancers, there were seven warriors holding a shield in one hand and a long-handled weapon in the other. Open or squat, the posture is majestic and majestic; the rest of the dancers spread their hands and fingers, or lift them up or down, accompanied by warriors singing and dancing on the ground, the whole scene is full of strong fighting atmosphere. According to historical records, this kind of battle dance with shields and weapons is actually a kind of primitive song and dance. , "Dance of Gan Qi" ("Book of Rites · Music Book").There is also a record about a god called "Xing Tian" who "fought Gan Qi Yiwu". "Music" also said: "Compared with music and music, and Gan, Qi, Yu, Yan [mao Mao], it is called music." It proves that this kind of dance needs to be matched with music, which shows that it is a kind of dance. Very old form of song and dance.It is said that the Bayu dance in the Han Dynasty is also related to the song and dance preserved in the Zhou Dynasty: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty saw the (upper she and lower shell) [ Cong Cong] people are very good at this kind of battle singing and dancing, and think that "this is the song (dance) of King Wu's defeating Zhou, and it is for the musicians to learn. It is also called "Bayu Dance" today." ("Huayang Guozhi")

On the seventh cliff painting point, the ancestors painted a collective "circle dance" with hands and feet.Since the ancient collective dance of human beings can only sing (call sign) with the same rhythm to unify the dance posture and movements without the cooperation of musical instruments, so the comprehensive song and dance form of "casting enough songs" became the collective activity of the ancestors. common choice.Therefore, we can infer that this is the oldest frontier ethnic "Tage Picture" we have seen so far: the center of the picture is a circle, which symbolizes the earth and also shows the circle formation of the song and dancers.The five dancers, with one arm raised and rolled up, one arm drooping and bent naturally, and their legs spread out into the shape of stepping on the ground, show a vivid image of the dancers wrestling their hands and feet, dancing gracefully.The most interesting thing is that one of them has no color on his body, and his posture of hands is also different from that of the other four (bottom left), obviously to show that he is a different leader of the whole song and dance, which is similar to the " "Tage" mostly has the lead dancer's makeup different from others.The drawing concept of the ancestors shows its authenticity and originality (Figure 9).

Because this kind of collective singing and dancing is one of the most commonly used types of singing and dancing by ancient ancestors, images and written records of this kind of singing and dancing can also be found in other cultural relics and historical documents, such as "Lu Shi Chunqiu". "Guyue Pian" records about Ge Tian's tribe's "voting enough to sing eight songs"; the dancer buckle unearthed in Lijiashan, Jiangchuan, Yunnan, which was earlier than the Western Han Dynasty, also casts a picture of 18 people linking arms in a circle, stepping on their feet and dancing. Dance's "Tage" graphics.Later, traces of such "stepping songs" were also seen in the Central Plains and southern minority areas. For example, Jin Gehong's "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" mentioned that in the palace of the Han Dynasty, "Tasting to entertain each other with strings, pipes, songs and dances... and then stepping on the ground with arms It is a festival, the record of the song "Red Phoenix Come"; the record of Song Zhufu's "Ximan Cong Xiao" about the southwest ethnic minorities "gathering and dancing, and dancing together to step on the ground as a festival...named 'Tage'"; Song Luyou's "Old "Xue'an Notes" records about the ethnic minorities in Hunan and Guizhou that "men and women gather to 'tap songs', and one or two hundred people hold hands and sing as cao during the farming break" and so on.

The modern remains of this kind of tage in ancient times, as far as China is concerned, are the "tage" of the Yi, Bai, Lisu [lisu Lisu] and other ethnic groups in the southwest region.The songs sung by Dage are usually called "Dage Tune".In ethnic minority areas, Dage still has many common names such as "Datiao", "Diaoge", "Diaole", "Left Foot" and "Dujiao", all of which have the same meaning as "Tage".If we compare Figure 9 in this book with Color Figure 8, we can see that the "Tage Picture" painted by Cangyuanya has many similarities with the "Dage Picture" of the Yi people in the Qing Dynasty, so it can be said that they are Different era performances of the same song and dance genre.

The specific age of the Cangyuan cliff painting is confirmed by the research of archaeologists and the data from 3500 to 2500 BC determined by the palyn analysis of the pigment of the cliff painting. It is confirmed that it appeared in the Neolithic Age. The frontier folk songs and dances on the rocky cliffs are the concrete portrayal of the ancient ancestors' songs and dances.