Mo-mtnsong

mountain song
山歌

video recording of Zhu Congde singing "mountain song"

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This video was recorded in 1992, in the ancestral hall (tangwu) of the home of Zhu Congde (78 years old in 1992), in Xiakou village. Zhu Congde sings “mountain song” (shan’ge) at the urging of Wu Guangkui (80 years old in 1992). According to Zhu and Wu, this is the most common local mountain song. At the end of the recording, they both explain that the song would normally be sung by a group of people, during agricultural labor. We brought the two men together for the recording session; later, another Xiakou resident, Wu Guanglu, heard the singing and came by to join us. The lyrics are flirtatious, with wordplay that is sexually suggestive (“hammer” (chui) is local slang for penis). The “girl” or lover in the song is, literally, “sister-in-law” (sao). 山歌越唱越好听, 铜锣越打越光声, 铜锣无锤大不响, 山歌无嫂唱不成 The more you sing a mountain song, the better it sounds; The more you beat the copper gong, the brighter the sound; If you don’t have a hammer, you can’t beat the gong; If you don’t have a girl (sao: lit. “sister-in-law”) you can’t sing a song.