The Melodic Styles and Classification of Naxi Dongba Vocal Styles
This 1993 musicological article surveys the melodic styles of Naxi Dongba vocal chanting across five regional/sectarian schools — Baoshan, Baidi, Baisha, Tailu, and Yongning (the last performed by Daba rather than Dongba priests) — noting how each school's melodic character reflects local ethnic mixing (e.g., Tibetan influence at Baidi, Pumi influence in eastern Daba song). The author then proposes a four-category functional classification of Dongba vocal style: sacrificial/ritual pieces (sky-worship songs, ancestor-worship songs, wine-offering songs, tracing Naxi sky-worship to ancient Shang-Zhou practice), funerary pieces (elaborate multi-stage death rituals, soul-deliverance songs using crane/cloud/eagle imagery), narrative epics (including Lu Ban Lu Rao, sung specifically for those who died by love-suicide, and the creation epic Chongbantong, whose cosmogony is compared to Laozi's philosophy), and exorcism/disaster-averting pieces invoking the religion's founder Dingba Shiluo and the guardian deity Youma, reflecting Dongba religion's syncretism of Han yin-yang/Five-Phases thought, Tibetan Bon, and Buddhism. The article links several Naxi cultural traits to the group's ancient Qiang ancestry.
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