A Product of Musical and Cultural Exchange Between the Mongol and Naxi Peoples — Baisha Xiyue
Drawing on a 1962 field investigation the author led in Lijiang, this article examines Baisha Xiyue, a traditional Naxi vocal-instrumental-dance music genre from Baisha, near Lijiang, Yunnan. It reviews the popular legend that the music derives from a Mongol court ensemble given to the Naxi chieftain Aliang by Kublai Khan around 1253, and cross-checks this against the 1743 Brief Gazetteer of Lijiang Prefecture. The author argues for the legend's basic credibility using four lines of evidence: the sugudu and bobei instruments used only in Baisha Xiyue closely match Yuan-court instruments (huobusi and touguan) described in Yuan historical records; some melodic and modal features resemble Mongol music; historical sources confirm Kublai Khan's passage through Lijiang and a Mongol settlement remaining nearby afterward. The author concludes Baisha Xiyue is a product of long Naxi-Mongol musical exchange, of considerable antiquity (predating Haydn's first symphony), and valuable for ethnic-unity, artistic, and historical-musicological reasons.
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