Zhenba folk songs are a huge cultural treasure created and accumulated by the Zhenba people for thousands of years, and are an important part of Zhenba's regional culture. Zhenba folk songs have a wide variety of themes and types of songs, including calls (labor calls, mountain songs), mountain song tunes, mountain songs (also known as Maoshan songs, sister songs, etc.), minor songs, folk songs (wedding songs, filial songs, etc.), sacrificial songs, and folk art (fisherman's drums, flower drums, Qingshui songs). According to the content of the lyrics, they can be divided into "labor", "life", "love", "folk customs", "current affairs", "historical legends", and "red ballads". They have been selected into the Shaanxi Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage List. In June 2008, the "Zhenba Folk Songs" submitted by Zhenba County, Shaanxi Province were approved by the State Council to be included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists. [1] Heritage serial number: 585-86. Zhenba folk songs have their own long history and the general laws of the occurrence, development, and extinction of folk songs. Its own characteristics are mainly formed by the following reasons: 1. Hard working methods. Here, the mountains are big, the gullies are deep, and the forests are lush. Some working methods are very hard. Transportation mainly relies on manpower, and there is shipping on the main rivers. People living here need mental adjustment, emotional catharsis, and entertainment in the hard and monotonous work. In the mountains, gullies, and fields, a mountain song can make all worries disappear. Excellent folk songs are more and more popular, and the lyrics and music are more fixed, and they are passed down from generation to generation. There are countless folk songs that are directly or indirectly related to labor, such as "Carrying the Second Brother", "Boatman's Song", "Tamping Song", "Carrying Stone Song", "Belling Box Song", "Sheep Herding Song", "Pulling Song", "Rice Planting Song", "Carrying Funeral Song", etc., which have played a very important role in the occurrence and development of folk songs. 2. Very distinctive folk customs. In the very distinctive folk customs of our county, there are many folk music, among which the folk songs around weddings and funerals are even more colorful. People summarize all the activities of life into five words: birth, labor, illness, death, and suffering. The folk songs produced from this show the whole picture of life vividly. 3. Voice characteristics. The local language of our county is similar to that of northern Sichuan, so the rules of its folk songs are also the same, but its modal structure is far from that of northern Sichuan. There are many four-tone or five-tone Zheng modes in our county, which are: Yu and Shang. The alternation of its modes is also "Yu Zheng". 4. Unique cultural exchange form. Zhenba relies on Qin and looks to Shu and is close to Chu. It has always been influenced by Qinchuan culture, Jingchu culture, and Bashu culture. Therefore, it has formed the characteristics of focusing on itself and learning from the strengths of many schools in cultural form. Artistic characteristics 1. All kinds of songs: There are many kinds of exciting labor songs, as well as high-pitched folk songs, folk songs full of life interest, and various kinds of euphemistic and beautiful minor tunes, folk songs, sacrificial songs, etc. . 2. Large number: There are nearly 2,000 Zhenba folk songs collected, including love, life, labor, humor, historical legends and children's songs, which reflect the Zhenba people's yearning for life and pursuit of love from all aspects, and embody a spirit of open-mindedness, optimism and perseverance. 3. Musical beauty: Zhenba folk songs are mostly four-sentence single-section, and there are also more primitive two-sentence single-section and complex and changeable multi-section rolling board cavity. Most of its modes are Zheng and Yu modes. The tune is natural and smooth, and the melody is elegant and simple. There are both feminine and beautiful minor tunes and strong and high-pitched calls, which are very pleasant to listen to. 4. Many singers: Zhenba folk songs are widely distributed and have many participants. Folk song competitions have been held in various towns and villages. The folk song competitions held in the county in 1995 and 2000 were held on the basis of the preliminary competitions in various towns and villages. The excellent singers selected include men, women, old and young. In 2005, Bashan Township held a folk song competition. Participants included people in their 80s, children in their teens, and a "folk song family" with more than ten people from three generations of a family. Bashan and other towns also requested to exhibit folk song art in the county, showing that the participation of people in Zhenba folk songs is wide and diverse. [4] Art Types 1. Calls. There are two types of calls: one is to unify the rhythm of labor, such as "stone pulling calls", "tamping calls", "funeral calls", "boatman calls", etc.; the other is to adjust the mood of labor, such as "carrying the second brother calls" and "pulling bellows calls". The lyrics of the above types of calls are not very fixed, and most of them are improvised. The singing form is mostly "one leading and many following". 2. Folk songs. The lyrics are mostly about love, mainly seven words and four sentences, the words are often exaggerated, and the tune is mostly four sentences. The second is the two-sentence and multi-sentence rolling board style. Generally, they are sung during labor, in the form of solo, chorus, duet, etc. Men mostly sing in high-pitched voice, which is loud and clear, and there are also flat-pitched voices, which are bold, majestic, and free in rhythm. Women all sing in flat-pitched voices, which are lingering, gentle and delicate. Some of the songs are improvised, and some are handed down from generation to generation, such as: "Beating the Fairy Peach", "Little Feet with Red Embroidered Shoes", "The Sun Sets on the Four Mountains", "The Man is Pulling Yellow Rice Seedlings Across the Door", "Get Up to Clear the Grass and Go Herd Cattle", etc. 3. Minor tunes. Folk songs that reflect the joys, sorrows, joys, sorrows, and feelings of life. The lyrics are mostly five-character four-sentence and seven-character four-sentence six-sentence, generally in the form of multiple paragraphs of narration, and the music is mostly in a single-segment structure. The five-tone Zheng mode or Yu mode or the alternating Zheng and Yu mode are more common. There are books and chapters such as "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", "Ten Li Pavilion", "Ten Thoughts", "Ten Persuasions", "Going to the Tea Mountain", "Wu Yaogu", etc. The singing place is generally in the house or courtyard. At night, on rainy days or during the farming off-season, three or five people sing together without stopping. 4. Folk songs. It is very popular in local folk customs. There are songs for weddings. In wedding customs, daughters cry and sing songs on the eve of their wedding. Generally, mothers and sisters cry and sing together. The lyrics are mostly about attachment, and the structure is mostly seven words and two sentences. Such as "Crying Wedding Song", "Mother Training Daughter", "Leaving Mother's Bed", etc. There are auspicious and festive songs in the man's "asking for cups and plates", "taking clothes and rice bowls", "setting up the bed", "rolling the bed", "setting up the seat", "visiting the gods" and other rituals. There are filial songs at funerals. On the eve of the funeral, the victim invites a filial song master to sing filial songs in the mourning hall. There are usually two to four singers, with percussion accompaniment. The singing and crying continue all night long. The lyrics are mostly songbooks passed down by ancestors. From "song head" to "welcoming the dead soul to the seat", "filial sons offering wine", "entering the court", "singing the record book", "writing poems to thank the wine", "thousands of turns", "entering the garden", and "sending the dead". The younger generation of the deceased (mostly women) sings songs while crying by the coffin, and the lyrics are sung on the spot, singing about the merits and hardships of the deceased and the sorrow of the living. In daily life, there are also folk songs such as "Birthday Worship" and "Building a House for Good Luck". There are also songs of admonition, such as "Ten Admonitions to Virtuous People", "Ten Admonitions to Sisters", "Admonishing Husbands in the Twelve Months", "Songs to Stop Whoring", "Songs of Prodigal Sons", "Money-Playing Tunes", "Songs of Lazy Wife", etc., with rich names and contents.