Project
Prelude Into
Wrestling drizzles invites a wavering vine to roam
In giddy chuckles of vapor all beings fog up
except the wood piled up,
and the mountain
whose earth used to cradle the roots
As the stillness around the thatch grows
There’s a sound you once knew.
Out here a lotus, rustling, wheezing,
Memories ruffled in unknown voices,
Melodies faded,
off echoes thee reclaim?
—— 1 ——
[00:00-01:00] Overture
Trembling prowls the sky
thee thatch, backer or menace ?
In weft ofbrunet dye
flows the lapse defied
Griping ghost an out
bid the creep close in
Chant ascend, scatter me not
For there it flutters
Late Neolithic cliff paintings in Cangyuan
—— 2 ——
[01:01-01:44] Euphoria
In tap, on tread,
mud you black
Steps on mountain trial, we
got to stand our ground.
Liberal sleeve ruffled by
the wind called summer
Feel the field whispering wit
that hold the vibrancy
Into the folk, we venture
with bliss.
Dwelling in a village so modernized, the Wa people sing and dance so enjoyed.
The cultural performances have weathered contemporary storms, while cradling the collective memories they share through time.
—— 3 ——
[01:45-02:23] Sparkles Off*
All the storms weathered
More tart than sweet
All thatches burnt that
bleaks the yard called our own
Take a leap forward the eaves
into time I owe
At lotus unfolds an emprise, detouring
on hyacinth creeps an aspiration chroma that
has been too heavy to depict
Murmuring, dirging, composing, I heard you
Go chase it.
for what comes may.
Off * :
‘ Off ’ rhymes with the preposition word ‘ Of ’. We could hear the ‘In Echoes of Embers’, until we realized that the ‘Echoes’ are dispelling. The Wa people have been suffering from a loss of identity, and the claims of ethnicity are no more than wishes. Indeed, with the anticipation of the Wa being seen and heard, the field workers interpret their temporary local cultural performance as ‘Echoes Off’ the tune mingling in the past, a past too afar to resile.
In Wengding Village at Cangyuan, a few Wa people gather around the fire pond, telling stories decades ago. They are the 'embers': over the last twenty years, the old who used to be the interpreters that held the power to narrate themselves have ‘fallen’ to be instruments of interpretation, overshadowed by a grander narrative constructed by tourism, existing as 'specimens’ in specimen villages. Why is ‘the last primitive tribe'? Who is interpreting the primitive? The present appears as a reflection of the 'primitive'. As modernists begin to dominate the narrative of the present, the old are losing the power to interpret the present, having no choice but to make a living by repeatedly conducting ethnical dances. In the cheerful applause from the tourists lurks the performers’ helplessness, a helplessness stroke by nothing but the reality. On the uneven asphalt road ruffles a beam of twilight, while the performers of the 'primitive tribe' are on their way home after working all day. Removing away the ashes, lighting the fire pond up, Xiao Nikuai plays the lusheng (a wind instrument crafted by gourd).
This is their life, but not their Wengding.
—— 4 ——
[02:24-02:53] Fire
Fire, our god revered, said the old,
In heaps of wood sparkles affinity that hold
All the souls navigating ahead safe and sound
For they stumble in times swayed
Come Back, Come Back.
Soul, we call you back.
Back to your torn-up house, to your variegated lane
Shall you not be cheated by the mean merchant
Shall you not wade into the raging river
Call you, caught you, carry you,
With the steadfast rein and unwavering grip.
Wish you as strong as your family, as resilient as your comrades
Soul, suspend your soar into shelters announcing our stands
So come. Come back. Come back home.*
/ The fire pond /: From generations to generations, the fire pond has been irreplaceable for the Wa people’s life. Fire is the god. from the nature worship of the Wa people as a whole to the "fire god" who saved the Wa Mountain. Fire is a home. Wa families boil bitter tea on the fire pond, warm up and chat beside the fire pond. Fire is a welcoming love, and it is a symbol of local cultural practices such as family sacrifices and Wa festivals. Thus, as a common carrier of embodied existence and symbolic perception, the fire pond stands for both burning flames and falling embers: In the context of modernization, the government has implemented regulations to restrict the use of the fire pond, and the ‘unextinguished fire pond’, which cannot literally be found in the village, is solely a subjective cultural construction aimed at reinforcing their ethnicity. Hence, the embers of the fire pond could be attached with a deeper meaning, that is, they ensemble those Wa people who have lost their right to interpret insiders’ culture due to the infiltration of hidden power, and those who, after life’s glory is gradually burned out, but who are struggling and shotting for ‘Our Awa Mountain’.
「Part of this piece of poetry refers to the ‘Calling the Soul’ ceremony prayer of the Cangyuan Minliang region collected by Wei Xuexian according to the Wa-Han Dictionary. In an attempt to express how the pristine nature worship of the Wa continues to make meaning in contemporary local rituals, the poet depicts the impressive cultural performance from a fieldworker’s view and reconstructs the Wa’s collective memory associated with fire.」
「This musical segment is from the 'Compilation of Ethnic and Folk Instrumental Music of Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County,' housed in the Cangyuan County Library, a printed book that has existed for two decades.」
「' The Fire Pond Tune' was recorded on February 2, 1993. In the music score of ‘In Echoes Off Embers’ this music segment is constructed through violin harmonics, scattered like the whispers of elders in memory, attempting to construct a reflection of the past in the present.」
—— 5 ——
[02:54-03:33] Life
Tapping toes on the scattered stones,
children explore the village with no worry
cause villagers guard them with big love
A small hand in a big one, heading home.
There grows crops, plants, and lives
picking, watering, handing, crunching,
In gentleness built upon nothing less than
the radiant afternoon sun creeping down the alley,
leaving a melancholy tune, a melancholic loss
On our way back home.
After moving to a new village, modernized life is getting closer, yet the home in our memory is fading farther away.
—— 6 ——
[03:34-04:08]
Here comes the epic climax of the music, composing a sense of disappointment and bitterness that implies indignant struggle of the locals in the face of present life.
—— 7 ——
[04:09-05:04] Echoes Off
Around fire the Wa arised
syllables afloat, stories alive
Above fire the Wa aligned
steps abeam, songs alight
Amidst fire the Wa awaked
sparkling out, sprouting in.
Cease me not.
Behold the way, bet a say
Brick a home slumbered
whither for return in gusto
Blaze a tune of unity
weather harsh with vitality
Beam through ashes blew
Wa fire fueled the way found
Wither thee not
How is “the past” interpreted?
From the village architecture standardized in uniformity to the evening news broadcast played aloud at the village center, latent power conforming to the modernization context constructs a 'normalized' village life. Houses arranged in rows symbolize ubiquitous implementation of high-modernism that silently permeates into the ground at the foot of the mountains, where the Wa people thrive in peace and happiness.
Out of accidents and fortune, the field workers were allowed to enter a bustling house and transiently shared the living space with the Wa people, witnessing the 'Calling the Soul' ceremony, an ethnical convention worshiping to connect with the ‘lost’ soul and to pray for salvations from their ancestors. What surprised the field workers the most is that, around the sparkling fire pond, conducted no elaborate spiritual procedures; a grand gathering of relative families for a shared dinner was what took place after the ‘praying’. This is a simple emotional bond. This is a performance of collective memories shared among the Wa people in the present era and in this rural society. This is echoes from the past, ones weaving through the present, deafeningly loud. Modernity is never an enemy, as resilience comes from the never-extinguished fire pond.
The embers are not just the remnants of a burnt fire pond, but also the Wa people who were left helpless in this battle yet still gathered around the fire pond.
———— THE END ————