He Jinhua – Songs of the Naxi of Southwest China (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2022).
Songs of the Naxi of Southwest China is the first collection of Naxi folk songs to ever be released outside China. The album illustrates the traditional music of the Naxi people of southwestern China and features singing by acclaimed Naxi vocalist He Jinhua.
The album includes a wide-ranging collection highlighting He’s captivating and frequent multi-layered a cappella performances. Imagined by He Jinhua as a way to help preserve and pass on the traditional songs of the Naxi people in the Naxi language, “Songs of the Naxi is a collection of folk songs from northwest Yunnan province. As in the rest of China, local Naxi performing arts experienced obstacles during the Cultural Revolution of 1966–1976, and later through the inflow of modern media and pop music in the 1980s. Since then, culture-keepers, scholars, and officials have made a solid effort to recover traditions, although the surprising variety of folk songs and styles has never before been available for outsiders to listen to.
Naxi folk songs include references to snow-clad mountains, running rivers, spring flowers, and the abundance of local wildlife in the Naxi heartland. They speak of daily life – of agricultural work, or the lament of a bride’s mother at her daughter’s departure, as well as of the joy of communal celebrations, and the fun that children can find in everyday activities.
A Tibeto-Burman ethnic group concentrated in Lijiang, the Naxi live near other ethnic groups, such as Tibetans, Lisu, Yi, Bai, and Han Chinese (China’s ethnic majority), and have nurtured a specific yet intermingled, intermarried, and mixed-religion culture that has endured in part due to the rural lifestyle in the region and, until the 1990s, its geographical isolation.
For Songs of the Naxi, He Jinhua provides vocals, wrote two original compositions, and performed on the Naxi jaw harp. She also worked with GRAMMY-winning composer Daniel Ho to adapt two songs, which Ho arranged for piano and ukulele/recorder accompaniment (“Transplanting Song” and “Gguqqil from Labeq,” respectively).
For the liner notes and materials, He Jinhua worked with Naxi studies expert Professor Yang Fuquan (former Deputy Director, Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences) and Professor Helen Rees (UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology) on both translations from Naxi into Chinese and English, and the photography (by Rees).
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.