G.yu lha: Oral Traditions of Siyuewu Village
The World Oral Literature Project is pleased to act as host to the collection of G.yu lha, recorded on various dates between August 2009 and March 2010. Details of the full collection can be browsed on DSpace@Cambridge by clicking here.
This collection includes forty audio and nine video files covering a wide range of genres such as villages’ life stories, circle-dancing songs and performance, local history, folk tales, and interviews. These were recorded from Siyuewu Village, Puxi Township, Rangtang County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China.
Collection Details:
Collection: Oral Traditions of Siyuewu Village
Collector: G.yu lha
Date(s): 2009, 2010
Language(s): Lavrung/ Guanyinqiao/ Rong skad and Amdo Tibetan
1. An Interview About Experiencing Poverty
Yid bzhin lo describes her experience of poverty.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
2. An Interview About Poverty
Yid bzhin lo describes her experiences of poverty.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
3. An Interview About a Life Threatening Illness
E bi describes his experience of a life threatening illness.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
4. A Rude Story
Bai yun tells a dirty story which is normally only told between same-sex peers in order to avoid embarrassment.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
5. An Interview About Encountering a Ghost
Cangs go lo provides a personal account of an encounter with a ghost.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
6. A Circle Dancing Song 1
This is a circle dancing song.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
7. A Circle Dancing Song 2
This is a circle dancing song.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
8. A Circle Dancing Song 3
This is a circle dancing song.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
9. A Circle Dancing Song 4
Villagers perform circle dancing accompanied by singing.
[Archive]
[Watch video]
10. A Folktale of a Wolf and Sheep
The respondent tells a folktale about a wolf and a sheep.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
11. An Interview About Life’s Difficulties
The respondent describes past difficulties in her life.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
12. An Interview About Hunting a Black Bear
The respondent describes the first time he killed a black bear while hunting.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
13. An Interview About Hunting
The respondent provides a personal account of hunting.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
14. An Interview About Stealing
The respondent describes his experience of stealing yaks as a youth.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
15. An Interview About Monks in a Dream
The respondent describes having a dream about monks, which he considered a sign of someone's immanent death. The respondent's father died soon after he had this dream.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
16. An Interview About the Death of a Mother
The respondent describes the difficulties she faced when her mother died when she was only six years old.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
17. An Interview About a Strange Encounter
The respondent describes a strange encounter with an unfamiliar veiled woman in the forest while she was collecting firewood.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
18. An Interview About Being Drunk
The respondent describes the first time she got drunk, and fell into a ditch while walking home at night.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
19. An Interview About the Theft of Livestock
The respondent tells about thieves having stolen her and other families' livestock over the past two decades.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
20. An Interview Life Story
The respondent tells of her experiences of decollectivization.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
21. An Interview About Inexplicable Sounds
The respondent tells his experience of hearing strange, inexplicable sounds while riding his motorcycle near a place where many people had previously died in traffic accidents.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
22. An Interview About an Illness
The respondent tells of his experience of a life-threatening illness.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
23. An Interview About Illness
The respondent tells of her experience of a life threatening illness.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
24. An Interview About a Secret Healing Chant
The respondent shares an experience of a terrible headache being cured by her mother chanting a secret chant.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
25. An Interview About Circle Dancing
The respondent discusses local circle dancing.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
26. An Interview About Theft of a mdzo
The respondent tells how villagers from a neighbouring village stole an mdzo 'yak-cow hybrid' from Siyuewu Village.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
27. An Interview About Being Inebriated
The respondent relates a personal account in which she became inebriated at a party and had to be carried home by her son, who is a monk.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
28. An Interview About an Accident
The respondent recalls how he and his wife survived a motorcycle accident.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
29. An Interview About a Family’s Poverty
The respondent retells how she was given to another family as a child because of her family's poverty.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
30. An Interview About a Husband’s Death
The respondent discusses her husband's death in a car accident.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
31. An Interview About Being Drunk at a Picnic
The respondent retells an anecdote of a time when she and a friend got drunk during the village summer picnic.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
32. An Interview About a Terrible Illness
The respondent recalls having a terrible illness at a time when his family lived in a black tent from which clinics were one day’s walk.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
33. An Interview About a Dream
The respondent recalls a dream in which he spoke Chinese, which he found amusing because in his waking life did not speak Chinese.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
34. An Interview Recalling an Argument
The respondent recalls an argument with a village woman.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
35. A Working Song About Breaking Clods of Earth
Respondent sing the earth clod breaking song and perform the accompanying actions for the recorder.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
36. A Folk Story of a Frog
The respondent tells a story of a frog becoming a man.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
37. A Folk Story of Three Brothers
The respondent tells a story of three brothers the youngest of whom was very smart but poor.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
38. A Working Song
Villagers demonstrate how people use hoes to loosen earth while accompanying their work with a song consisting of vocables.
[Archive]
[Watch video]
39. A bsang 'Incense' Offering
Male villagers make a bsang 'incense' offering to the local mountain deity before the circle dance begins.
[Archive]
[Watch video]
40. Military Attack
Dbyangs lo tells of the difficult times she faced when the village was attacked by the military in the 1950s.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
41. A Road Accident
Shel ko shares his experience of a serious road accident in which the truck he was driving overturned and plunged from the road into a river.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
42. Starvation
Dbyangs lo and her daughter Bsod nam skron discuss the starvation they and other villagers faced after conflicts with the military during the 1950s.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
43. A Folk Song
Zher lo sings a song normally sung at parties, picnics, and singing competitions.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]
44. Villagers Relaxing After Circle Dances
Villagers relax and play together after performing circle dances.
[Archive]
[Watch video]
45. Circle Dances
Villagers perform circle dances. Such dances are generally performed on the occasion of any large celebration; for example New Year or summer picnic.
[Archive]
[Watch video]
46. A Circle Dancing Song at the New Year Celebrations
This song is often sung to open a circle dancing performance. E bi sings the song during village New Year celebrations.
[Archive]
[Watch video]
47. Village History 1
Zhangs skyong tells village history concerning a demon which almost destroyed the village.
[Archive]
[Watch video]
48. Village History 2
Zhangs skyong relates details of village history.
[Archive]
[Watch video]
49. Village History 3
Respondent Zhangs skyong provides details of village history (including a legend) and introduces the names of various village hamlets, while relaxing near the village prayer hall.
[Archive]
[Watch video]