Yi are an ethnic group of Austroasiatic origin living largely in the mountains of southwest China and speaking a Tibeto-Burman language. The Yi people numbered more than 9.8 million in 2020.¹ When the people of China were classified into fifty-six minzu (ethnicities) in the late 1950s, the term Yi, a previously seldom used term, replaced the formerly more common Luoluo, considered extremely pejorative.² They
mainly live in the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and in small numbers in Guangxi.³
彝族是一群主要居住在中国西南地区的历史悠久的土著民族。彝语属汉藏语系藏缅语族彝语支。至2020年，中国境内的彝族人口超过980万，为中国第七大少数民族。他们主要分布在中国滇、川、黔、桂四省（区），少数分布在越南，老挝等东南亚国家。
1 China Statistical Yearbook 2020, Beijing: China Statistics Press.
2 Harrel, Stevan. 1990. ‘Ethnicity, Local Interests, and the State: Yi Communities in Southwest China’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 32(3): 515-548.
3 Guoyu, Fang 1984. Draft history of the Yi. Kunming: Yunnan Minzu Press.
Mayou
Mayou village (马游村), Yao’an County (姚安县), Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture (楚雄州), Yunnan Province (云南省). Mayou has a population of 2,223, of whom 95% are Yi. Located among several high mountains, this village is home to two nationally recognized Yi intangible cultural heritage bearers in Meige (梅葛) and Hulusheng (葫芦笙) respectively. Meige is the general name for the Yi’s comprehensive music tradition, including folk songs, dance and oral literature, all of which may be sung to the Meige tune family. The Hulusheng is one of the oldest versions of the Asian free-reed mouth organ, and dates back c.2,500 years. The Yi language is one of very few ethnic languages preserved both in oral and written forms in China, this dating back to over 6,000 years.
马游村隶属于云南省楚雄彝族自治州的姚安县，全村共有2,223人，其中95%为彝族。马游村坐落于数座高山之间，村内有两位分别在梅葛和葫芦笙领域造诣颇深的国家级非物质文化遗产传承人。梅葛是彝族综合性音乐传统的通称，包括民歌、舞蹈和口头文学，所有关于彝族的史诗故事都可以通过‘梅葛’调吟唱出来。葫芦笙是亚洲自由簧口风琴最古老的版本之一，可追溯至约2,500年前。彝语是中国为数不多的在口头和书面两种形式上都得以保存的民族语言，其历史可追溯至6,000多年前。
Meige
The “Meige” is a creation epic of the Yi people, passed down in Yao’an, Dayao, and other Yi areas in Chuxiong Prefecture of Yunnan Province. The term “Meige” originates from the Yi language, originally the name of a Yi folk tune. As this tune is used to sing the Yi creation history, people have thus named this creation epic “Meige”. The entire epic of “Meige” can be divided into four major parts according to its content: “Creation”, “Making of Things”, “Marriage and Love Songs”, and “Funerals”. The “Meige” tune is further divided into two categories: “Chi Meige” and “Fu Meige”. The melody of “Chi Meige” is comparatively sorrowful, melancholic, and deep, and the epic’s fourth part, “Funerals”, is sung in this tune; while “Fu Meige” has a more gentle and lyrical melody, and the rest of the epic is chanted in this tune. The “Meige” is categorized by the age of the performers into four types: “Elder Meige,” “Middle-aged Meige,” “Youth Meige,” and “Baby Meige.”
The Yi people revere Meige as the cultural ‘genealogy’ and ‘encyclopedia’. The content of Meige is all-encompassing. It not only reflects the Yi ancestors’ worldview and rich imagination of the universe in ancient times but also mirrors the evolution and development of the Yi people’s production and life; it reflects the Yi people’s customs of love, marriage, funerals, kinship, and farewells, as well as the close economic and cultural relationships between the Yi and other fraternal ethnic groups. The creation myths of Meige is universal; it represents the ideology of humanity in the primitive era, possessing significant historical value and certain literary worth.
In July 2006, the Meige Cultural Protection Area of the Yi people in Mayou Village, Yao’an County, which is the birthplace of Meige, was included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage protection list by the People’s Government of Yunnan Province. In June 2008, the Yi Meige was listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage protection list by the State Council.
《梅葛》是彝族的一部长篇史诗，流传在云南省楚雄州的姚安、大姚等彝族地区。 “梅葛”一术语源于彝语,本为一种彝族歌调的名称，由于采用这种调子来唱彝族的创世史，因而人们将这部创世史诗称为《梅葛》。《梅葛》全诗按内容可分为“创世” 、 “造物” 、 “婚事和恋歌” 、“丧葬” 四大部分。“梅葛”调又分“赤梅葛”和“辅梅葛”两大类。“赤梅葛”的曲调比较悲楚、忧伤、低沉，史诗的第四部“丧葬”就采用这种曲调；“辅梅葛”的曲调较为婉转抒情，史诗的其他几部唱诵时就采用这种曲调。《梅葛》按照演唱者的年龄可分为”老年梅葛”、 “中年梅葛”、 “青年梅葛”、 “娃娃梅葛”四种类型。
《梅葛》被彝家人奉为彝族的文化“根谱”和“百科全书”。《梅葛》的内容包罗万象。它既反映了彝族先民在远古时代的世界观和对宇宙万物的丰富想象，也反映了彝族人民生产生活的演变与发展过程；既反映了彝族人民恋爱、婚姻、丧事、怀亲、送别等生活习俗，也反映了彝族与其他兄弟民族在经济、文化上的亲密关系。《梅葛》的创世神话具有世界性，它是人类原始时期的意识形态，具有重要的历史价值和一定的文学价值。
2006年7月，梅葛的发源地–姚安县马游村彝族梅葛文化保护区被云南省人民政府列入第一批非物质文化遗产保护名录，2008年6月彝族梅葛被国务院列入第二批国家级非物质文化遗产保护名录。
ECura’s Collaboration with Mayou village
In February 2023, Dr. Lijuan Qian, the PI of the ECura project, initiated a collaboration with two Meige musicians during her spring fieldwork trip to Yunnan. These two musicians, Rongxiu Luo and Xiaowei Guo, hold positions as the Head of the NGO Meige Studio and the Head of The Centre of Intangible Cultural Transmission, Preservation and Exhibition, Yao’an county, respectively. They have played significant roles in collaborating with ECura project. (Refer to the first group photo on the left: from the left to right, you can see Rongxiu Luo, Xiaowei Guo and Lijuan Qian). This collaboration led to the establishment of the UCC Meige Research Collaborative Work Base in Mayou village, Yao’an county, Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province.
In response to the appeals from Meige Studio and Yi villagers for governmental aid in preserving invaluable intangible cultural heritage of music, Lijuan Qian utilised her social and academic networks. Her efforts successfully secured official collaborations across various governmental levels in Mayou village, Yao’an county, and facilitated academic collaborations with Yunnan Nationalist University. (Refer to the second group photo on the left: Xingfa Bai, Professor at the Yunnan Nationalist University and the President of the Yunnan Association of Yi Studies, came to the Work Base inauguration and jointly unveiled the plaque with Lijuan Qian).
The establishment of this Collaborative Work Base not only received strong support from Meige Studio, Yi musicians and the local villagers from Mayou Village, but also marked a momentous milestone as it signified the first formal collaboration between University College Cork and the academic communities in Yunnan.
2023年春季，ECura项目首席研究员钱丽娟博士在云南进行田野考察时与梅葛工作室这一非政府组织成功合作，共同推动了爱尔兰国立科克大学梅葛文化研究实践基地在云南省楚雄州姚安县马油村的建立。 钱丽娟博士依托她多年来在云南累积的丰富的田野经验和社会联系，主动与姚安县政府沟通，争取其对保护彝族非物质文化遗产音乐的支持。经过钱丽娟博士与云南音乐学者们的共同努力，姚安县政府分管文旅业务的部分领导和专家学者应邀出席了研究基地的揭牌仪式，并与ECura项目团队签署了关于彝族非物质文化遗产保护的深度合作协议。此研究基地的建立不仅获得了梅葛工作室、马游村彝族音乐家们以及村民们的大力支持，也标志着爱尔兰国立科克大学与云南学术界初次建立了正式的合作关系。
ECura Project Team Visits Meige Studio
ECura’s postdoctoral researcher Dr. Jin Dai conducted a month-long field study in Yunnan in June. During her visit, she traveled to Mayou village, the birthplace of Meige, and met with Yi music community leaders Xiaowei Guo and Rongxiu Luo. Jin visited the Meige studio organized by Guo and Luo and met with the Yi children who attend the weekly Meige children’s class. According to Luo Rongxiu and Guo Xiaowei, the Meige studio was voluntarily established and organized by them, aiming to provide Yi villagers in and around Mayou the opportunity to learn Meige tunes, traditional dances, and instruments.
Jin observed the Yi children’s Meige class and was very pleased with their impressive learning results, particularly the bilingual teaching of Yi and English singing of these Meige children’s songs. The English versions of these children’s songs were translated and taught by the ECura team. In addition to the children’s class, Jin also observed the Yi adult villagers from Mayou who gather weekly to learn to play the hulusi (gourd flute) and sing Meige epic songs.
In July, ECura’s PI Dr. Lijuan Qian visited Mayou village for fieldwork and revisited the Meige studio. There, Lijuan met with the Yi children and brought them local Irish candies as gifts. Lijuan Qian watched the bilingual Meige children’s songs by Yi children and highly praised the Meige studio’s efforts in cultivating the next generation of Meige inheritors and enthusiasts. She stated that the ECura team would continue to contribute to the sustainable dissemination of Meige internationally.
2024年6月，ECura项目的博士后研究员戴进博士在云南进行了为期一个月的田野采风。期间，她前往梅葛的发源地——马游村，与彝族社区的负责人郭晓炜和罗荣秀夫妇会面。戴进参观了由郭晓炜和罗荣秀组织的梅葛坊，并与每周参加梅葛儿童班的彝族孩子们见面。据两位负责人介绍，梅葛坊是他们为了保护彝族的传统文化自发成立并组织的，旨在为马游村及其周边的彝族村民提供学习梅葛曲调、传统舞蹈和乐器的机会。
戴进观摩了梅葛童瑶班并对孩子们认真活跃的课堂表现，尤其是彝语和英语双语教学的梅葛儿童歌曲非常欣喜。这些儿童歌曲的英文版均由ECura团队翻译并教授。除了儿童班，戴进还观察了梅葛坊组织的成人班，居住在马游附近的梅葛爱好者们每周末聚集在一起，学习吹奏葫芦笙和演唱梅葛史诗歌曲，相互切磋学习，音乐氛围浓厚。
七月份，ECura项目的首席研究员钱丽娟博士也前往马游村进行实地考察，并再次参观了梅葛坊。钱丽娟与彝族儿童见面，并带来了当地的爱尔兰糖果作为礼物。钱丽娟观看了梅葛童谣班孩子们的双语梅葛童瑶表演，并对梅葛坊在培养新一代梅葛传承者和爱好者方面的努力给予高度赞赏，并表示ECura 团队会持续为梅葛可持续性的对外传播贡献力量。
ECura’s Visit to Meige Inheritors
In early June 2024, ECura’s postdoctoral researcher Dr. Jin Dai visited the Qingshuihe village in Yao’an County, Chuxiong Prefecture, Yunnan Province. There, she met with Yuke Lu and Yongcai Zhou, two provincial-level inheritors of Meige. In the courtyard of Lu’s home, the two inheritors performed classic Meige tunes in a male-female duet. Their performance included ‘The god Gezi created the heaven and the earth’, ‘Xianghuo Tune’, ‘Farewell Tune’, and ‘Celebration Tune’, showcasing their profound musical skills and deep appreciation for traditional culture. Lu Yuke and Zhou Yongcai are local Yi villagers from Qingshuihe who primarily engage in farming. From a young age, they began learning and singing Meige from elders. They have frequently participated in recording sessions organized by Yi community leader Guo Xiaowei and his Meige studio, making significant contributions to the preservation and promotion of Meige culture.
2024年6月初，ECura项目组的博后研究员戴进在云南省楚雄州姚安县清水河村拜访了“梅葛”的州级传承人鲁玉科和周永彩。在鲁玉科家的庭院中，两位传承人对唱了经典的梅葛曲调，包括《格兹天神造天地》、《相伙调》、《离别调》和《喜庆调》，展现了他们深厚的音乐功底和对传统文化的热爱。鲁玉科和周永彩都是清水河村的彝族村民，平时务农。从年轻时起，他们就开始向父辈学习并传唱梅葛，多次参与了社区负责人郭晓炜及其梅葛坊团队的录音采集工作，为传承梅葛文化做出了重要贡献。
ECura promotes the establishment of Yi Spoken language database
To prepare for the establishment of the Yi speech database, ECura’s postdoc researcher Dr. Jin Dai and project leader Dr. Lijuan Qian conducted fieldwork in China in June and July, respectively. During their stay, they visited Mayou village, Kunming city, and Shanghai. They engaged with scholars and industry experts on data collection, corpus translation, and technical architecture required for building the Yi spoken language database.
Jin Dai established preliminary connections with Yi folk musician, technical expert and linguist. During the fieldwork in Mayou Village, Jin collected Meige’s audios from collaborative Yi community leader and folk musician Xiaowei Guo and discussed the thematic content, tune styles, and classification methods of these audios. These audios would serve as raw material for creating the Yi speech database. Later, in Kunming, Jin visited scholars from local universities, including Associate Professor Dr. Xingfu Li, an anthropological scholar and a Yi linguistic expert at Minzu University of Yunnan, and Associate Professor in computer sciences Dr. Zhiwen Tang from the University of Yunnan. During his conversation with Xingfu Li, Jin learned about dialectal variations, lexical categories, the notation of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), and grammatical principles of the Yi language. This knowledge preparation was important for the project to understand the basic linguistic framework of Yi and be aware of the differences in language contexts between Yi and Mandarin. Subsequently, in her meeting with Zhiwen Tang, Jin received many suggestions on the basic steps needed to establish a speech recognition corpus, including details about hardware equipment, feasible plans, and expected timelines.
In early July, Lijuan Qian continued to follow up on Jin’s fieldwork. In Mayou, Lijuan continued the audio collection work initiated by Jin and collaborated with Xingfu Li and Xiaowei Guo, who demonstrated to Lijuan the specific methods of segmenting and splitting speech using software. Subsequently, Xiaoying Su from Yunnan Yingda Imaging Company, who has extensive experience in ethnic videography and management, showcased the operation of their Yuansheng studio’s WeChat account to Lijuan. After preparing for audio collection, Lijuan’s efforts extended to Shanghai. She met with Shanghai Yizhe Technology, a database technology service provider, to understand the frontier technologies required for establishing the Yi speech database. The two parties discussed how to construct a multi-modal, multilingual parallel corpus based on the Meige theme. This database aims to use Meige audios as a reference, documenting and organizing corresponding Chinese, English, International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), and Yi script translations, along with annotations, images, and videos. Additionally, the database aims to develop a product for automatic Yi speech recognition and translation based on language model training technology in its later stages. This will enable audiences from different cultural backgrounds to understand the orally performed Meige, increasing the possibility of cultural exchange.
为筹建彝族语音数据库，ECura的博士后研究员戴进博士和项目主管钱丽娟博士分别于六月和七月在中国进行了田野考察。为准备筹建彝族语音数据库，两位项目组成员先后实地走访了马游村、昆明市和上海市，分别从建立数据库所需的数据收集，语料翻译，以及技术架构三个方面和相关的学者及业界专家进行交流。
戴进与学术界的技术专家和语言学家建立了初步联系。在马游村的田野考察期间，戴进从彝族社区负责人郭晓炜那里收集了梅葛音频录音，并讨论了这些录音的主题内容、曲调风格和分类方法。这些音频将作为创建彝族语音数据库的原始材料。随后，在云南，戴进还拜访了当地大学的学者，包括云南民族大学的民族学者和彝族语言专家李兴福副教授，以及云南大学计算机科学领域的汤智文副教授。在与李兴福的交谈中，戴进了解了彝族语言的方言变体、词汇类别、国际音标的标注以及语法原则。这些知识准备对于项目了解彝族语言的基本语言框架以及彝语和汉语普通话之间的语言背景差异非常重要。随后，在与汤智文的见面中，戴进得到了关于建立语音识别语料库的基本步骤的许多建议，包括硬件设备、可行计划和预期时间线等详细信息。
七月初，钱丽娟在马游村和昆明市继续跟进戴进的田野工作。在马游，钱丽娟继续跟进梅葛音频的收集工作，并与李兴福和郭晓炜见面，由他们演示按语素和单句拆分音频的步骤。之后，有丰富的民族影像学的拍摄和管理经验的云南映达影视文化传媒有限公司的粟小殷向ECura展示了公司主理的‘源生坊’视频公众号的运营状况。在做好音频收集的准备工作后，为了了解建立彝族语音数据库所需的前沿技术，钱丽娟与数据库技术服务商上海一者科技见面，双方讨论如何组建一个基于‘梅葛’主题的多模态多语平行语料库。该数据库以现今仍然存活和传唱的梅葛音频资料为参照，记录并整理出与彝语语素音频相对应的中文、英文、国际音标以及彝文文字，并添加注释，图片、视频等多模态内容。此外，该数据库在后期建设中拟开发一个基于语言模型训练技术的彝语自动语音识别和自动翻译的产品，使口头演唱的梅葛音乐能被来自不同文化背景的观众理解，增加文化交流的可能性。
ECura visits Meige Studio Singing Traditional Meige Children’s song
The project assistant, Yalun Yang, representing the ECura Team, visited Mayou village on October 4th, 2024, during the national holiday. As the English Meige Children’s Song teacher, she has taught children in Mayou village online for five months. This meeting aims to meet the children in person and build a more robust relationship with the local people. Community leaders Xiaowei Guo and Rongxiu Luo gathered students into the classroom in Meige Studio, and Yalun gave a class to the students.
During the class, Yalun reviewed the songs the children had learned, including ‘To Carve a Wooden Trough’, ‘Hide and Seek’, ‘Breaking Lumpy Earth’ and so on. Students sang duets in both Yi and English by separating the class into two groups, which helped review the English and Yi lyrics. Then, the children learned the new song, ‘Come and Dance with Your Feet’. Then, the students performed the Hulusheng and invited Yalun to dance together. The children liked the in-person class and enjoyed the gathering time during the holiday. Before some students returning boarding school, they had the chance to catch up with the English and Yi Meige Children’s Song learning in time.
Yalun also reviewed several Meige lyrics with Xiaowei Guo and Rongxiu Luo. She will continue to teach the English Meige Children’s Song online weekly. Guo Xiaowei and Luo Rongxiu recognised the ECura team’s teaching of the English Meige Children’s Songs and expressed their willingness to deepen their cooperation.
2024 年 10 月 4 日，项目助理杨雅伦代表 ECura 团队在国庆节期间走访了马游村。在此前的五个月里，她一直在网上教孩子们唱英文版的梅葛童谣。此次见面旨在与孩子们面对面交流授课，以此与当地居民建立更稳固的关系。社区负责人郭晓炜和罗荣秀将学生们召集到梅葛坊的教室里，由杨雅伦给学生们上课。
课堂上，杨雅伦回顾了孩子们在过去五个月里所学的儿歌，包括《挖木啦》、《捉迷藏》、《敲土垡》等。学生们分成两组，用彝语和英语对唱，同时复习了英语和彝语歌词。随后，孩子们学习了新歌《一起来跳脚》。下课后，孩子们又表演了葫芦笙，并邀请杨雅伦一起跳舞。孩子们很喜欢线下课堂，也很享受假期的聚会时光。在部分学生返回寄宿学校之前，也有机会及时复习了英语和彝语梅葛童谣。
杨雅伦还和郭晓炜、罗荣秀一起订正了几首梅葛歌曲的歌词。她将继续每周在线上进行梅葛儿歌的教学。郭晓炜和罗荣秀对 ECura 团队教孩子们梅葛童谣英文版的做法表示认可，并表达了深化合作的意愿。
Meige Childen’s Song English class in person ( Video provid by Yalun)