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Long, Xian-Er (ethnic Miao) - High Tune

English Lyrics translated from Miao(Hmong) language:
The sun rises from high Miao mountains.
The painful history of Miao has gone.
Dear brother, you are singing folk songs on the other side of the mountain.
Your voices are so nice that I fall in love with you.
However, I cannot not go there to be with you.
I would like to be a gentle breeze, flying into your heart slightly.
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龙仙娥 - 高腔
龍仙娥 - 高腔
Xian-Er Long is an ethnic Miao Chinese singer. She was very lucky to be discovered by Dun Tan (谭盾), a famous Chinese contemporary classical composer who is known for his Grammy and Oscar-award winning scores for the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. Dun Tan traveled to the Miao & Tujia Autonomous State of West Hunan Province in 1999. He happened to see a Song Party of the Miao people, where the Miao youth sang traditional love songs to each other. Xian-Er Long's Flying Songs and crystal clear voices attracted Dun Tan. He suddenly had an idea. Why not introduce this unpretending & pure voice to the world? He asked Xian-Er Long whether she was afraid to sing her songs at a bigger stage in front of many people. Xian-Er Long did not show any timidity. Instead, she asked, then who will sing with me? After Dun Tan came back to the U.S., he started to write his work entitled The Map: Rediscoverying the Genesis of Ethereal Music. This work is mainly based on musical elements of Miao. Xian-Er Long played an important role in this work. (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGfICNscXLE&feature=related)
This is Xian-Er Long's performance in the first round of the final stage competition of the National Youth Singing Contest.She got a good grade in the first round (92.95). One might notice that three typical Miao musical instruments were used for accompany. The first one is Leaves (very cool, isn't it?). The second one is Ox-horn Pipa (牛角琴). The third one is Backbasket Drum (背篓鼓).
In the lyrics, Xian-Er Long mentioned that Miao people in West Hunan have a tearful history. As I know, Miao, Tujia and Han people living in West Hunan revolted against the ethnic Manchu emperor of the Qing Dynasty 300 years ago. Since the revolt was led by the Miao King (Bayue Wu, 吴八月), many Miao people were killed in the war. The Qing court was one of the most corrupt (if not the most) governments in the Chinese history. Its officials were so avarice that they kept levying heavy taxes on the poor people. This was the reason of the rebellion. Now, Miao & Tujia people living in their autonomous states need not pay a penny to the central Chinese government.
Xian-Er Long's hometown is Phenix County (Chinese pronunciation: Feng Huang Xian), which is a very beautiful town. A famous writer in the Chinese history, Congwen Shen (沈从文), is also an ethnic Miao Chinese born in Phenix County (凤凰县).
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Referee Wang, Xianping's Comments:
I am familiar with Long, Xian-Er. She was among the first group of singers who performed in the Folk Songs China, a TV program of the China Central Television (CCTV). She was recommended by my classmate, Dun Tan. He told me a story about Xian-Er. So I followed Dun Tan's suggestions to find Xian-Er. She is a Miao singer from Fenghuang County of West Hunan. She is an expert of Flying Song, which is a kind of antiphonal love songs of Miao. I invited her to perform in the Folk Songs China. Her performance was excellent. Her life is legendary. First, she is a Miao singer. Second, she was discovered by a renowned composer, who brought her to the U.S. to sing Miao songs at an internatinal stage. Then, she was supported and recommended by those famous composers and music producers to Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Today I am very happy to see her again. I want to express several of my hopes on her. I hope that she may discover traditional Miao songs in her hometown. Then rearrange them and transmit them to the next generation. Discovery, rearrangement, and transmission are very important for aboriginal(primitive) folk songs. I hope you to be a person that does these work. Further, I hope that you can push the beauty of Miao songs to a higher point, and bring those true and pure Miao songs to the whole world.

十二届CCTV青年歌手电视大奖赛
十二屆CCTV青年歌手電視大獎賽

Images of beautiful Phenix County:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=%E5%87%A4%E5%87%B0%E 5%8F%A4%E5%9F%8E&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
Introduction of Congwen Shen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Congwen
Introduction of Dun Tan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Dun
Dun Tan: The Map:
http://www.amazon.com/Tan-Dun-Map/dp/B0002ZYEFU

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