The dances of the Yi people in ancient towns include Da Ge, Broadsword Dance, Dasanxian Dance, Sheepskin Dance, Lusheng Dance, etc. Among them, Da Ge has the most national characteristics. Da Ge, also called "Tage", began in the tribal era and is popular in Weishan, Nanjian, Yangbi and other counties inhabited by the Yi people. During festivals, weddings, funerals, weddings, and funerals, the Yi people perform songs in their villages. During the songs, a reed fire is used as the center of the circle. Lusheng leads the dance and flute accompanies the dance. Men and women naturally form a circle together. The tunes are rich in content, and the lyrics are divided into upper and lower branches. The upper branch is a metaphor and the lower branch is a narrative. The men and women sing in harmony and ask questions and answers. When singing, men mostly use falsetto, while women's voices are sweet and emotional, and their dance movements are fast-paced. There are two kinds of dance steps, 12 steps and 7 steps, including "straight singing" and "cover singing", accompanied by actions such as clapping, twisting feet, and patting sheepskin. "Flip Song" is divided into "full turn", "half turn", "half turn and half turn", "full turn and full turn", "three turns and three turns", etc., showing "bees picking flowers", "turtle doves drinking" Water", "Flies rubbing their feet", "Magpies climbing branches", "Hens squatting in their nests", "Capons wagging their tails" and other beautiful dance movements. Dage often lasts all night long, and the dance is lively. There is a famous saying in the melody of Dage, "Playing until the sun rises, one piece of tofu and two pieces of meat", which is a summary and reflection of the Yi ethnic group's Dage. The Yi people are a nation that is good at singing and dancing. They have rich folk songs, dances and music arts. Whether during labor breaks or during weddings and funerals during the New Year, they express their emotions through singing and dancing. Song, dance and music are an important part of the Yi people's spiritual culture. Due to the distribution characteristics of the Yi people being dispersed in large areas and living in small settlements, the song and dance music of the Yi people has a wide variety, with different styles, content and expression techniques full of national and local characteristics.
Yi folk songs have a wide range of lyrics and are one of the important sources of Yi folk literature creation. In traditional Yi society, singing is often used to preach history, emphasize morality, pass down customs, and express love, joy, anger, sorrow, and joy. Depending on the content of the lyrics, the singing can be smooth and euphemistic, cadenced, or gentle, and is extremely artistically appealing. Folk songs can be broadly divided into narrative songs, love songs, bitter songs, labor songs, drinking songs and custom songs.
Dance Dance plays a very important role in the cultural life of the Yi people. Yi dance has various forms and is rich in life interest and national style. "Tage" is the most popular dance. Among the Yi people in various places, "Ta Ge" is also known as "Da Ki", "Diao Ge", "Left Foot", "Tiao Guozhuang", etc. It is a dance form with a long history of the Yi people. In the Wenlong Pavilion in Weishan, Yunnan, there are murals painted during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty that reflect the "Tage" dance of the Yi people. The form and posture of the dance are almost the same as the "Tage" dance of the Yi people today, that is, with the bonfire as the center of the circle, the dancers surround it. They form a circle, with the leader playing the Lusheng and other musical instruments in front of them, and the others then join hands and dance shoulder to shoulder. The dance movements are vigorous and the steps are adjusted in time. When dancing, everyone dances and sings in time.
In addition to "Tap Song", there are many Yi dance forms, including four-string dance, Luo Zuo dance, "Axi dances in the moon", cigarette box dance, copper drum dance, flower drum dance, Dongge Duohe, Dance the reed, felt dance, buckwheat dance, rice transplanting dance, foot dance, bell dance, wine ceremony dance, waist drum dance, seahorse dance, golden bamboo dance, as well as the "Mongouz" dance in weddings, and the dance in funeral ceremonies. Dances such as "Wa Zi Hei", "Chat to the End", "Zha Ge", Pi Gu and so on.
Four-string dance, called "Ye Qiebi" in Yi language, means dancing while playing the yueqin, and is popular in Ashan, Shuangbai and Xinping areas of Yunnan. Luozuo dance is a folk dance, called "Luozuobi" in Yi language, which is popular in Honghe, Yuanyang and Jinping on the south bank of Honghe River in Yunnan. "Axi Dances to the Moon" is a dance popular among the Yi people of the Ashi and Sanizhi people in Yunnan. During the dance, the men play the balalaika and the flute, and the women clap their hands and dance in front of the men. They usually dance when the bright moon is in the sky. , when the moon sets and the stars are sparse, they disperse, hence the name "Jumping Moon". After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the folk song and dance "Axi Dances to the Moon", which was compiled and processed based on the folk moon dance of the Yi ethnic group, enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad.
Other dances, such as the cigarette box dance, are mainly performed in Gejiu, Shiping, Jianshui, Mengzi and Kaiwu in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan, as well as Yuanjiang, Tonghai and other places in Yuxi area; the Bronze Drum Dance is mainly performed in Funing, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Among the Yi people in , Malipo, Guangnan, Xichou and other places; Dongge Duohe is one of the more distinctive songs and dances among the Yi people in Daliangshan and Xiaoliangshan; the wine ceremony dance is a dance popular among the Yi people in northwest Guizhou ;The Golden Bamboo Dance is a traditional sacrificial dance of the Yi people in Napo, Guangxi.
There is also a popular Nuo opera among the Yi people in northwest Guizhou. It is called "Cuotaiji" in Yi language, which means the era when human beings were just formed. The dancers of "Chu Taiji" are men. They are dressed in strange costumes. They wrap their heads with cloth into a cone shape. They are all dressed in black, with white cloth belts wrapped around their upper body and legs, and wooden utensils painted with white mud on their faces. Performers use rough movements to express human life in the early Republic of China. The performance is usually performed from the third to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. It is mainly used to ward off evil spirits and pray for a good harvest and prosperity of livestock in the coming year.
The folk instrumental music of the Yi people is very rich, including solos and ensembles. Among the solos, the Yueqin music of the Yi people in the Daliangshan and Xiaoliang Mountains is played from "Autumn Wind Blowing" to "Threshing Field" and "Leibo Diao". , the flute solos "Guoshan Diao" and "Sheep Diao" of the Yi people in Wuliang Mountains, Yunnan, and the Bawu solo "Ali" of the Yi people in Honghe, Yunnan are the most distinctive. Ensemble music formed very early in history. The most famous one is the "Nanzhao Sacred Music" performed by the Nanzhao court band in Chang'an in 800 AD. It was large in scale and beautiful in music. It gained a high reputation in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty at that time. reputation.
The modern Yi folk ensemble music is the most representative of the "Song and Dance Suite" of the Niexuzhi Yi people and the "Axi Dance" of the Axizhi Yi people. The famous song "Guest from afar, please stay" was created based on the Sanizhi folk music of the Yi people.