TEXT FEATURES OF "QUAN LANG" SINGING IN TAY FOLK SONGS

Abstract

In the folklore of Vietnamese ethnic minorities, quan lang singing is a unique folk song, used in the Tay people's weddings. The study aims to learn some formal features of quan lang singing text in terms of vertical system (hierarchy) and horizontal system (lyrics). The main methods include interdisciplinary method, statistics, classification, analytical and descriptive methods. Research results show that in terms of vertical system (hierarchy), quan lang singing has two stages, namely challenge singing and welcoming singing. Each stage includes lyrics associated with wedding rituals. Out of 59 texts surveyed, the three-paragraph structure has 53/59 texts (89.8%), the two-paragraph structure has 6/59 ones (10.2%). In terms of horizontal system (lyrics), the one-way structure has 19/59 texts (32.2%), the reciprocal structure has 40/59 texts (67.8%). Thanks to the diversity in using structures, singing quan lang becomes lively when performing, attracting the audience's attention during the whole performance, and at the same time, stimulating the singers' ability of improvisation, which contribute to enriching Tay wedding folk songs.