DOI: 10.31811/ojomus.1937608 ISSN: 2536-4421

Miao folk songs as a living musical practice in contemporary social contexts

Ren Qiulin, Suthasinee Theerapan, Watcharanon Sangmuenna, Piyakon Suepbunma
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This study examines Miao folk songs in Pengshui County, Chongqing Municipality, People’s Republic of China, as living musical practices whose meanings are shaped through contemporary social contexts. Employing a qualitative ethnomusicological approach, the research draws on fieldwork conducted between June 2025 and January 2026, including participant observation, audiovisual documentation, and semi-structured interviews with six purposively selected key informants comprising tradition bearers, experienced singers, and cultural practitioners. Data were analyzed inductively to explore the relationships among singing practices, performance contexts, modes of participation, and the roles of performers, audiences, and performance spaces. The findings reveal that Miao folk songs are practiced and transmitted across six principal contexts: traditional ritual ceremonies, agricultural labor and everyday life, communal gatherings and festivals, courtship and interpersonal communication, tourism-oriented performances, and digital and educational settings, each associated with distinct repertoires and organized modes of vocal practice. Four forms of musical practice are identified: spontaneous collective singing, ritual-prescribed performance, staged performance, and standardized pedagogical practice. Under contemporary conditions, these practices demonstrate a dynamic interplay of continuity and adaptation, characterized by shifts from community-internal spaces to public arenas, a reduced emphasis on improvisation in favor of fixed melodic and textual forms, and an expanded reliance on institutional and digital transmission. Conceptualizing Miao folk songs as musical practice thus extends analysis beyond musical structure toward a contextual understanding of how meaning is co-produced through participation, space, and time, offering a transferable framework for the study of ethnic folk music traditions in contemporary societies.

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