Lisu ꓐꓯꓼ ꓫꓵ Online Group

April 14th 2023
Video
Region
China
Researcher
Formats
Archive of the future
Field research
Music
Disciplines
Mediation
Musicology
Themes
Listening as activism

New visit to the Yuejin bridge where we met this old woman, To Kyi Niu

To Kyi Niu is 74 years old and runs a grocery store alone. She drinks about half a kilo of baijiu (Chinese liquor) a day and occasionally turns on her cell phone to sing and pose in WeChat groups.

This group has close to one hundred people, some of whom are far from their hometowns and are currently working in remote coastal cities. They are very talented. We realized that, like other folk songs in southwest China, Baishi is no longer just sung around the fire pit, nor is it only sung at weddings or funerals.

Due to the increasing migration of Nujiang Lisu to other workplaces, as well as the popularity of smartphones, Baishi has also appeared in virtual spaces on the internet. In this context, the moments of singing Baishi are also diversifying. To Kyi Niu and his friends do not need to meet physically and can sing whenever they want. They can also participate in the Baishi competition in an online chat group.

But To Kyi Niu told us that she is too old to sing. Singing Baishi is a laborious task. "Not everyone can sing Baishi". To Kyi Niu said with some pride that "it requires eloquence". I didn't understand why she was saying that until I learned the meaning of her singing, she used the withered grass as a metaphor for herself in her improvised lyrics, and she sang about the current society, which really surprised me.