Singing the Village

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The Sibe are an immigrant group, Qing dynasty bannermen who made a three-year "long march" from Manchuria in the 18th century to serve as a border garrison in the newly conquered Western Regions of the Qing Chinese empire. They preserved their military structure and a discrete identity in the multi-ethnic region of Xinjiang and are now officially recognised as an ethnic minority nationality under the People's Republic. They are known in China today as the last speakers of the Manchu language, and as preservers of their ancient traditions. This study of their music culture reveals not fossilised tradition but a shifting web of borrowings, assimilation and retention. Singing the Village is a readable, anthropologically interesting and musically informed account of culture and performance in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. The book approaches musical and ritual life in this ethnically diverse region through an understanding of society in terms of negotiation, practice and performance. It explores the relations between shamanism, song and notions of externality and danger, bringing recent theories on shamanism to bear on questions of the structural and affective powers of ritual music.

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