the China Lightroom blog

The scenes in this music video were taken from Shangri-La (香格里拉), Yunnan Province, China. Yunnan has the most number of minority groups compared to other provinces. Xu Qianya recounted to journalists how taken she was with the local Tibetan youngsters (dancers in the video) in this article: “徐千雅云南拍MV遭遇民歌求爱.” Both the singer and her voice are very beautiful. Nice cinematography too. The drum was constructed specifically for this video.

A ceramic xiao flute player excavated from an Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) tomb in Sichuan province

Ordus (鄂尔多斯) is a city in Inner Mongolia, China. This is a composition primarily based on the Chinese flute (xiao, 箫) and the Mongolian morin khuur celo instruments.

Xiao is vertically held and end-blown, whereas the dizi (笛子) is held horizontally. They both are made out of bamboo.  This is an ancient music instrument.  Picture on the left is a ceramic xiao player excavated from an Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) tomb in Sichuan province.  Sichuan is home to the panda.  We all know panda loves to eat bamboo. 

The Mongolian morin khuur is also known in Chinese as matouqin (馬頭琴), or horse head instrument.  According to Wikipedia, this instrument share similarities with some Turkic instruments as those found in modern day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, whose people also roamed the Mongolian steppes long time ago.

Also according to Wikipedia, Chinese history credits origin of this instrument to Shar Mören River valley, which is now modern day Inner Mongolia.

(Lyric translation done by Youtube.com/user/chinesecivilization).

【格玛】

有个姑娘叫格玛
you ge gu niang jiao ge ma
There is a girl called Gema,
她的纯洁象雪山的莲花
ta de chun jie xiang xue shan de lian hua
She is as pure as the lotus on the snow peak,
自从那一天与她相遇后
zi cong na yi tian yu ta xiang yu hou
Since I met her that day,
噢 再也没有了烦恼和忧伤
o zai ye mei you le fan nao he you shang
Oh, I have never felt better,
啊 心中充满了快乐
a xin zhong chong man la kuai le
Oh, my heart is filled with joy,
因为见到了她
yin wei jian dao le ta
Because I met her,
啊格玛 啊格玛
a ge ma a ge ma
Oh Gema, oh Gema

歌声像那美酒
ge sheng xiang na mei jiu
Her song is like tasty wine,
醉在我的心上
zui zai wo de xin shang
My heart is completely soaked in it,
真情像那阳光
zhen qing xiang na yang guang
Her pure love is like sunshine,
温暖着我的心房
wen nuan zhe wo de xin fang
bringing warmth to my heart,
格玛 格玛
ge ma ge ma
Gema, Gema,
心爱的姑娘
xin ai de gu niang
The girl of my love,
格玛 格玛
ge ma ge ma
Gema, gema,

有个姑娘叫格玛
you ge gu niang jiao ge ma
There is a girl called Gema,
她的脸庞象天边的彩霞
ta de lian pang xiang tian bian de cai xia
Her face is like colourful clouds in the sky,
自从那一天与她分别后
ci cong na yi tian yu ta fen bie hou
Ever since I left her that day,
噢 再也看不到她的笑容
o zai ye kan bu dao ta de xiao rong
Oh, I have never seen her smile again,
啊 和那明亮的眼睛
a he na ming liang de yan jing
Oh, and her sparkling eyes,
再也见不到她
zai ye jian bu dao ta
Never saw her again
啊格玛 啊格玛
a ge ma a ge ma
Oh, Gema, Gema

春天又已经来了
chun tian yi jing lai le
Spring has come
燕子又已经飞回
yan zi you yi jing fei hui
Swallow has come back
沪沽湖又已经蓝了
hu gu hu you yi jing lan le
Lugu lake is blue again,
海白花又已经开放
hai bai hua you yi jing kai fang
Haibai flower is blossom again,
格玛 格玛
ge ma ge ma
Gema, Gema,
你何时回来 格玛
ni he shi hui lai ge me
When will you come back
啊格玛 啊格玛
a ge ma a ge ma
Oh, Gema, Gema

春天又已经来了
chun tian you yi jing lai le
燕子又已经飞回
yan zi you yi jing fei hui
沪沽湖又已经蓝了
hu gu hu you yi jing lan le
海白花又已经开放
hai bai hua you yi jing kai fang
格玛 格玛
ge ma ge ma
你何时回来
ni he shi hui lai
格玛
ge ma

关雎 or ”Crying Ospreys” is an ancient Chinese poem written around the time of the Zhou Dynasty (周朝 1045 BC to 256 BC) compiled in Shi Jing (詩經), or more commonly known in the West as the Book of Songs or Book of Odes.  This poem is from the Odes of Zhou & South (周南) period telling a love story of a man from a royal family courting a girl who harvested edible water plants.  This is a music rendition of the poem by Hahui (哈辉) where the entire lyric is the poem itself.

(English translation courtesy of the chinesecivilization channel over at Youtube.com.)

GUAN! GUAN! CRY THE FISH HAWKS
from Zhounan (The Odes of Zhou and the South)

Guan! Guan! Cry the fish hawks
on sandbars in the river:
a mild-mannered good girl,
fine match for the gentleman.

A ragged fringe is the floating-heart,
left and right we trail it:
that mild-mannered good girl,
awake, asleep, I search for her.

I search but cannot find her,
awake, asleep, thinking of her,
endlessly, endlessly,
turning, tossing from side to side.

A ragged fringe is the floating-heart,
left and right we pick it:
the mild-mannered good girl,
harp and lute make friends with her.

A ragged fringe is the floating-heart,
left and right we sort it:
the mild-mannered good girl,
bell and drum delight her.

关雎 Crying Ospreys 哈辉 Hahui 每日歌曲 [高清晰 HQ Video] 音乐视频 在线观看