Love songs and wine songs of Monba Ethnic Group
The Menyu is the birthplace of the Moinbas. Menyu means plain at the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zang-bo River. It is also called “Baiyujimubang” which means a hidden beautiful virgin land. Menyu is famous worldwide because a famous leader of the Gelu Denomination of Lamaism-the sixth Dalai Lama was reincarnated there. The sixth Dalai Lama was Moinba, and he left an immortal poetry anthology —“Collection of Love songs by Cangyangjiacuo”—which enjoys good fame all over the world. Handwritten copy in Tibetan characters already got round fast, and a contrasting copy of Tibetan, Han and English had spread around at the thirties of the 20th century. Till now, there still are many mystical legends about Cangyangjiacuo which spread over the Moinba region.
As the highest “Living Buddha” in the Gelu Denomination, Cangyangjiacuo was brave enough to break through the rules of religion that confine human emotions and desire, and poured out his loneliness, depression, love and desire bravely through love songs. His love songs emerged from folk songs of the Moinbas, and the rules, forms and styles of Moinba love songs were kept in them. In the Moinba region, young men and women contact freely, and love songs naturally become a tie, which connects hearts of youths. No matter in Motuo or Menyu, the Minmbas have love songs, which can’t be finished for generations. This kind of love song is called “Jialu”.
The Moinbas like to sing love songs and wine songs. One kind of wine song called “Sama” is popular in Menyu, the words of which are vivid and interesting, and the tune is inspiring and lively. The Sama wine song is composed of sentences with 7 or 9 words, and the rhythm is not fixed. Metaphor and exaggeration are used to express their strong pursuit to lofty ideal and beautiful dreams. It was said that the Sama wine song is created by a singer named Labure. He sang songs during his whole life, left happiness to the human world, and passed away in a sitting pasture and became a Buddha. He is worshipped as Song God by the Moinbas. A Sama wine song praises the Moinba hometown with deep love like this: “Valleys in the hometown are tranquil and comfortable, and the sunlight gathers happily. We wish to get together and never depart; if we depart, we’d like to get together again. Villages in the hometown are tranquil and comfortable¡” On festivals or joyous occasions, the mountain area of the Moinba is filled with Jialu love songs and Sama wine songs, which come out, like spring water and are full of deep affection.
