A Research on the Current Situation of an Artist Named Ani

Guo Jianxun

（School of Tourism and Historical Culture， Southwest University for

Nationalities，Chengdu，610041，Sichuan，China）

JOURNAL OF ETHNOLOGY， VOL. 7， NO.2， 66-73， 2016 （CN51-1731/C， in Chinese）

DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1674-9391.2016.02.09

Abstract：

In 2004， I conducted fieldwork regarding the living status， and the situation of the oral narrative tradition of the Gesar epic， as well as the cultural inheritance of the tradition by Ani when he became the most influential and youngest narrator and singer of Gesar in Sichuan ，and was especially noted by the National Gesar Office . In my investigation report， I mentioned several problems， including the fact that the artists performing the oral narrative are gradually distancing themselves from from the cultural environment of the performance， as well as the lack of people to inherit this cultural tradition. At the same time， I also stated the necessity of establishing a committee composed of distinguished scholars； supporting valuable project as key protective projects on the national level； and providing funds for the valuable folk artists who have made important contributions. In 2005， Ani was recognized as one of the first group of 166 outstanding living performers of Chinese folk culture by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Chinese Society for the Study of Folk Literature and Art. In 2006， the Gesar Epic was approved by the State Council to be included in the first group of national intangible cultural heritage listings. In 2007， Ani became one of the representative living masters of the national intangible cultural heritage Gesar.

Since the time when my fieldwork was conducted in August 2004， I have been in contact with Ani， and have specially focused my attention on collecting all information related to him. Through an investigation of almost ten years which included exchanges with Ani and collecting information， I have gathered a certain amount of data which relates to Ani and as well as the transmission of the Gesar oral narrative.What kinds of changes have occurred concerning Anis daily life， and his concepts about his performing the epic after 10 years？ What role did policy and measures of the national intangible cultural heritage play on the transmission of the Gesar Epic，and what were the effects？

Following these questions， I revisited Ani during the summer vacation of 2014. The fieldwork report from this visit is completed， as well as the interviews and data collected from the newspaper and websites during the past ten years.

In this visit， we learned that Ani became much busier after he was recognized as the representative living master of the national intangible cultural heritage Gesar in 2007. In addition to taking part in oral narrative performance activities organized by the local government， he was also often invited by related institutes on the national or provincial levels to participate in various cultural exchanges and publicity activities. Since 2007， Ani went to Chengdu to take part in three international intangible cultural heritage festivals； in 2010， he went to Taiwan to perform the Gesar epic ， and to Hongkong in 2012. Moreover， he also went to England for half a month to conduct a cultural exchange. Now， Anis main work in Dege， Sichuan， is to teach the students in Dege Middle School. Since March 2013， Dege Middle School has offered a course on performing the oral narrative of Gesar. Ani teaches the oral narrative performing tradition for 131 students on every Monday， Wednesday and Friday. When the Kangba Culture Research Institute was established in 2013， Ani led his students， and took part in an activity where one hundred artists performed the Gesar oral narrative.

In Anis house， we interviewed Ani concerning the performance situation of the Gesar oral narrative tradition， as well as the status of its transmission to the next generation. There are two ways Ani performs the Gesar oral narrative. One is to perform outside of Dege and attend the cultural activities organized by the government； and the other is to perform for the tourists who came to Dege， as well as for the visitors received by the government in Dege. It might be said that the oral narrative performance of Gesar is mostly related to government activities， and rarely relates to the daily lives of the local people. Although there are a lot of talented students who have learned how to perform the Gesar epic in Dege Middle school， Ani still has no formal disciple.

In conclusion， after 10 years， Ani obtained a high social reputation， won many opportunities to perform in the outside world， and expanded the influence of Gesar both at home and abroad. After he became a master on national level， he also received some benefits， including the improvement of his standard of living. However， compared with the situation 10 years ago， Anis influence within the local area has not obviously improved， and there is no obvious improvement regarding the transmission framework of the Gesar epic. The main way for Ani to transmit his knowledge and skill is arranged by the government， and depends on formal education in schools.

Concerning the performance aspect of the oral narration of the epic， the focus for discussion is on how to understand the relationship between written and oral transmission.The British anthropologist Jack Goody considers that the arrival of writing eliminated the need to memorize long texts. Oral culture might not have major changes in the performance each time， but the writing fixed the content of the text. Nonetheless， this text still needs to be memorized and recited orally. Based on this way of thinking， and seen from the situation of the oral narrative performance of the Gesar epic， the characteristics of Dege artists performing the Gesar is very obvious—Ani and his former wife narrate and sing the Gesar epic according to the text， and during the process of learning it， the main part they inherit is the tune and what they promote is their skill. Hence， the text of the Gesar epic is very important for them， and the basic condition for narration and singing is to understand the Tibetan and have a good voice. However， in the past， most narrators and singers of Gesar were “illiterate”—they did not know Tibetan script. Most of them lived in the grassland areas， and were nomadic， moving around constantly； their social status was low.Meanwhile， whenever we talk about cultivating the skills of narration and singing， or talk about the process of the sanctification of the narration and singing， or even discuss the performance from the process of their daily lives and movement，the oral narrative tradition of the Gesar epic has a very close connection with religious belief.

The invention of writing divides the all cultures into two groups： one is mainly composed of the people who can read， and the other is composed of those who cannot. However， most exchanges among people are conducted through speech instead of writing. This reminds us to pay more attention to those aspects which have not been given sufficient concern in the past. This includes the written tradition of the Gesar epic， and the opposition and transformation between social classes. After the emergence of anthropology， the authority of writing has been challenged， and the value of oral culture has been revalued.

Jack Goody reminds us that the transmission of the epic is not only a self-sufficient way of oral transmission and folk inheritance ， but， that it is actually also influenced by upper class society and texts during the process of its development. He said that the epic is the early characteristics of societies which have scripts； and it was regarded as representative of past oral culture performed by the professional poets in palaces or military camps. There are rarely epics which are totally oral culture. The epic frequently appeared early on in those countries which had a strong military class of soldiers who were interested in listening to the brave stories of their ancestors. These societies already had scripts and a written tradition. However， the texts were normally memorized， recited and narrated orally， but not read out loud by the performers； or， the texts were recited by professional poets in the parties held by leaders and soldiers. They were actually works which had been written down in earlier times. Only by writing down the narrative can it be understood by us and memorized accurately by the people. This reminds us that we cannot discuss good and bad ways of the artists oral narrative performance， or the types of oral narrative performance by separating it from its time and space when we are discussing the inheritance of Gesar epic. If we do， we will shift to a direction of “only being concerned with the oral content， and ignoring the role of scripts and text within the transmission of the oral narrative epic”.