The music ethnographic film Bulang Music: From the Mountains to the Stars, filmed in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, in 2017 provides a summary the music of the Bulang people. It gives an overview of their music and their culture, covering aspects such as geographical environment, religious rituals, architecture, clothing, and language. It is worth mentioning that field researcher Leonardo D’Amico also paid attention to the new forms of Bulang music culture after the intervention of commerce, tourism, and new media in the strong process of global urbanization.

The Bulang people are descended from the ancient Pu people of southwestern China, which is why Han Chinese people refer to them as “Puman people.” This may be why the reggae-style band in this film named themselves “Puman Band.” Bulang music has its own classification system: Zhuai(拽), Zai (宰), Suo (索), Sen (森), and Tongma (同玛). D’Amico keenly grasped this distinctive feature and illustrates the parts one by one. At the same time, Bulang music has characteristics that are common among several ethnic groups residing in mountains with cheerful tunes and relatively simple lyrics. The film is structured in a similar style with a simple and clear structure, frequent shots of the natural landscape, and a clear narrative throughout.

As a music ethnographic film, cameras and recorders serve as mediums. They are the main tools used by field researchers to observe, record, and present culture bearers through visual means based on their own audio-visual experience.

As an outsider from a foreign country, D’Amico has lived in Yunnan for several years and has a preliminary but accurate understanding of the complex and diverse religious and cultural environment in Xishuangbanna. Therefore, his visual works highlight the overall style of realism and moderation. His film does not pursue gorgeous and beautiful visual effects, and most of it uses natural light and fixed camera positions. Large panoramas are often used to depict the living environment of the Bulang people, as well as their rituals, activities, and group dance scenes in these spaces, highlighting the relationship between characters and space. Some scenes of daily life draw attention to tea picking, hunting, and tea roasting. D’Amico uses cutaway lenses to display finer details and handheld photography to track the movement process, ensuring the integrity of the scene is retained in a vertical mountain environment.

The theme that cuts across this film is singing and instrumental music performance. To highlight the facial expressions and emotions of the subjects, the filmmaker uses a telephoto lens to shoot mid-to-close shots; when explaining a concept, he uses interviews, commentary, and other films’ resources to supplement the data.

The film captures some vivid scenes in the lives of the Bulang people: Yukanla, a Bulang singer, who is addicted to her smartphone, calls D’Amico on her phone: “Hello, Italian Friend!” Another Bulang woman went to Yukanla’s home where, while singing together at dinner, the pig next to them suddenly oinked. “Oh, the pig wants to sing too,” she jokes. Of course, there are old women watching music performances from outside through the window, children secretly eating candy, Lisu men performing circuses in the tourist center, and so on. These scenes, charming and poetic as they are, make the audience aware of the beauty and richness of their lives.

As a consequence of these few scenes, I would like to discuss some minor flaws in the film. As a whole, the film is too focused on the bigger picture; it lacks sufficient presentation of the everyday lives and individual experiences of the Bulang. The perspective of filming could have been more specific and in-depth. For example, as the main subject, Yukanla’s lively and generous personality, as well as her relationship with her introverted husband, could have been depicted in greater detail because it would have drawn attention to the importance of Bulang music in the lives of the people, the interrelationships within their social structure. Of course, this perspective would have taken much longer to observe and record.

In addition, the audio representation in the film is sometimes inadequate. As an important part of a music ethnographic film, the soundtrack draws attention not only to music but also to ambient sounds as a means of narrating and rendering emotion and highlighting cultural attributes. For example, is the Bulang village quiet or noisy? What are the surroundings like? We could have imagined them through the sounds. For instance, the sound of frying tea can directly add a visual image and smell to one’s imagination. What’s more, if that pig squeal echoed with the song of Yukanla, what an interesting image that would have been! But these sounds were ignored and perhaps even cut from the film purposely.

As a nursery rhyme from the Bulang ethnic group sings: “Chicken crows, get up quickly; if [you] get up late, even pigs laugh.” This is simple and plain but relates to the daily life of the Bulang. Music ethnographic films, which are arguably more intuitive than text, should be represented empirically through both visual and auditory means, providing the audience with a rich sense of perception.

在中国云南省西双版纳傣族自治州拍摄的音乐影像志 “布朗族音乐—从高山到星星”, 从宏观的角度概述了布朗族大致的音乐形态, 并且从其居住的地理环境、宗教仪式、建筑与服饰和语言的角度对布朗族的整体文化结构做了大致的阐述。值得一提的是, 田野调查人莱昂纳多还关注到了在强势的全球城市化进程中, 商业、旅游以及新媒体介入后, 布朗族音乐文化传播的新形态。

布朗族是中国西南地区古代濮人的后代, 因此也被汉人称为 “濮曼人” ——影片中雷鬼风格的乐队或许因此给自己取名 “濮曼乐队” 。布朗族音乐有着自己内部的分类体系:拽、宰、索、森、同玛。莱昂纳多敏锐地抓住了这个与众不同的特点, 并一一呈现出来。同时, 布朗族音乐有着山地民族普遍的特点:曲调欢快、歌词朴实, 本片也整体呈现出类似的风格——结构简洁明了、镜头朴素自然、叙事清晰流畅;对布朗族音乐及其背后的文化形态采用了白描的手法, 浅显易懂。

作为一部音乐影像志, 摄影机和录音机是媒介, 是田野调查人建立在自身视听感知经验基础上, 用影像手段对文化持有者进行观察、记录和呈现的主要工具。莱昂诺多作为一个来自异国的 “局外人”, 旅居云南数年, 对西双版纳复杂多元的宗教、文化环境有着初步但较为准确的理解, 因此影像突出了写实与节制的总体风格。本片没有追求华丽唯美的视觉效果, 大部分采用自然光和固定机位;常常用大全景来表现布朗族生活的环境空间, 以及他们在这些空间里的仪式、活动和群舞场景, 凸显人物和空间的关系;部分劳作的场景, 例如采茶、打猎、炒茶等等, 也以大景别为主, 再以分切镜头展示细节、手持摄影追踪运动过程, 在垂直的山地环境里保证场景的完整性;音乐演唱和演奏是本片的主题, 为了突出被摄对象的脸部表情和状态, 制作者则采用了长焦镜头拍摄的中近景;在进行概念阐述的时候, 则使用了访谈、解说词和媒体的影像资料补充信息。

当然, 本片也涉及到一些生动的布朗人生活场景:沉迷于手机的布朗族歌手玉坎拉, 用手机给莱昂纳多打电话: “你好, 意大利朋友” (7’ 25”), 然后哈哈大笑;一个布朗族妇女到玉坎拉家做客, 晚餐的时候一起唱歌, 旁边的猪突然叫了起来, 她打趣说: “哦, 猪也想唱歌” (24’ 22”)。当然, 还有在窗外偷看音乐表演的老妇人、偷偷吃糖的孩童、景区里表演马戏的傈僳族男子等等。这些平凡的生活场景, 充满了迷人的诗情, 于无数混沌的现象中, 使观众体察到个体生命的美好和丰盛。

也正是由此, 我们要谈到本片的些微不足之处:过于宏观而概念化, 缺少了一些生活世界和个体经验的呈现;或者说, 切入角度可以考虑更具体和深入。例如:作为主要的被摄对象, 玉坎拉活泼大方的性格, 她和内向的丈夫之间的关系就是一个非常值得深描的主题, 并以此延展出布朗族音乐在布朗人生活中的重要性, 及其社会结构里的相互关系——当然, 这个角度需要花费很长时间去观察和纪录。

另外, 本片在声音上的处理也显得过于单薄。声音作为影像志的重要组成部分, 不仅仅是音乐和对话本身, 环境声也同样具有叙事、情绪渲染、突出文化属性的功能。例如:布朗山寨是宁静还是嘈杂?周边的生态是何种情况?我们是可以依据声音判断出来的。再如:炒制茶叶的声音会直接赋予视觉与嗅觉的想象, 那一声猪叫和玉坎拉的歌声相呼应, 会形成多么有趣的效果!但是这些声音都被忽略了, 很多时候甚至被完全拉掉, 这不能不说是本片的遗憾。

正如布朗族的一首童谣里唱到: “鸡喔喔叫, 赶快起来了;起床太晚了, 连猪都要笑” 。简单朴实, 但是有声有色, 有具象的生活场景。比文字更为直观的音乐影像志, 更应该以视觉和听觉的经验性呈现, 为观众带来丰富的感知。