Little Swallow 小燕子
Watch this video of me teaching 小燕子！
My lullaby was 小燕子, or Little Swallow. I interviewed my parents who are born and raised in Northern China, specifically the city of Beijing.
Their early education had music education, which was mostly ensemble based due to the large class sizes. There was mandatory music class, and my dad remembers the teacher using an organ.They both knew about a lot of instruments during their education because of the music they were exposed to, they were familiar with Western and Chinese instruments.
When talking about the lullaby, they both explained its main purpose was rocking a baby to sleep, and in Northern China there is a stronger tradition of using baskets to hold children.
My parents do not have memories of their own parents singing to them, but they sang to me often, “Little Swallow”. When learning and teaching, I did not include some of the passing tones because of how challenging it may be to those who do not speak Mandarin Chinese. Also, the rhythm on the last phrase was hard for me to understand because I was not looking at the words or really putting together what I was singing until my mom explained it to me.
This song was from their childhood so around 50 years ago, the song is about a little swallow flying home to spring. This song is specifically from Northern China, because the swallow flies away for the winter but will return home in the spring. The first lyric explains that the swallow is wearing different and new colours from the south. Northern China experiences all four seasons, which is why the swallow song is so popular. My parents also only recall the first verse and explain that about “99 percent” of Chinese people know the tune.
After doing some research, the Chinese Folk Songs for Music Teacher’s website says “On children’s Day in 1956, Wang Lu created this song and published it in “Art of Yangtze River”. In 1957, it was modified by composer Wang Yunjie and used in an episode of “Nurse Diary”. Since then, this song has been sung all over China. This song is in the form of questions and answers full of children’s fun.” Although we only sang one verse and the most well known verse, there are more lyrics below:
小燕子，告诉你，
Xiǎo yàn zi gào su nǐ
今年这里更美丽。
jīn nián zhè lǐ gèng měi lì
我们盖起了大工厂，
wǒ men gài qǐ le dà gōng chǎng
装上了新机器
zhuāng shàng le xīn jī qi
欢迎你长期住在这里
huān yíng nǐ cháng qī zhù zài zhè lǐ.
Which translate to:
Little swallow, let me tell you,
It's more beautiful here this year.
We've built large factories,
And equipped new machines,
Please live here forever.
Which gives this song a completely different meaning, as it connects to the cultural revolution and also the modernization of China. Now, large factories and machines are the norm but it is interesting to see these subtle nods towards history within our musics. Especially during this turbulent time of the 50s-70s, with the death of Mao, the Korean War (which China was part of), the cultural revolution, social revolution, and Deng Xiao Ping’s power, this tune is also part of the history and remembered by my parent’s generation.
Specifically speaking on their experiences, they remember singing to me but not being sung to. When we talked about the purpose of lullabies, we talked about the importance of stories and feeling peaceful. My mom explained it as a tradition and habit of singing to lull someone to sleep. We also discussed playing house and how integral play was to our childhood, and how we all loved to pretend our dolls were our babies. As we talked more, I asked my parents if they ever sang their own siblings to sleep. My mom explained that she was not close with her parents when she was younger, but she was close to her paternal grandparents. Once they were in school in Beijing, she spent more time with her sibling. This reminds me of all the migrant workers that must leave their children in rural areas. Of course, my grandparents were privileged with jobs within a city where their homes were originally so they were able to spend time with each other, but my mom has no recollection of her parents ever singing to her as a child. This also makes me think of the implications on children who were unable to remember music within their families but their formal education instead.
Sources:
Interview with my Parents conducted on Feb 4th
https://clb.org.hk/content/migrant-workers-and-their-children
http://www.chinesefolksongs.com/xi462onbspyagravennbspzi-little-swallow.html