Music of the Khitans

Shaman Dance

Since the ancient Khitan ethnic group believed in polytheism (Shamanism), Shaman songs enjoyed great popularity. Whether among ordinary people or at sacrificial ceremonies in the palace, songs and dances were all performed by the Shamans. In the bookSui Shu(History of the Sui Dynasty), there is a Shaman song about speeches given during ancestral sacrifices and praying for a good hunt and bumper harvest. At present, the song is the only known complete Shaman song left behind by this ancient northern group.

Lyrics:

"On a winter day,
Have meals until sunrise;
When I go hunting,
May I get a good prey."

In the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127),fan qu(a song genre) of the Khitan group and other northern tribes was introduced to the Central Plains and became popular among the Hans. Many archons of the Khitan society were fond of music and able to sing and dance; they could even compose songs themselves.

 Music of the western regions

During the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Five Barbarian Peoples (300-430), ethnic groups like the Huns, Xianbei, Jie, Di and Qiang took advantage of the civil strife to enter the Central Plains where they built regional regimes of ethnic minorities, ushering in a new stage of cultural amalgamation among different ethnic groups and tight economic and cultural exchanges. Many songs and dances of the northern and northwestern nomads were also introduced to the Central Plains and were greatly loved by the Han people.