Narrative songs are mostly myths and legends about the beginning of the world and the origin of mankind. The most famous is Li Xigang. The tile language Xigang means gourd, so it can be translated into the song of gourd. It tells the story of ancient humans in the wild times.
Lyric songs are mainly love songs. Gathering in public houses in the village or "string girls" in girls' homes is the main way for Wa youth to communicate and fall in love. Love songs are mainly sung in bars or as string girls.
Entertainment songs are mostly sung in festivals, religious sacrifices and daily plays. There are two kinds of "aria" that only sings but does not dance and "aria" that sings and dances. The entertainment song "Jiang San Mu Luo" of the Wa people in Ximeng is named because it is often sung at the beginning and end of the song.
The most distinctive sacrificial songs are Lamu Drum and Niu Piao. Wa people believe that wooden drums are heavenly artifacts. Set 65438+ February as Lamu Drum Month. When pulling the wooden drum, the chieftain or wizard fired a gun and called the convener to go up the mountain, cut down the big tree and cut off two meters of tree segments to make wooden drums. Men, women and children in the village are playing wooden drums, singing and dancing.
Niu Piao has a stronger primitive religious color. After the wooden drum was pulled to the wooden drum house, or the autumn harvest was not over, or the house was not built, a family volunteered to donate one or several cows. All the people in the village sang rough songs and danced wildly around the cows. Cattle were stabbed to death with spears and loud songs and dances in public, and then their heads were cut off, and the remaining beef was cooked and shared on the lit bonfire. The whole process was accompanied by singing and dancing, and the scene was very primitive and wild.