AHABALA IN CHINA'S MOSUO SOCIETY: PERFORMANCE, REPRESENTATION AND MEANING

The Mosuo 摩梭 are an ethnic group located in southwest China, known for an unusual form of sexual relationship called sese and the familial organization which is primarily constituted according to a matrilineal custom. These social institutions and the related cultural agendas have been studied in recent cultural anthropology, influenced by theories of gender studies. Drawing upon these recent ideas, this essay explores the interrelationship between the musical form, ahabala 阿哈巴拉, and particular sociocultural elements in Mosuo society. Ahabala is a core folk song and dance repertoire among the Mosuo community. Mosuo people refer to ahabala as "the first tune" and claim its "ways of expressing are in our blood and bones." Little is known about ahabala; what has been published often misrepresents ahabala's music features, its creative processes and its cultural meanings. To address these issues and reconsider the meaning and nature of ahabala, I will discuss ahabala in two specific settings: performance and interview. Based on my fieldwork data, I will analyze how ahabala is contextualized in these two settings, and in each setting how the meanings of ahabala are understood and shared. I suggest that the Mosuo people themselves, and outsiders to Mosuo culture-including myself as a researcher-present and construct various kinds of meanings for ahabala. In other words, ahabala is a multifaceted and varied concept in different contexts. I explore the manifestations and representations of ahabala in correspondence with Mosuo social institutions, gender ideologies and relations, and ethnic identities. I also examine the negotiations and conflicts around ahabala as a musical form according to these factors. Benefiting from my understanding and experience of Mosuo real life, I therefore hopefully acquired a good position to perceive Mosuo's deep cultural logic and emotional experience.