Are 民谣 Songs? Or are they saying?

Question

Recently, I was trying to understanding what 民谣 exactly means. I know that it is often translated as "Folk Rhyme or Ballad". This implies to me that it is an old, traditional song.

I recently saw a sentence, however, that confused me. It was

"至今南阳仍有“冬至不端饺子碗，冻掉耳朵没人管”的民谣。"

Does this mean that that sentence is part of a song? What does 民谣 actually mean?

Answer 1

民谣 could be the following things:

• 民间歌谣 or rhymes of the folks. Chinese 歌谣s don't have to carry tunes, but they usually do rhyme, or at least carry some tonal quality which makes them sound good. They usually carry some sort of folk wisdom. Sometimes they are also called 民谚 or 谚语.

• Regional folk songs. They are created and sung by common folks, and they do carry tunes. More often they are called 民歌.

• Short for 独立民谣 or Indie Folk, the music genre becoming popular since 1990s. It's probably the most common usage nowadays.

Somewhat related: 儿歌 and 童谣 are 歌谣 for kids, they don't have to carry tunes, either.

As for your example, it's clearly just a saying, not part of a song.

Answer 2

If saying 民谣，in chinese mind means the song from Ancient times or among of the people.

Above u said means , that is a Lyrics comes from 民谣。

Answer 3

In this sentence it means saying or expression but it would only be used this way in a few regions. The standard meaning is indeed (traditional) folk song.

Answer 4

民谣

could be a music style

Or could be a a short story or a sentence

in your situation , tales

Answer 5

//Folk

Sorry, My english is Not great.

In china, 民谣 is 民歌, ancient folk music.

Such as 安塞腰鼓 (安塞(AnSai) of Drum(chinese)).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhXQ7-aBUPc

but, the word(民谣), also of the world music(folk).

such as Neofolk(新民谣), Deathfolk(死亡民谣), Apocalyptic Folk(天启民谣), Blackfolk(黑民谣), Popfolk(流行民谣), 弹指唱(playing acoustic guitar of easy melodic) E.T.C.

www.xiami.com/genre/detail/gid/16

In Young people of chinese, 民谣(Folk),generally for 弹指唱;-)