眼看到中国人和华人，以及周边受中国文化影响的国家最受重视的民俗节日春节。俺算是中国改革开放后研究西部贫困发展问题的先驱者之一，对西部社会和文化也比较熟悉，于是俺借花献佛：借西北回族穆斯林为主传承的民歌花儿，给大家的春节，也就是给俺自己的春节，献上一朵花。 邹蓝   

1207377  西北民歌：花儿   邹蓝

现在得说说西北的花儿民歌。中国西北部地理上有大片的黄土高原，具有半干旱的气候，作为穆斯林的回族，聚集在这片土地上。花儿就是他们的音乐传统。据说其起源是川、甘、青与藏族文化有交错的地区。逐渐这个传统被穆斯林接受并且在整个西北地区传播了起来。

Now some words about Huaer花儿 folksong tradition in Northwest China. Northwest China is geographically on Loess Plateau with semi-arid climate and the Huis as an Islamic ethnic group are concentrated in this part of China and Huaer actually is their folk tradition. Its origin is said to be the folk song traditions of Tibetan neighbors of the Muslims in border areas of Sichuan with Gansu and Qinghai provinces. Gradually the tradition passed to the Muslims and spread among them in all the Northwest China.

根据田野调查，花儿的传统甚至传播到中国境外的中亚。也许是因为1880年代战败的一支穆斯林一路向西撤退，从此定居在那里。他们不会中文字了，但是日常生活中依然说陕甘方言，今天的陕西甘肃人都能听懂。中亚的回族，或者中亚对他们的称呼东干人，至今依然穿晚清式样的服装。这就是在1880年代花儿在中国西北回族中已经流行的证明，否则他们不可能把这种民歌带到中亚和新疆。

According to field studies, the Huaer tradition is even spread beyond the Chinese border in Central Asia, probably that is because the defeated Muslim retreating all the way from West China to Central Asia in mid 1880s and settled down there ever since. They cannot use the Chinese written language but they keep speaking Shaanxi-Gansu dialect in their daily life, which is understood by Chinese from Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. The Central Asian Huis or Donggans (Tunggans) as they are so called in Central Asia, even keep the dress styles in 1800s up to now. It is a proof that in 1800s the Huaer tradition was popular among the Huis in China or they could not bring it to Central Asia and Xinjiang.

实际上，花儿的传统并不局限于回族，保安族，撒拉族以及汉族，还有那里的藏族和蒙古族都有花儿的传统。不过因为主要是回族为主的民众中流传花儿，因此一般人们把花儿与回族联系在一起。

In fact, Huaer is not limited to Huis alone, but Ethnic Bao’ans, Salars and even Hans, Tibetans and Mongolians. Since the majority people observing this folk music tradition is the Huis, so we can roughly understand so in a general sense.

花儿也视所在地不同而有不同的流派，比方说有宁夏花儿，甘肃花儿，青海花儿，随着陕甘回族移居新疆，还有了新疆花儿。在宁夏，则还有六盘山花儿；甘肃有泾渭花儿和陇中花儿，莲花山花儿，洮州花儿；青海有河湟花儿。在早先，还有河州花儿和洮岷花儿两类。这是依据所在地而命名的。

Huaer tradition has its regional varieties. For example there are Ningxia Huaer, Gansu Huaer and Qinghai Huaer, and with the Muslim resettlement from Shaanxi and Gansu to Xinjiang, there is a new Xinjiang Huaer. In Ningxia, there is the Mount Liupan Huaer(六盘山花儿) in Ningxia, the Jingwei Huaer (泾渭花儿), the Central Gansu Huaer (陇中花儿), Mount Lianhua Huaer (莲花山花儿) and Taozhou Huaer（洮州花儿）in Gansu．In Qinghai there is Hehuang Huaer (河湟花儿).Before that they were classified into two major categories of Hezhou Huaer (河州花儿) and Taomin Huaer (洮岷花儿).They are so named after their native region. http://video.baidu.com/v?ct=301989888&rn=20&pn=0&db=0&s=8&word=%CE%F7%B1%B1%20%BB%A8%B6%F9&fr=ala0