Leyou is an original folk traditional musical instrument created by the Buyi people. Since its birth, it has been serving as a bridge for the Bouyei men to go to marriage. It shares weal and woe with the Bouyei people, conveying the joys and sorrows of the Bouyei people; it accompanies the Bouyei people. The Bouyei people have gone through trials and hardships for seven hundred years from the Yuan Dynasty to today, and they have become a sacred musical instrument that is generally loved and recognized by the Bouyei people.
Leyou can pronounce (a, c1, d1, e1, g1, a1) 6 tones with a range of one octave. The pronunciation is crisp and sweet, similar to the timbre of a Western musical instrument oboe, with a strong local flavor. The playing technique is roughly similar to that of the suona, and the cyclic ventilation method is often used to make the melody played mellow and smooth, beautiful and expressive. It is mainly used to play Leyou (or Lelang) alone, a unique love song of the Bouyei people.
Those who call "Leyou tune" can be divided into two categories: one is the instrumental music that Leyou often plays; the other is the vocal music sung with lyrics. What's interesting is that the music played by "Leyou" often expresses the semantics that both men and women can understand and know. In Leyou's music, the player is often free to play only according to a fixed core phrase or motive. This is the fixedness of the music, and it is its unique feature. In fact, it can be regarded as a relatively fixed improvisation.
The widely circulated traditional songs include "I Haven't Married Yet", "I Miss You, I Miss You!" ", "Wake up my sister in the middle of the night", "Sister, don't coax me!" ", "Blowing Leyou and Calling My Sister", "Goumei Tune" and "Drifting Tune", etc.