在臺灣客家人心目中「義民爺」的重要性，不亞於對觀音菩薩、媽祖的崇拜。近年來義民祭典以及相關活動，更從傳統的祭典儀式，屬於宗教性的範疇，擴大成為全民參與的「義民嘉年華」。主要活動除了有神豬比賽、山歌演唱、採茶戲表演之外、還有勁歌熱舞、挑擔踩街……可說是越來越多元、越來越時髦花俏。音樂家呂錦明有感於義民祭典活動熱鬧有餘，但缺少足以感動人心的文化內涵與藝術氣息，自2002年起與客家文學創作者葉日松聯手進行「義民禮讚」詞、曲的創作，後由黃永達和黃義共同撰寫事略，再由羅思琦編寫劇本，終於在2013年10月，正式完成一部《義民禮讚》客家歌舞劇，即包含曲譜、劇本、事略的文本著作，其歌詞、音樂部分共分為十個樂章，均為客家歌謠合唱之原創，是當代客家表演藝術的重要作品，相當可貴！但礙於客家語言的使用並未普遍，因此，這部作品也尚未達到眾所皆知，本論文中，研究者將針對其音樂設計與表演形式的部分，探析作品中所要表達的客家文化意涵和其藝術價值。期望透過本文，能讓對客家表演藝術領域有興趣者，對此創作給予更高的關注，並吸引更多人以台灣的在地文化元素作為創作的題材。

The importance of Yimin (the righteous men) in the hearts of Hakka people is no less than the worship to the Bodhisattva and Matsu. In recent years, this thriving festival and the related activities have expanded from religious rites to popular carnival. In addition to the activities of God pigs competition, folk songs singing, tea-picking performances, there are more fancy dance and singing, street-treading march and performance, joining the peripheral activities, which make the festival more multiple, lively and stylish. The musician, Lu Jinmin, considered it rich in various activities but lack of cultural connotation. Then, he decided to cooperate with Ye Ri-song, the Hakka poet, creating the lyrics and the melody in 2002. Later, the director Luo Siqi helped write the script, while Huang Yong-da and Huang Yi co-wrote the brief history, and finally finished the complete work ＂Ode to Hakka Yimin＂ in October, 2013. The music work included ten movements, which can be viewed as ＂original＂ masterpiece.