Jiangnan Sizhu

Jiangnan Sizhu is a branch of "Sizhu" music, which is popular in the south of the Yangtze River and in the Shanghai-Ningbo-Hangzhou area. Silk and bamboo refers to two types of musical instruments, namely silk musical instruments and bamboo musical instruments. Silk instruments refer to bowed instruments with silk strings, such as erhu, pipa, zhonghu, etc. Silk instruments are a type of stringed instruments, which are mostly played and plucked with bow strings; bamboo instruments are instruments made of bamboo, such as bamboo flutes, shengs, Xiao etc.

Jiangnan Sizhu has many genres, a wide range of repertoire, and mature performance techniques. It is good at large-scale suites (the combination of tunes and tunes). It is a widely spread type of instrumental music in my country. In recent decades, some changes have taken place. No matter in terms of classic repertoire, band formation, or performance techniques, there are attempts to innovate, that is, inheritance and development at the same time.

Sinzhu music has a long history of spreading in my country. As early as in the book "Zhou Li Spring Palace": "...it is all played with eight tones: gold, stone, soil, leather, "Silk, wood, gourd, and bamboo" records; "Book of Jin Le Zhi" also has the saying that "silk and bamboo know each other better". Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, many documents have recorded the popularity of silk and bamboo music in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. But now Shanghai and its surrounding areas are the areas where "Jiangnan Sizhu" as a music genre was finally named and matured.

Shanghai’s Jiangnan silk and bamboo music first flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It had no definite name at first. People mostly called it “silk and bamboo” or “national music”, and also called it “voiceless music” and “crane music”. " and other nicknames. By the 1940s, its heyday, Sizhu Music covered the entire urban area of ??Shanghai and suburban counties. According to the existing literature, the title of "Jiangnan Sizhu" was first seen in the program of the "Shanghai Folk Classical Music Observation and Performance" in 1954 and the "National Classical Music Concert" hosted by the Shanghai Chinese Music Group Association Preparatory Committee. From the early 20th century to the 1950s, there were 428 well-documented silk and bamboo classes in Shanghai, reaching the point where "where there are wells, there is the sound of silk and bamboo", which shows the development of silk and bamboo classes in Shanghai's urban and suburban counties. scale and impact. Silk and bamboo activities in Shanghai have been continuous for more than a hundred years. In its heyday, it covered the entire urban area and suburban counties of Shanghai. Silk and bamboo music enthusiasts often performed in fixed places, communicated with each other, and pondered together, making Jiangnan silk and bamboo a popular activity. Music types have developed more and were once referred to as "national music". Since the mid-20th century, Jiangnan silk and bamboo performance activities have waxed and waned, but they have never disappeared. In recent years, the number of performance activities and the number of enthusiasts has increased and expanded.

Jiangnan silk and bamboo music is very entertaining. "Every time you have free time from work, you can play silk and bamboo music together." This is a social fashion in Shanghai. People often gather in private teahouses to play silk and bamboo to "cultivate their temperament, cleanse away evil and filth" and exchange skills. Jiangnan Sizhu is also played at weddings, funerals, festivals and temple fairs. According to the nature of the performance, it is divided into two categories: "Qingguo" (also known as "running guest") and professional class club. "Qingguo" is an amateur class organization that often performs guest performances at the invitation of relatives and friends for free. Professional silk and bamboo troupes make a living by performing and receive a certain amount of remuneration.

The Jiangnan silk and bamboo repertoire in the Shanghai area comes from instrumental music that is widely circulated among the people across the country, such as "Laoliuban" and "Xiaomenmen"; there are also folk music from other places such as "Suhe", "Yanghe", "Partridges Flying", "General's Order", etc.; there are Jiangnan folk songs such as "Intimate Guest", "Wuxi Scene", etc.; there are also ancient songs "Qinglian Yuefu", "Xunyang Night Moon", etc. . Silk and bamboo masters in Shanghai, especially in urban areas, use their own cultural quality, artistic accomplishment and creativity to entertain themselves and people, constantly processing the inherited and foreign music and folk songs in Shanghai, and eventually develop or A musical genre with strong local flavor - Jiangnan silk and bamboo.

One of the biggest musical characteristics of Shanghai Jiangnan Sizhu is the elegant and delicate playing style. When playing in ensemble, each instrument part is full of personality and harmonious with each other. The texture of polyphonic polyphony is very distinctive. It is highly valued by music workers.

The Jiangnan Silk and Bamboo Band is flexible in its formation. It generally uses silk instruments and bamboo instruments as the main body, and is equipped with some percussion instruments, such as drums, boards, wooden fish and bells. Depending on the performance needs and objective conditions of different music, a small band can be formed with only one string, one bamboo and two instruments, such as an erhu and a flute, and a large band can be composed of dozens of people. The main musical instruments are Qudi, Sheng, Xiao, Erhu, Pipa, Sanxian, Yangqin, Qinqin, drum board, bell or wooden fish. The performance forms are divided into "sitting playing" and standing playing.

Representative works include the so-called "Eight Major Songs of Jiangnan Sizhu": "Zhonghua Liuban", "Sanliu", "Slow Sanliu", "Slow Liuban", "Walking Street", "Clouds" "Celebration", "Four Harmonies", "Happy Song". In addition, popular ones include "Lao Liu Ban", "Kuai Liu Ban", "Kuai Hua Liu", "Liu Qing Niang", "Nishang Qu", etc.

Cantonese music is a variety of instrumental music produced in the Guangzhou dialect area. It originated in Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta area at the beginning of this century. It is popular at home and abroad and enjoys a high reputation and a large audience. It is a local folk music that is based on Guangdong folk tunes, some Cantonese opera music and brand tunes, and absorbs the nutrients of ancient Chinese, especially folk music in the Jiangnan region. After nearly 300 years of gestation, it has been perfected and developed.

Guangdong music uses more decorative rooms in performance, and various musical instruments combine to create unique timbres and styles.

Early ensembles mostly used two strings, fiddle (similar to banhu), three strings, yueqin, and horizontal flute (dizi), which were called "five-stringed instruments", also called "hard bow combination". The solos mostly used pipa or dulcimer. After the 1920s, Gaohu was used as the main instrument, supplemented by Yangqin and Qinqin, commonly known as "three-piece head", also known as "soft bow". The main or characteristic instrument is Gaohu, also known as Yuehu and Nanhu. It is basically the same shape as the erhu, except that the barrel is thinner and shorter. At the beginning of this century, folk artist Lu Wencheng changed the outer strings of the erhu from the customary silk strings to steel strings. The tuning was four or five degrees higher than the erhu, and the tone was brighter. When playing, hold the piano tube between your legs to control the volume.

Cantonese music is a kind of title music, which uses simplicity to control complexity in structure. With the rich music and wide range of instrumental music, as well as the rich and varied expression techniques, it depicts scenes, lyrics, and objects, so it has a rich local color and special artistic charm. Guangdong music is good at describing small situations in life, and it shows concern for traditional life tastes. To appreciate it, one does not necessarily have to discover major social and life themes in it, but the description of natural scenery often brings a sense of entertainment.

In the 30 years from the early 1920s to the year before liberation, more than 300 Guangdong music compositions were created, of which more than 50 have been circulated at home and abroad. His major works include "Thunder in a Dry Sky", "Inverted Curtain", "Rain Beats the Plantains", "Dragon Race to Win the Gold", "Hungry Horse Rattles the Bell", "Autumn Moon over a Flat Lake", "Backgammon", "Birds Throwing into the Forest", " "Zenyuan Bell" and so on. After liberation, Guangdong music has made great progress, with many outstanding composers and performers emerging and a large number of new works created. Among them are "Fish Swimming in the Spring Water", "Spring Horse Trial in the Suburbs", "Spring Morning in the Mountain Country", "Happy Sickle", etc. It is also widely circulated.

Fujian Nanyin is a kind of folk art, also known as "Nanqu", "Nanle", "Nanguan" and "Xianguan". It is called the "living fossil" of music culture. Pipa in the Tang Dynasty The plectrum is generally used and held horizontally. Fujian Nanyin still maintains this legacy system. The "clapper" used in Nanyin and its playing method are the same as those in the Dunhuang murals. Nanqu is mainly popular in Quanzhou, Jinjiang, Longxi and Xiamen in southern Fujian. It is also popular in places where overseas Chinese live in Taiwan and Nanyang Islands. Fujian Nanyin originated in the Tang Dynasty and formed in the Song Dynasty. It is mainly popular in Fujian, Taiwan and the areas where overseas Chinese live in Nanyang Islands.

Fujian Nanyin: also known as "Nanqu", "Nanyue", "Nanguan" and "Xianguan", is known as the "living fossil" of music culture. Pipa in the Tang Dynasty generally used plectrums, and It is a horizontal hugging posture, and Fujian Nanyin still maintains this legacy. The "clapper" used in Nanyin and its playing method are the same as those in the Dunhuang murals. Nanqu is mainly popular in Quanzhou, Jinjiang, Longxi and Xiamen in southern Fujian. It is also popular in places where overseas Chinese live in Taiwan and Nanyang Islands.

It is generally believed that Nanqu originated in the Tang Dynasty and formed in the Song Dynasty:

(1) According to documentary records: In the first year of Guangqi of Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty (885), brothers Wang Chao and Wang Shenzhi Leading their troops into Fujian, they brought with them the "Daqu" of the Tang Dynasty and spread it among the people. The mutual influence and absorption of Daqu and local folk music resulted in the unique "Southern Opera".

(2) The pipa, the main instrument of Nanqu, is played while leaning on one side. The size of the flute used is strictly one foot and eight inches. The playing posture and shape of these two instruments are consistent with those of the old Tang Dynasty.

(3) Many of the names of Nanqu’s tunes are the same as those of Daqu and Faqu in the Tang Dynasty. Such as "Maha Tuole", "Midnight Song", "Qing Ping Le", "Liangzhou Song", "Brahman", etc.

(4) The five famous dramas of "Southern Opera" in the Song Dynasty: "The Story of Jingchai", "The Story of the White Rabbit", "The Story of Worshiping the Moon", "The Story of Killing the Dog" and "The Story of Pipa", Nanqu is also Sing these plays.

The spread of Nanqu among the people depends on the inheritance and dissemination of community organizations. Since the Qing Dynasty, societies have been established in Quanzhou, Xiamen, Jinjiang, Nan'an, Hui'an, Anxi and other places, and professional teachers have taught the skills. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, many Nanyin research societies and Nanyin research societies have been established. A professional Nanqu music group was also established.