Yi opera

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Yi Opera

Applicant: Dayao County, Yunnan Province

Project No.: 737

Project No.: Ⅳ - 136

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Yunnan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Dayao County, Yunnan Province

Protection unit: Dayao County Cultural Center

Introduction to Yi Opera:

Applicant: Dayao County, Yunnan Province

Yi opera is a unique local ethnic drama of Chuxiong Yi nationality, which is widely spread in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. It is formed and developed in the traditional festivals and folklore activities of the Yi people, which integrates the essence of traditional arts such as folk literature, music, dance and painting of the Yi nationality.

Yi opera attaches great importance to the use of music to set off and render the stage atmosphere. Around different tunes and singing styles, it further expresses its content with local folk music. It uses the folk spoken language of the Yi people to perform, pays attention to the characteristics of the metaphors commonly used in the dialogue of the Yi people, and implicitly shows the psychological activities of the characters. The use of Chinese Yi accent in the dialogue can highlight the sense of humor in the Yi dialect. Combined with the characteristics of Yi People's singing and dancing, the performance adopts a large number of steps that can be seen everywhere in Yi People's life, such as "three bends", "mountain climbing", "jumping" and "Da Tiao", which makes the performance dance. It not only enriches the artistic vocabulary of the drama itself, but also shows the difference from other forms of opera performance.

Yi opera has distinctive characteristics of the times, local characteristics and strong national style. The props used in the performance are commonly used labor tools of the local Yi people, and the costumes and headgear are handmade by Yi women. It truly shows the social life of the Yi people, and shows the national spirit, religious belief and value orientation of the Yi people. It is of great value in the study of minority art, anthropology, ethnology and folklore.