Gupen song

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: gupenge

Applicant: Jingzhou City, Hubei Province

Item No.: 268

Project No.: V - 32

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: quyi

Region: Hubei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Jingzhou City, Hubei Province

Protection unit: Jingzhou Mass Art Museum (Jingzhou Art Research Institute)

Introduction to gupen song:

Applicant: Jingzhou City, Hubei Province

Gupen song is a very ancient form of folk art, which originated from the folk activities of "beating a basin as a drum and singing with the bereaved family" in ancient funeral ceremonies in China. Therefore, it is also commonly known as "mourning drum", "mourning Drum Song" and "beating drum to make funeral". Its specific formation age can not be determined.

Drum and basin songs are popular in Shashi, Jingzhou and Jiangling areas of Jianghan Plain, and their performances are usually performed by one or two people beating their own drumsticks. In folk performances, enthusiastic listeners can also participate in the singing, that is, they can sing together at the beginning and end of each aria, or they can sing solo. There are three kinds of singing tunes in drum and basin, such as "flat", "knock board", "three sentences and a half" and "Lake tune". The accompaniment of drum in the performance is unique, and its rhythm appears the phenomenon of strong beat without stress at the end of the sentence, which is contrary to the common sense of music beat, and is rare in the history of Chinese and foreign music.

As the performance of gupen song is closely related to folk customs, it has multiple values of folklore, sociology and culture besides the value of art itself. Today, with the rapid development of modernization, drum and basin songs, like other folk art forms, are facing a survival crisis, which needs to be paid attention to and protected.