opera sung in southern tunes

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Nanqu

Applicant: Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province

Item No.: 764

Project No.: V - 71

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: quyi

Region: Hubei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province

Protection unit: cultural center of Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County

Introduction to Nanqu

Applicant: Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province

Nanqu, also known as "Sixian", is popular in Changyang Tujia Autonomous County and Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County of Hubei Province. It came into being from Qianlong to Guangxu in Qing Dynasty and has a history of about 200 years. In the long-term inheritance process, Nanqu continuously absorbed the music elements of Tujia folk songs and shadow play, unified the local language and tune style, formed a strong artistic appeal, and was praised as "tulip mountain flower" by the music circle.

The performance of Nanqu mainly adopts the form of sitting singing, accompanied by small Sanxian, erhu, Sihu, Yangqin, Yueqin (commonly known as "kuaizi"), yunban (also known as "Jianban" and "Yazi") and other accompaniment instruments, with small Sanxian as the main accompaniment. With the accompaniment of these musical instruments, the singing of Nanqu is more pleasant, showing the artistic characteristics of euphemism, delicacy and lyricism. During the performance, one person can play and sing by himself, two or more actors can sing in different roles, and many people can sing together. During the performance, one person can be arranged to play and another person can sing while hitting the board; or one person can be arranged to hit the board and several people can play three strings at the same time, and they can help when they are playing.

Nanqu CI is mainly composed of seven character sentences, and singing music belongs to Qupai style. There are 31 pieces of traditional singing tunes in Changyang Nanqu, which can be divided into two categories: Nanqu and beidiao. The basic tunes of Nanqu include nanqutou, Duozi, shangxiaju, Weiqiang, shuban, Langban, huohulu, Beiqiang, Huqiang, etc., while only one piece of beidiao is left. There are many repertoires of Nanqu, about 250 of which can be roughly divided into four categories. The first category is based on novels and playbooks; the second category is based on folk stories and legends; the third category is based on entertainment and drama admonition; and the fourth category is used to chant scenery. There are nearly 30 singing tunes in Wufeng Nanqu, and the repertoire and words are rich and colorful. The existing more than 100 repertoires are mostly based on historical novels and legends, among which the representative works are the gifted scholar's river tour, heroes of the Three Kingdoms, Zhaojun and fan, fishermen and murderers, and Hongniang's invitation card.

Most of Nanqu songs are performed in wedding ceremony, birthday celebration, guest banquet, good friend gathering and other occasions, with a certain content of self entertainment, due to the appearance of "playing silk string". It is the result of the cultural and artistic exchanges between Tujia and Han nationality. It has an important reference value in the study of Ethnology and culturology. At present, there is no successor for Nanqu, and its survival is in crisis, so it is in urgent need of protection and inheritance.