Zezhou four string script

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Zezhou sixianshu

Applicant: Zezhou County, Shanxi Province

Project No.: 1125

Project No.: Ⅴ - 101

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: quyi

Region: Shanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Zezhou County, Shanxi Province

Protection unit: Zezhou Cultural Center

Introduction to Zezhou four string book:

Applicant: Zezhou County, Shanxi Province

Zezhou sixianshu is a form of Quyi storytelling which is mainly popular in the whole area of Zezhou County, Shanxi Province, as well as in the southeast of Qinshui County, the east of Yangcheng County and the west of Lingchuan County. It gets its name because it takes Sixian (Sihu) as the main accompaniment instrument.

Zezhou Sixian script was formed in the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty at the latest and has a history of more than 150 years. The form of performance is rap and singing, mainly singing, using Zezhou dialect. In the early stage, only one person accompanied the performance with four strings and leg boards, but later there were many accompaniments. The singing tune belongs to banqiang style, mainly including flat, tight, medium, three inverted and Guanyun. The accompaniment musical instruments include the main musical instruments, such as four stringed and three stringed, Hu Hu and two pieces, as well as leg boards (large, medium and small) and cymbals. The style of accompaniment is interlude, that is, there is no accompaniment when singing. The basic form of libretto is seven character upper and lower sentence style, and the lower sentence rhymes.

In the old days, the performers of Zezhou four stringed books were all blind artists, and the main time for them to perform was to repay gods, return vows and celebrate. Traditional programs often performed include "you Tian Tai", "Da Ba Xian", "Fu Gui Chang Chun", "chop Huashan with axe", "Du Lin Ying", "three elder sisters falling into the world", "Tian Xian send off the son", "Mr. Xu's birthday", "long San Jie's birthday", "Romance of the West Chamber" and "Liang Zhu's downhill".

After the founding of the people's Republic of China, Zezhou county set up a quyi team which mainly performed the four string script of Zezhou. She has also edited and acted in new programs such as "kaoshenpo", "Wu Quanyou meets his daughter", "he Shen marries his wife" and so on. During this period, there were standing performance and walking performance. At the same time, the accompaniment instrument replaced four strings with erhu and added suona, Xiaogu and BangBan.

In the 21st century, with the increase of the age of the old artists and their death, the number of performances is decreasing, and Zezhou Sixian is on the verge of extinction, which is in urgent need of rescue and protection.