Suona Art (Dangshan suona)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: suona Art (Dangshan suona)

Applicant: Suzhou City, Anhui Province

Item No.: 68

Project No.: Ⅱ - 37

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Anhui Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Suzhou City, Anhui Province

Protection unit: Dangshan County Cultural Center

Suona Art (Dangshan suona)

Applicant: Suzhou City, Anhui Province

Dangshan County is located in the northernmost part of Anhui Province, bordering on seven counties and cities in Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui provinces. In history, the Yellow River, the cradle of the Chinese nation, once crossed the territory for more than 700 years, with smooth water and land transportation and merchants gathering, known as the thoroughfare of Jiuzhou. The combination of Qilu ritual, music and ritual with the Central Plains Civilization of the Liang and Song Dynasties has formed a profound accumulation of history and folk traditional culture. Suona art is deeply loved by the people and has been well inherited. It is a wonderful work of art in Dangshan County, a fertile land of national traditional culture. According to research, suona was widely spread in Dangshan County during the Zhengde period of Ming Dynasty (1506-1521). Wang Qing of Ming Dynasty wrote in his poem "Mr. Wang Xilou's Yuefu chaotianfei": "trumpet, suona, small tune, big tune...."

There are unique appellations for suona in Dangshan folk. The high pitched suona is called Jiandi, and the low pitched suona is called Dadi. The playing forms include kaqiang, stuffy tune and Kaxi. The playing skills include single Tui, double Tui and three Tui. The representative works of Qupai include "a hundred birds to court the Phoenix", "six characters to open the door", "worship hall", "curium pot", "lift the sedan chair", "happy tune", "funeral tune", etc.

The formation, evolution and improvement of Dangshan suona influence and drive the development of folk suona art in the surrounding areas of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui. In the early days of the founding of new China, Dangshan folk suona artists Zhang Liansheng and Chen Yulan once participated in the Chinese people's consolation mission to the Korean volunteer army, and were received by Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai, Chen Yi and other state leaders in the East China literary performance.