Bantouqu

Name of Chinese national intangible cultural heritage: bantouqu

Applicant: Nanyang City, Henan Province

Item No.: 77

Project No.: Ⅱ - 46

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Henan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Nanyang City, Henan Province

Protection unit: Nanyang Mass Art Museum (Nanyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center)

Introduction to bantouqu

Applicant: Nanyang City, Henan Province

Bantouqu is a Zhongzhou ancient music, which is played by Zheng, pipa, Sanxian and other musical instruments. It is a classic of Chinese music heritage. It is also called "bantouqu" or "bantouqu of Henan Opera" because it is the prelude music played in the form of solo and ensemble before the formal performance of Henan opera.

Bantouqu is widely distributed in Nanyang, Biyang, Deng County, Xuchang and Kaifeng, but its communication center is in Nanyang city. According to records, during the reign of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, bantouqu appeared in the market along with Henan songs. In the early Qing Dynasty, it gradually prevailed in these places. His band is not prepared for gongs and drums, but mainly plucked instruments, plus string instruments such as huqin and Sihu, which has become a rare string music combination in Chinese folk bands. Most of his music originated from the ancient instrumental music card "eight board" and its various variants, and widely absorbed Henan music card, singing and folk tunes. The representative repertoire includes "Great Harmony in the world", "high mountains and flowing water", "new kaiban", "Chen Xingyuan Hefan", "playing wild goose", "appreciating autumn", "complaint in boudoir", "going upstairs", "going downstairs" and so on. Most of the tunes are sixty-eight boards with rigorous and flexible structure.

After 1949, bantouqu was revived and received extensive attention. In 1953, Mr. Cao Dongfu, a famous guzheng player and successor of bantouqu, represented Henan Province to participate in the first national folk music and dance performance. The unique style of bantouqu aroused strong repercussions in the music industry. In the same year, some Bantou songs were published by the Institute of national music of the Central Conservatory of music. The zheng music "high mountains and flowing water" and "suwu shepherd" handed down by the famous Cao Dongfu have spread all over China and abroad. The teaching syllabus of Chinese musical instrument performance course (undergraduate course) includes boudoir resentment, high mountains and flowing water, making lantern festival, going upstairs and going downstairs. Since then, Cao Dongfu and his descendants have devoted themselves to the recording and performance of bantouqu, making great contributions to the inheritance and protection of this rare music variety. Recently, with the death of most successors, bantouqu is facing the crisis of being lost.