Laohekou string

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Laohekou Sixian

Applicant: Laohekou City, Hubei Province

Project No.: 603

Project No.: Ⅱ - 104

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Hubei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Laohekou City, Hubei Province

Protection unit: Laohekou Mass Art Museum

Introduction to Laohekou string

Applicant: Laohekou City, Hubei Province

Laohekou Sixian is a popular folk music form with both refined and popular tastes, which is popular in Laohekou area of Han River Basin in Northwest Hubei Province. Silk string music rose in Kaifeng, Henan Province, and its main component is Bianliang (Kaifeng) Xiaoqu. The existing names of Qupai, such as "poxia", "dazaogan", "yinniusi", "dieduanqiao" and "qipaoyu", are all popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Laohekou Sixian is a branch of Bianliang Xiaoqu. It has been introduced from Henan to Hubei for more than 400 years. At first, it was a way of entertainment for folk artists, literati, businessmen and freelancers to get together and entertain themselves. Later, it gradually developed into a kind of music with strong local characteristics and spread widely among the people. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Laohekou Sixian had become a large scale in the local area. There were dozens of performers in the urban area alone, with nearly a thousand performers.

Laohekou string is mainly played in three forms: ensemble, mainly composed of three string, guzheng, pipa, Yueqin and other plucked instruments; solo, mainly composed of three string, guzheng and Pipa; and string playing and singing, mainly composed of ancient Qupai. Laohekou Sixian music belongs to classical music, which stresses symmetry and regularity. Each piece has a title. In the music, a large number of positive "1" instead of partial "7", and in many places, Jiahua progression instead of four degree jump, highlighting the main role of "5", "1" and "2" in the music, showing distinct regional characteristics. There are more than 100 kinds of music in Laohekou, and more than 50 pieces of music are played with Sixian. At present, the repertoire circulating in Laohekou area includes Su Wu's homesickness, Chen Xingyuan's Hefan, Da Yan, etc.

Laohekou Sixian, with its traditional form of expression, graceful melody and rhyme blending rap art, has become an important object of traditional folk music research. In the 1960s, Laohekou Sixian stopped playing for a time, and in the 1980s, it began to collect and sort it out again. At present, this traditional folk music style still needs to be further explored, protected, restored and revitalized.