Gaoqiang (Yuexi Gaoqiang)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Gaoqiang (Yuexi Gaoqiang)

Applicant: Yuexi County, Anhui Province

Project No.: 151

Project No.: Ⅳ - 7

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Anhui Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Yuexi County, Anhui Province

Protection unit: Yuexi Gaoqiang inheritance Center

Brief introduction of Gaoqiang (Yuexi Gaoqiang)

Applicant: Yuexi County, Anhui Province

Gaoqiang is a kind of opera derived from Yiyang tune in Ming Dynasty and later Qingyang tune. In the course of hundreds of years of evolution, great changes have taken place in the branches of Yiyang tune, which have different degrees of integration with local folk music, thus forming different musical styles of Gaoqiang.

Yuexi Gaoqiang is an old and rare opera in Yuexi County, Anhui Province. It is inherited from Qingyang opera in Ming Dynasty and has a history of more than 300 years. At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, the literati merchants introduced Qingyang tune into Yuexi through diving and long river. The local literati gathered around drums to learn singing and formed groups to form Yuexi Gaoqiang. At the beginning of Guangxu period, the foreign professional Gaoqiang artists systematically taught the stage performing arts, which contributed to the further development of Yuexi Gaoqiang.

Yuexi Gaoqiang has a rich artistic heritage. Its opera literature, opera music, performing arts and basic forms of activities have their own system and unique style. Through the excavation, collection and collation of folk manuscripts in Yuexi, more than 120 kinds of plays have been accumulated, more than 250 of which can be divided into "Zhengxi" and "Xiqu". Among them, "Zhengxi" accounts for the vast majority, including jingchaiji and other five legendary Southern operas. It has high cultural taste and literary value, and its biggest feature is inheriting "gundiao" ”"Xiqu" is an important part of Yuexi folk culture, which is mainly used in folk activities. The music system of Yuexi Gaoqiang basically belongs to the combination of Qupai, one singing and many harmonizing, accompanied by gongs and drums, "singing, helping and playing" Trinity, with simple style. Artists use the unique "hoop point" mark to guide singing and inherit the art industry.

Yuexi's high tune singing includes three forms: singing around drums, performing on stage and performing in folk activities, with strict and mature procedures. It is fully integrated into the local folk Lantern Festival, and becomes an organic part of the local folk culture. Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, Yuexi Gaoqiang has experienced several ups and downs, and it is on the verge of danger on the eve of the founding of new China. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, the county government set up a professional opera troupe to inherit and study Yuexi opera. After the 1960s, the precious historical materials were seriously damaged, the system of professional troupes changed, the activities of private troupes shrank, and Yuexi's Gaoqiang was faced with the danger of extinction again.