Li Qishan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Qishan, Male, Han, from Mizhi, Shaanxi, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Suona Art (Ⅱ-37). The tradition is documented in Mizhi, Shaanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Suona Art in Mizhi, Shaanxi: A Suimi suona troupe consists of several people: the suona players are divided into first and second, the first blowing the treble and the second the bass, while the drummer, cymbal player and gong player strike respectively the ox-hide drum, the small cymbals and the wrapped gong. Suona is a transliteration of the Arabic “surna” (zurna), called in antiquity “suoliao” or “su'ernai”, and widely current in many countries of Asia, Africa and Europe; it came into China at the latest in the Jin and Yuan periods. In addition, the small suona used in the performance of Fujian nanqu is called the “aizi” or “nan'ai”; the suona used to accompany Puxian opera is called the “meihua” or “chuibian”, and a larger kind is called the “dalong” or “dahaidi”; the all-wood suona of the Uyghur is called the “su'ernai”; and the Tibetan, Miao, Mongol and Korean peoples each have suona of different form. Its origin may be traced back to the Ming dynasty, and it has a history of more than six hundred years.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in May 1945 in Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province. At seven he began learning suona qupai (labeled tunes) with his father, formally took up playing the suona at fourteen, and by seventeen could perform numerous tunes proficiently. He pioneered ornamental variation in the high register of Suimi suona music, making the melodies exceptionally florid. He is adept at wide-interval leaps that give the music a rising and falling contour and a strong sense of three-dimensionality. He broke with the traditional habit of octave doubling between the upper and lower hands and made extensive use of fourths and fifths in harmony, thickening the sound. In antiphonal duet playing, he overturned the rule that the lower hand could not play in the high register, allowing the two hands to exchange freely so that question-and-answer passages soar and plunge in turn, enriching the expressive power of the suona. Records and cassettes produced for him by China Record Company and other labels have been publicly released. Within the documented technical tradition of Suona Art in Mizhi, Shaanxi: In Chinese folk usage it also has the names of bronze flute, tin flute, pear blossom and sea flute. The suona is made up of the reed, the staple, the air disc, the body and the bronze bell; its finger-holes are arranged in order according to the heptatonic scale, the distances between them being basically equal, it can turn through seven modes, and its range is generally two octaves and a major second. It has such blowing techniques as portamento, tonguing, arched-breath tone, top-breath tone, the rolling “du-lu” and circular breathing (blowing without a break for a long time), and is a solo instrument of very strong expressiveness. Its volume is great and its tone high and ringing, making it one of the indispensable instruments of the wind-and-percussion band; in antiquity, besides playing military music, it was used for the drum-and-wind music of the yamen and as accompaniment to opera, song and dance, and in the daily life of the people it is mostly used for festivals, weddings and funerals and theatrical scenes. The Suimi suona is one of the kinds of folk drum-and-wind music, circulating mainly in Suide and Mizhi in Shaanxi and in the neighbouring Zizhou, Qingjian, Wubao, Jiaxian and Hengshan, and in the western townships of Liulin in Shanxi, which faces Suide across the Yellow River. There are in addition two long trumpets blown by the suona second player and the drummer, and this form is called “great blowing”, while the form made up of the small haidi, sheng, guanzi, small cymbals and small bronze gong is called “small blowing”. Great blowing is mostly used for welcoming the bride, carrying out the coffin, yangge, visiting the temple and inviting the gods, and is played as the procession moves; small blowing is mostly played seated in the hall or courtyard. The Suimi suona of northern Shaanxi has abundant named tunes and varied styles; its pieces come mainly from folk ditties, operatic music and religious music and have the character of a pluralistic culture. Its representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character. Besides these, the shock of the hearing, the broad mass character and the reflection of the spiritual and emotional life of the people of the yellow earth constitute the artistic features of the Suimi suona of northern Shaanxi. At present, under the influence of the continued input of powerful Western culture, such Western instruments as the trumpet and the drum kit have been introduced into Suimi suona playing, and a certain degree of variation has appeared. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Going Down to Jiangnan": The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character. "Lament for the Great Wall": The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character. "Water Dragon Chant": The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character. "Liu Qing Niang": The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a representative bearer of Suona Art (Suimi Suona), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He is dedicated to transmitting the art and has trained a large number of outstanding disciples, including Li Chui and Li Yonggang.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Li Qishan · National Representative Bearer Archive