Huaibeibangzi Opera
01 · Historical Records
The Huai-bei bangzi opera formed in the Bozhou area is a traditional local genre of Anhui, at present circulating mainly in Bozhou, Huaibei, Suzhou, Fuyang, Bengbu and Huainan in Anhui and in eastern Henan, south-western Shandong and northern Jiangsu. More than a hundred years ago Henan bangzi opera came along the Huiji river of Kaifeng and the Shahe river of Nanyang into the Guo river basin of Bozhou and, attached to the Huai river basin and water transport, into northern Anhui.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Bozhou Huai-bei bangzi opera's singing is high, rough, unrestrained, lively, gentle and strongly appealing, with more than two hundred qupai. Its singing structure is in the banqiang system with the four main ban styles of “slow ban”, “erba”, “liushui” and “feiban”, its music and singing having fairly sharply marked features in comparison with Suzhou and Fuyang. Bozhou Huai-bei bangzi opera is called “high bangzi” because its bangzi body is three to five centimetres shorter than those of other Huai-bei bangzi operas, so that the sound it strikes is brighter and crisper with very marked character. Bozhou's three rounds of opening drum and gong use the high-pitched bangzi struck together with gong and drum, with strong penetration, called in the trade “throwing outside”. Bozhou's Huai-bei bangzi opera opens with percussion and uses the “flower slow ban”, all between thirty-two and sixteen notes, with lively rhythm and its opening passage sung “starting on the board and falling on the eye”.
The Three Rounds of Opening Drum and Gong (Throwing Outside)
Bozhou Huai-bei bangzi opera's three rounds of opening drum and gong use the high-pitched bangzi struck together with gong and drum, with strong penetration, called in the trade “throwing outside”.
The Flower Slow Ban
Bozhou Huai-bei bangzi opera opens with percussion and uses the “flower slow ban”, lively in rhythm, its opening passage sung “starting on the board and falling on the eye”.
More Than Two Hundred Qupai
Bozhou Huai-bei bangzi opera's singing is high, rough, unrestrained, lively, gentle and strongly appealing, with more than two hundred qupai.
Traditional and Modern Plays (More Than Sixty)
Bozhou performing arts company completely preserves more than sixty traditional and modern Huai-bei bangzi plays.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Bozhou Huai-bei bangzi opera's repertory is mainly adapted or transplanted from historical subjects, much of it praising justice and lashing evil, fully reflecting the northern Anhui people's clear love and hate; it has typical regional cultural features and contains a deep northern Anhui cultural deposit. In the process it absorbed eastern Henan operatic modes and northern Anhui folk songs and ditties, fusing with the locally popular zhuizi hum, kitchen-god play, bag puppetry, huai ci and boatmen's chants and, influenced by northern Anhui local speech, gradually evolved through the artists' reform and creation into this local-character genre. Historically it was transmitted mainly through troupes, producing a group of locally renowned troupes and famous actors.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Huaibeibangzi Opera · Huaibeibangzi Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present Anhui Bozhou performing arts company (formerly the Qiaocheng district bangzi troupe) is a fairly influential and strong professional operatic body in northern Anhui, completely preserving more than sixty traditional and modern Huai-bei bangzi plays, with one hundred and six serving performers and staff, mainly bearing the tasks of its protection, transmission and promotion, having given more than five thousand four hundred performances benefiting more than one and a half million people. Huai-bei bangzi opera is the crystallisation of the wisdom and creativity of transmitters through the ages and an organic part of the Grand Canal culture and northern Anhui culture; embodying the social history, customs and cultural deposit of the northern Anhui basin, it is a vivid witness to cultural exchange and fusion in the surrounding areas and has fairly high historical, cultural and artistic value.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhang Xiaodong 04-1695
- Wang Yonglan 05-2471
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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