Luan Dagu Drum Balladry
01 · Historical Records
On this basis it is generally held that Luan Dagu had already taken shape no later than the middle of the Qing dynasty. The early artists were mainly blind men; sighted performers appeared later, and female performers emerged from the 1950s onward.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
As early as the third year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty (1738), drum-storytelling artists famous in the Shangdang area, such as Lu Zhanyuan and Dong Xiangwu, joined with more than a hundred artists from the eight counties of Lu'an Prefecture to establish the “Blind Men's Troupe”, that is, the performing society of drum-storytelling artists, which later developed into the guild organization “Sanhuanghui”. The traditional folk performance form of Luan Dagu is for a number of performers, each holding a drum clapper, sanxian, erhu, dihu or the like according to role type, to stand in a circle and narrate and sing; once they take the raised stage, one person normally stands and strikes the drum clappers while narrating and singing, with others taking charge in turn of the sanxian, the erhu and other accompaniment. The music of its vocal style belongs to the variable ban-pattern system; its tunes are rich, its melodies beautiful, and it is full of local flavour. Traditional pieces include Da Deng Zhou, Po Meng Zhou, Yan Wang Sao Bei, Qiao Lian Zhu, Qiao Qi Yuan and Zhuo Laopo. Gao Fushu and Yu Shitian are well-known artists of considerable influence.
The blind men's band
In 1738 the blind drum singers Lu Zhanyuan and Dong Xiangwu organised over a hundred performers from eight counties into a band that later became the guild known as the Three Emperors Society.
Circle and platform modes
Villagers once sang in a circle each with a different instrument, while the platform form is a solo singer with drum and clappers and separate accompanists.
Traditional titles
Traditional titles that, with such pieces as The Clumsy Wife, preserve the genre's strong local flavour.
Cutting Flesh to Repay Mother
Wang Haiyan's signature piece, which took first place at the sixth national Peony Award competition.
Gao Fushu and Yu Shutian
Two of the genre's most influential older performers, whose rich melodies and rustic flavour set the standard for later singers.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Luan Dagu is a traditional drum-storytelling and drum-ballad form of northern China with a marked regional character. It is also called “Luan laodiao” (the old Luan tune), taking its name from the area of the ancient Lu'an Prefecture (present-day Zhangzhi, Shanxi) in which it circulated; it also goes by such alternative names as “ganbanqiang” (dry banqiang) and “Luan gushu” (Luan drum storytelling). Luan Dagu circulates in the counties of Zhangzhi, Tunliu, Zhangzi, Xiangyuan, Lucheng and Licheng and in the villages and towns where the three provinces of Shanxi, Hebei and Henan meet. The early artists were mostly blind men, who made a living by storytelling from village to village; only from the 1950s onward did female performers appear on stage. The traditional folk performance form is for a number of performers, each holding a drum clapper, sanxian, erhu, dihu or the like according to role type, to stand in a circle and narrate and sing; once they take the raised stage, one person normally stands and strikes the drum clappers while narrating and singing, with others taking charge in turn of the sanxian, the erhu and other accompaniment. The Cultural and Tourism Development Centre of Shangdang District, Zhangzhi City is the protecting unit of the project. Wang Haiyan became a pupil of the folk artist Wang Kuihua at the age of 15 and learned singing with her troupe, and after completing her training at 18 she formed her own troupe under her own banner; she has trained five young actors in succession.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Since the end of the twentieth century the transmission and development of Luan Dagu has met with unprecedented difficulties, and it urgently needs vigorous rescue and protection. Wang Haiyan (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in January 1975, a native of Zhangzhi County, Shanxi Province. She loved drum-storytelling art from childhood. At 15 she became a pupil of the folk artist Wang Kuihua and learned singing with her troupe; at 18 she completed her training and formed her own troupe under her own banner. Her voice is distinctive, her vocal style mellow, its flavour long-drawn, and her transitions into and out of high register leave no trace; her stage manner is plain and unadorned, yet she expresses both feeling and sound, her images are moving, and she preserves the traditional character of the art of Luan Dagu. Her representative work Ge Rou Huan Niang was highly praised at the sixth national quyi competition of the China Quyi Peony Award and took first prize outright. She has trained five young actors in succession, given more than ten thousand performances, and left her footprints in dozens of counties at the meeting point of Shanxi, Hebei and Henan. She has collected and organized close to a hundred traditional Luan Dagu books, and also took part in the compilation of the Fu Huaizhu Chronology of Quyi Compositions and the Chronicle of Quyi of Zhangzhi County. Representative inheritor of Luan Dagu in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Haiyan 05-2483
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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