Sanbanggu
01 · Historical Records
Sanbanggu, also called "huagu" (flower drum) or "xihuagu" (joy flower drum), is a local genre of quyi transmitted in Xuanen County, Hubei Province, and along the Youshui River basin in the Hunan-Hubei border area. The Xuanen County Cultural Centre is the protecting unit. Its name and its form of performance both derive from alternately tossing and catching three sticks and beating a drum while singing; it has a very long history and a deep artistic tradition. Xuanen lies in the Wuling Mountains, where the Tujia and Miao peoples live in dense settlement; the gong-and-drum singing and dancing of the Spring Festival, weddings, birthday celebrations and public gatherings gave Sanbanggu performance opportunities the whole year round. According to the project archive, a troupe of three to five persons can usually get together and perform, setting up wherever an occasion arises without choosing a venue; it is one of the quyi forms easiest to convene at village and township gatherings in the Wuling Mountains. Sanbanggu, also called "huagu" (flower drum) or "xihuagu" (joy flower drum), is a local genre of quyi transmitted in Xuanen County, Hubei Province, and along the Youshui River basin in the Hunan-Hubei border area. The Xuanen County Cultural Centre is the protecting unit. Its name and its form of performance both derive from alternately tossing and catching three sticks and beating a drum while singing; it has a very long history and a deep artistic tradition. Xuanen lies in the Wuling Mountains, where the Tujia and Miao peoples live in dense settlement; the gong-and-drum singing and dancing of the Spring Festival, weddings, birthday celebrations and public gatherings gave Sanbanggu performance opportunities the whole year round. According to the project archive, a troupe of three to five persons can usually get together and perform, setting up wherever an occasion arises without choosing a venue; it is one of the quyi forms easiest to convene at village and township gatherings in the Wuling Mountains. "The three sticks" refers to the three wooden sticks that the performer alternately tosses and catches in the hands; the sticks strike the drum to form the beat, which is then matched by the sound of the gong. Lyrics are mostly improvised orally in short lines, easy to sing in the intervals between tosses and catches; as the singer spins round and catches, the gong and drum never stop and the episodes never end.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
It has a very long history and a deep artistic tradition. A performance of Sanbanggu is normally given by three people: one sings while twirling the sticks (or tossing a knife), and two others beat the drum and gong in accompaniment. Lyrics are mainly in the "5-5-7-5" pattern; every line rhymes, and rhetorical devices such as parallelism and the pairing of images are much used. The vocal style belongs to the single-tune system, in 2/4 time, with four lines forming a cycle and gong-and-drum interludes between lines and between passages. The performance of Sanbanggu integrates singing, playing and twirling into one, and possesses rich and varied aesthetic value.
The juggling of blades and rods
The lead performer sings while juggling rods or tossing knives, a feat of dexterity married to sung narrative.
The three-man team
The performance normally fields three people: one juggling and singing, two on drum and gong.
The 5-5-7-5 line pattern
Its texts follow a 5-5-7-5 pattern with every line rhyming, set in a single-tune 2/4 melody that runs four lines to a cycle.
One tune, four lines to a cycle
The single tune moves in four-line cycles in 2/4 time, the gongs bridging lines so the juggling never breaks.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Sanbanggu, also called "huagu" (flower drum) or "xihuagu" (joy flower drum), is a local genre of quyi transmitted in Xuanen County, Hubei Province, and along the Youshui River basin in the Hunan-Hubei border area. Xuanen, together with Longshan in Hunan Province and Youyang in Chongqing, lies in the Youshui River basin; the dialects and the folk singing and dancing there are closely related, so the repertoire and drum patterns of Sanbanggu also circulate freely between them. The acrobatic elements of knife-tossing and stick-twirling combine perfectly with oral speech and song, giving this genre the dual character of narrative quyi and acrobatic spectacle; the lyrics carry a great deal of information about agrarian culture and folk custom. As modernisation keeps quickening its pace, the range within which this traditional quyi is transmitted keeps shrinking, and its performances increasingly depend on the staged showcases and school visits organised by cultural departments.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The acrobatic elements of knife-tossing and stick-twirling, on the other hand, combine perfectly with oral speech and song and have considerable aesthetic value. The lyrics of the traditional repertoire carry a great deal of precious information about agrarian culture and folk custom, and embody important cultural value. However, as modernisation keeps quickening its pace, the survival and development of this traditional quyi face many difficulties, the scope of its transmission keeps shrinking, and it is in urgent need of support and protection.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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