Hua'er
01 · Historical Records
According to the Hezheng County Gazetteer, Songming rock holds the Dragon Flower assembly on the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth days of the fourth lunar month each year, when worshippers come in their tens of thousands and the incense is very abundant. Judging from historical research, hua'er appeared in Hezheng county in the early Ming at the latest, and thus has a history of at least several hundred years.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
It is sung on two main kinds of occasion: daily production and life, and the “flower fair”. The “flower fair” is a large folk song gathering, also called “singing the mountain”. Songming rock lies in the Xiaoxia scenic area of Diaotan township, twenty-three kilometres south of Hezheng county seat in Linxia prefecture; the scenic area is made up of the four peaks of Xifang Ding, Nanwu Tai, Yuhuang Feng and Jiguan mountain, and is one of the three famous flower fair sites of Gansu and the birthplace of Hezhou hua'er. The Songming rock flower fair is held each year from the twenty-sixth to the twenty-ninth of the fourth lunar month at Songming rock, the national-level forest park and provincial-level scenic spot of Hezheng county, Gansu. At the fair, besides singing the various Hezhou tunes, the singers also sing the Peony Tune, at such places as the hillside, the lawn, the mountain pass or in the woods; the forms of singing are solo, unison and antiphonal, and the accompanying instruments are the mimi, the four-string, the suona and the erhu.
The Hezhou Tunes and the Peony Tune
The main tunes sung by the singers at the Songming rock flower fair.
Accompaniment on the Mimi, Four-String, Suona and Erhu
The accompanying instruments used for solo, unison and antiphonal singing at the Songming rock flower fair.
The Fair from the 26th to the 29th of the Fourth Lunar Month
The flower fair held at Songming rock, a national-level forest park and provincial-level scenic spot, with fixed times and occasions.
Contending in Song on the Hillside, the Lawn, the Mountain Pass and in the Woods
The varied places and occasions of singing at the Songming rock flower fair.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Hua'er is a mountain-song kind widely current among the eight ethnic groups—Hui, Han, Tu, Dongxiang, Bao'an, Salar, Tibetan and Yugur—of the four provinces and regions of Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang. It is always sung in the local Chinese dialect and may be sung only outside the villages and stockades; it is commonly called a “wild song” (as opposed to the “home song”, that is, the banquet song) and is also known as the “youth”.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Songming rock flower fair has continuity of historical transmission and a broad openness and inclusiveness, with fixed times and occasions of singing. (Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Ma Jinshan, male, Dongxiang, born 1949, a native of Hezheng, Gansu. He began composing hua'er in 1980; some of his works have been collected by the Linxia prefecture bureau of culture and the mass art centre, and he has been awarded the titles of “golden suona at the foot of Taizi mountain” and “erhu king of the Dongxiang”. In 2005 he joined the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association. He excels at improvised singing, and the thirteen hua'er lyrics and short tunes he wrote have been included in the Compendium of Chinese Folk Songs. He is a representative bearer of the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, hua'er (the Songming rock flower fair). Su Ping, female, Salar, born July 1942, a native of Lanzhou city, Gansu, a national first-grade actor. From childhood she learned to sing hua'er from hua'er singers of different ethnic groups, widely absorbing the musical characteristics of the folk songs of various peoples, joining the traditional true and falsetto production of hua'er seamlessly and fusing clear language, fine tunes and plain lyrics into one, making hua'er singing more artistic and more popular. She has many times entered the lecture halls of institutions of higher learning to speak and sing hua'er to students. She is a representative bearer of the fifth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, hua'er (the Songming rock flower fair), and while transmitting hua'er actively cultivates hua'er bearers.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Ma Jinshan 02-0241
- Ma Delin 02-0242
- Ma Mingshan 02-0243
- Zhao Cunlu 02-0244
- Zhang Yingzhi 02-0245
- Wang Cunfu 02-0246
- Ma Shenglin 02-0247
- Wang Lianlian 03-0819
- Liu Guocheng 03-0820
- Zhang Mingxing 03-0821
- Han Shengyuan 03-0822
- Su Ping 05-2040
- Li Guiying 05-2041
- Wang Deqin 05-2042
- Ma Handong 05-2043
- Wang Xiufang 05-2044
- Song Baoyuan
- Zhang Jianjun
- Wen Xianglian
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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