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Suona Art

Ⅱ-37Traditional MusicHuguan, ShanxiBatch 2 (2008)Extension ItemFeatured

01 · Historical Records

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. The yuehu troupes have a rich repertory: such named tunes as The Taiping Drum, Audience with the Son of Heaven, Welcoming the Immortal Guest, The Great Granting of Blessings and The Small Eight Beats, and the operatic music of Shangdang bangzi, Shangdang luozi, Huguan yangge, Xiangwu yangge, Henan yuju and Shexian luozi of Hebei, are all chief content of their playing.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

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. In different historical periods the Shangdang yuehu troupes engaged in many kinds of performing activity, serving the court, princely establishments, local government offices and the military, and also performing in folk sacrificial rites and in activities of wedding and funeral custom. The instruments they use fall into the three great categories of wind, percussion and bowed or plucked, and include the suona, sheng, drum, gong, cymbals, juqin, banhu, sanxian and yueqin. Their playing follows rule and ritual, holds ritual and music together, moves the music according to the text and tunes the notes according to the melody.

The Taiping Drum

Named tunes of the yuehu troupes include The Taiping Drum, Audience with the Son of Heaven, Welcoming the Immortal Guest, The Great Granting of Blessings and The Small Eight Beats.

Audience with the Son of Heaven

A named tune among the chief content played by the Shangdang yuehu troupes.

Welcoming the Immortal Guest

A named tune of the Shangdang yuehu troupes of Huguan county, Shanxi.

The Great Granting of Blessings

A named tune of the Shangdang yuehu troupes, played in folk sacrificial rites.

The Small Eight Beats

A named tune of the Shangdang yuehu troupes.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The playing of the Shangdang yuehu troupes has a distinctively ceremonial, customary and regional character and concentrates the culture of village sacrifice and of the yuehu of the Shangdang area.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Shangdang yuehu troupe is one form of folk instrumental performance of the Shangdang area, circulating mainly in the Shangdang area of south-eastern Shanxi, including the nineteen counties and districts now under the two cities of Changzhi and Jincheng (customarily called the “south-eastern Shanxi region”). Its transmitters are mainly the descendants of the yuehu living in this area. In long musical practice the artists have formed a relatively systematic manner of performance, theory of modes and theory of temperament, of important research value in the fields of music history, operatic history and folklore. In recent years, with the great influx of Western culture, the ceremonial character of the activity of the Shangdang yuehu troupes is growing ever fainter, the transmitting artists decrease year by year, the loss of ancient named tunes is very serious and the original performing stunts have been all but lost, so that transmission and development face a crisis and protection and rescue are urgently needed. (Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Niu Qiyun, male, Han, born January 1946, a native of Huguan county, Shanxi. He took a direct part in the rescue, exploration, collation and scoring of the former Huguan yangge, creatively turning the Huguan dry-board yangge into a scored opera. He is not only consummate in performing technique but has also achieved relatively outstanding results in composition. In 2004 he joined the research society of the Bixia Palace god-welcoming village sacrifice of Nanjia village, Lucheng city, and was engaged as its adviser. He is a representative bearer of the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, the art of the suona (Shangdang yuehu troupe).

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Suona Art (Huguan, Shanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Niuqiyun · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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