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Suona Art

Ⅱ-37Traditional MusicDandong, LiaoningBatch 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.

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. Dandong drum music is abbreviated as “drum-and-wind music” and also called “drum-and-wind” or “wind and percussion”; it is a traditional form of instrumental performance led by wind and percussion instruments, has long been current in the Dandong area of Liaoning and has a history of more than a hundred years. The wind instruments used include the suona, guanzi and sheng, the percussion the drum, gong, cymbals and touch-bell, and some drum-music troupes also add bowed and plucked instruments. According to the instruments used, Dandong drum music may be divided into the two great kinds of the “suona music”, led by the suona, and the “sheng-and-guan music”, led by the guanzi. Some troupes add percussion, bowed and plucked instruments as accompaniment to the suona- or sheng-guan-led forms, further enriching the expressive power of the drum music. The hall-blowing piece, also called “sitting in the hall”, generally consists of the three parts of prelude, body and tail; the named-tune piece is relatively short and inclined to a lively and cheerful style, often used on festive occasions; and the suite is made up of several pieces and is a large musical structure. The metres of Dandong drum music include the free beat, slow beat, quick beat and water beat, and its representative named tunes include Nanchilao, Golden Sand Beach and Front and Back Wind.

Nanchilao

A representative named tune of Dandong drum music, alongside Golden Sand Beach and Front and Back Wind.

Golden Sand Beach

A representative named tune of Dandong drum music, played in folk activities of weddings and funerals.

Front and Back Wind

A representative named tune of Dandong drum music of the Dandong area of Liaoning.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The suona music is further divided into trumpet music (led by the bass suona), small zhazi music (led by the treble suona), sanbuge (an ensemble of bass, treble and alto suona) and ka-xi and other performing forms. By musical structure Dandong drum music may be divided roughly into the three great kinds of the hall-blowing piece, the named-tune piece and the suite.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Dandong drum music is magnificent in momentum and full of warmth, has a deep mass foundation and is an important part of the regional culture of Liaoning, with a certain historical and artistic research value. At present the old artists able to transmit the craft of Dandong drum music are very few; if the work of exploration, collation and protection is not intensified, this excellent folk art form will face the danger of being lost. (Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Tang Haifeng, male, Han, born August 1980, a native of Donggang city, Liaoning. Fond of drum music from childhood, at eight he took as his master the locally famous drum-music artist Wang Jilin and learned to play the large and small suona and the sheng and guan, also practising the gong, drum and cymbals and other percussion instruments. After more than twenty years of diligent practice he has not only a skilled command of such suona variation techniques as borrowing notes and adding flowers but also a thorough knowledge of the ka-xi art. He plays mainly traditional named tunes and commands nearly thirty suona pieces and two sheng-guan pieces; his representative suona pieces include Nine Dragons, Nanchilao, Clear Mountain, Roaming the Hills, Beating the Dates, Waves Washing the Sand and Eight Dragons, and his sheng-guan pieces include The Small Grassland and The Hall of a Hundred Flowers. He now has eleven disciples including Yu Yi. His drum-music troupe performs mainly locally, giving more than a hundred performances a year in local folk activities of weddings and funerals. He is a representative bearer of the fifth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, the Dandong drum music.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Suona Art (Dandong, Liaoning) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Tang Haifeng · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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