Suona Art

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 Ping school drum-and-wind is a kind of folk drum-and-wind music current in the area of Zoucheng, Shandong, and took shape about the last years of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing. By the early years of the Republic several dozen drum-and-wind troupes, such as the Sun family troupe, the Zhang family troupe, the Ding family troupe and the Zhou family troupe, were active in southern Shandong and its surrounding areas. The representative pieces of the Ping school drum-and-wind are rich and varied, the chief ones being Lament for the Great Wall, Lament at the Fifth Watch, Gathering the Worthy Guests, Ten Kinds of Scenery, Five Six Five, Audience with the Son of Heaven, Liu Qing Niang, Burning the Grape Trellis and Birds and Beasts Make Merry in Spring. The Ping school drum-and-wind comes from the people and serves the people, is closely bound up with the life and customs of the broad masses and has a certain reference value for the study of the history of the development and evolution of folk custom in Zoucheng, Shandong.

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. The instruments of the Ping school drum-and-wind are chiefly the suona, flute, sheng, guanzi, drum, gong, nao and cymbals, wooden fish, bangzi, gaohu, erhu, sanxian and pipa; its characteristic instrument, the bronze-bodied suona, is made of sheet bronze, with a body about twenty-five centimetres long, a bronze bell about six centimetres in diameter and a tube at the lower end of the body about two centimetres in diameter, and its reed is mostly made from the unopened reed-plume of autumn reeds; its tone is loud and crisp, clanging like metal, and extremely penetrating. The range of the bronze-bodied suona covers two octaves and it can play the level tune, elegant tune, Yue tune, five-character tune and fan tune. Besides the commonly used tonguing, portamento, flowered tongue, finger flowers, vibrato and the techniques of swallowing, spitting, cushioning, striking, wiping and pressing, there are also tongue-thrust tone, arched-breath tone, rebound tone, reversed double tonguing, linked plucking tone, breath-and-lip vibrato, finger-and-breath vibrato, three-string tone, xiao tone and circular breathing, and sometimes magic and acrobatics are blended in. The style of the Ping school drum-and-wind is calm, gentle, sweet and fine, giving the impression that “it is as level as clouds and flowing water and as steady as the green pine of Mount Tai”, showing the wondrous within the level and change within the steady, tempering hardness with softness; it is deeply loved by the people. At present the old artists of the Ping school drum-and-wind are growing advanced in years, some of the ancient instruments formerly used have gradually been replaced by modern ones, and the traditional performing technique and named tunes are steadily dying out, so that the government urgently needs to take effective measures for rescue and protection.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

These troupes spread the Ping school drum-and-wind to every place, enlarging its influence and gradually making it a drum-and-wind school of distinctive character.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

(Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Ding Qinghua, male, Han, born October 1965, a native of Zoucheng city, Shandong. His performing style is calm, gentle, sweet and fine. He is especially skilled in using the suona reed to play ka-xi of many styles, such as imitating the crowing of cocks and the singing of birds, the barking of dogs and the neighing of horses, human song, bitter laughter and dialogue. Holding to tradition while advancing with the times, he explores actively and composes keenly, blending new elements into a solid traditional foundation so that his musical style has a strongly contemporary character. Through his efforts the Ding family troupe has been active throughout the Jining and Zaozhuang areas and has been invited to Canada and Malaysia, where its playing was admired and highly praised by international friends, making him a drum-and-wind artist of considerable local influence. He is a representative bearer of the fifth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, the art of the suona (Zoucheng Ping school drum-and-wind).

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• He Deyi 02-0276
• Li Jinhai 02-0277
• Yao Shaolin 03-0837
• Lu Buliang 03-0838
• Niuqiyun 03-0839
• Liu Yousheng 03-0840
• Mo Baihuai 04-1520
• Li Qishan 04-1521
• Wang Shifa 04-1522
• Ma Zigang 04-1523
• Liu Fushou 05-2062
• Cui Qingyun 05-2063
• Liu Xiaohong 05-2064
• Tang Haifeng 05-2065
• Yang Chengwei 05-2066
• Li Shupeng 05-2067
• Jiang Fajie 05-2068
• Liu Qiulin 05-2069
• Ding Qinghua 05-2070
• Wang Shuyin 05-2071
• Liu Guofu 05-2072
• Chen Dewang 05-2073
• Liu Daorong 05-2074
• Zhou Benxiang
• Xiehaiming
• Sun Huayang
• Yao Xina
• Suo Zhongxiu

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Suona Art (Zoucheng, Shandong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Ding Qinghua · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗