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Suona Art

Ⅱ-37Traditional MusicYuanan, HubeiBatch 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. The Yuan'an wu-yin, also called “shamanic tone”, is one of the kinds of Chinese folk instrumental music, current in Baokang, NanZhang and Yuan'an counties of Hubei. The wu-yin band generally consists of six, nine or twelve players; the instruments used include two wu-yin trumpets, two great horns and two horse gongs, together with one each of the side drum, the dong drum, the hooked gong and the wrapped gong, and some bands also add the erhu, sanxian and pipa. The wu-yin trumpet is like the suona but rather larger, with only six holes on the body, the rear hole generally unused. The Yuan'an wu-yin tune is ancient and unadorned, rich and elegant; in performance its rise and fall are considerable and mostly by leaps, and the sol of the trumpet's fundamental has a slightly raised effect, capable of forming many different tone series and possessing relatively special interval relations. More than fifty pieces of the wu-yin notation have come down. Representative pieces include The Six-Mode Prelude and The Che-Mode Prelude. The linking procedure of the wu-yin is very regular: the opening “kai tao” is already a complete structure, and the “long tune” that forms the main body of the wu-yin (a general name for a body of independent named tunes) is more rigorous still. Wu-yin playing insists on “rhyme in the mouth, flowers in the hand” and delights in the flickering tone and the wu-yin. The flickering tone is like the mordent of a folk song, while the wu-yin is like the sound of the xiao. Besides these, wu-yin playing also has the throat tone, the struck tone and the changing of the thumb and other techniques, and in long practice has formed an ancient and elegant musical style. The Yuan'an wu-yin contains rather many elements of Chu culture and preserves certain information of the musical culture of ancient China; its distinctive instrument structure, temperamental features and performing methods not only enrich the local operatic music and folk activity of Hubei but also provide precious material for the study of Chinese musicology and Chu culture.

The Six-Mode Prelude

A representative piece of the Yuan'an wu-yin, among the more than fifty pieces of its notation that have come down.

The Che-Mode Prelude

A representative piece of the Yuan'an wu-yin, linked within the regular procedure of the “kai tao” and the “long tune”.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Yuan'an wu-yin circulates mainly in the Tanping and Mingfeng and other townships along the Jushui in Yuan'an county, Hubei, and extends to the mountain villages of Baokang, NanZhang and the Yichang area, being played mostly by bands of six, nine or twelve players at folk weddings and funerals and at temple fairs.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Yuan'an wu-yin is closely related to Chu culture and has been transmitted for more than two hundred years, being played mainly at folk weddings and funerals and at temple fairs. At present many old wu-yin artists have died in succession, and because the wu-yin is rigorous and regular and difficult to play few young people are willing to learn it, so that the transmission and development of the wu-yin advances with difficulty and shows a tendency to decline day by day and awaits protection and rescue. (Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Chen Dewang, male, Han, born September 1957, a native of Yuan'an county, Hubei. Through many years of study and practice his skill has steadily matured. In playing he is skilled in the use of the “flickering tone” and the “wu-yin” and is especially good at the techniques of the “throat tone”, the “struck tone” and the “changing of the thumb”. In 2006 he took the lead in forming the Tanping village wu-yin band, which serves the folk activities of the local people all year round. He is a representative bearer of the fifth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, the art of the suona (Yuan'an wu-yin). He often leads the band in taking apprentices and transmitting the art and in going out to exchange and perform, and takes an active part in public cultural activity, playing a backbone role in the protection and transmission of the wu-yin.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Suona Art (Yuanan, Hubei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Chen Dewang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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