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Suona Art

Ⅱ-37Traditional MusicMizhi, ShaanxiBatch 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. Its origin may be traced back to the Ming dynasty, and it has a history of more than six hundred years.

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 Suimi suona is one of the kinds of folk drum-and-wind music, circulating mainly in Suide and Mizhi in Shaanxi and in the neighbouring Zizhou, Qingjian, Wubao, Jiaxian and Hengshan, and in the western townships of Liulin in Shanxi, which faces Suide across the Yellow River. There are in addition two long trumpets blown by the suona second player and the drummer, and this form is called “great blowing”, while the form made up of the small haidi, sheng, guanzi, small cymbals and small bronze gong is called “small blowing”. Great blowing is mostly used for welcoming the bride, carrying out the coffin, yangge, visiting the temple and inviting the gods, and is played as the procession moves; small blowing is mostly played seated in the hall or courtyard. The Suimi suona of northern Shaanxi has abundant named tunes and varied styles; its pieces come mainly from folk ditties, operatic music and religious music and have the character of a pluralistic culture. Its representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character. Besides these, the shock of the hearing, the broad mass character and the reflection of the spiritual and emotional life of the people of the yellow earth constitute the artistic features of the Suimi suona of northern Shaanxi. At present, under the influence of the continued input of powerful Western culture, such Western instruments as the trumpet and the drum kit have been introduced into Suimi suona playing, and a certain degree of variation has appeared.

Going Down to Jiangnan

The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

Lament for the Great Wall

The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

Water Dragon Chant

The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

Liu Qing Niang

The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

The Buddha of a Thousand Voices

The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

The Great Formation

The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

The Great General of Chu

The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

Three Beats of the Drum

The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

Return in Victory from Camp

The representative pieces include Going Down to Jiangnan, Lament for the Great Wall, Water Dragon Chant, Liu Qing Niang and The Buddha of a Thousand Voices, while other named tunes such as The Great Formation, The Great General of Chu, Three Beats of the Drum and Return in Victory from Camp display a strongly military character.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

A Suimi suona troupe consists of several people: the suona players are divided into first and second, the first blowing the treble and the second the bass, while the drummer, cymbal player and gong player strike respectively the ox-hide drum, the small cymbals and the wrapped gong.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Suimi suona is closely bound up with the daily life and social customs of the people of northern Shaanxi and is an important part of local folk activity, having important reference value in the fields of folklore, history and music. Its space of activity has further shrunk, and some deeply accomplished suona players are advanced in years; with their passing in succession many stunts will be lost. The protection and rescue of the performing technique of the Suimi suona brooks no delay. Li Qishan (associated bearer, as recorded in the official archive): male, Han, born in May 1945, a native of Mizhi county, Shaanxi province. He began to learn suona named tunes from his father at the age of seven, formally took up the suona at fourteen, and by seventeen could already play many named tunes with skill. He created, in the treble register of the Suimi suona, florid ornamental variation, making the tunes extraordinarily splendid; he is good at playing with wide leaps of interval, so that the music rises and falls with a three-dimensional quality; he broke with the traditional suona habit of the first and second players repeating at the octave, applying fourths and fifths in large quantities and adding thickness of sound; in antiphonal playing he broke the rule that the second player could not take the treble, allowing the two players to change freely, answering and echoing one another in leaping flourishes, and so enriched the artistic expressiveness of the suona. Records and tapes made for him by the China Record Company and others have been publicly released. He is a representative inheritor of the art of the suona (Suimi suona), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fourth batch. He is zealous in transmitting the art and training apprentices, and has brought up a large number of excellent disciples such as Li Chui and Li Yonggang.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Suona Art (Mizhi, Shaanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Li Qishan · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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