Suona Art

01 · Historical Records

Research shows that by the Zhengde reign of the Ming dynasty (1506—1521) the suona was already widely current in Dangshan County. The Ming writer Wang Qing wrote in his ci poem "Wang Xilou Xiansheng Yuefu · Chaotian Fei": "The trumpet and the suona — the tune is small, the cavity is vast …" Representative qupai include "Bainiao Chaofeng", "Liuzi Kaimen", "Baitang", "Juguo", "Taihuajiao", "Huantong Diao", "Sangdiao" and the like. The formation, evolution and refinement of Dangshan suona influenced and drove the development of folk suona art in the surrounding areas of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui. In the early years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Dangshan folk suona artists Zhang Liansheng and Chen Yulan joined the Chinese People's Comfort Delegation to Korea to visit the Chinese People's Volunteers, and at the East China regional cultural performance they were received by state leaders such as Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai and Chen Yi.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Dangshan County lies at the northernmost tip of Anhui Province, bordering seven counties and cities of the four provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui. Historically the Yellow River, the cradle of the Chinese nation, ran across the territory for more than seven hundred years; water and land transport was unobstructed and merchants gathered there, so it long enjoyed the reputation of a thoroughfare of the nine provinces. The ritual music and ceremonial canon of Qi and Lu met with the Central Plains civilisation of Liang and Song, forming a weighty historical and folk traditional cultural accumulation. The Dangshan folk have their own appellations for the suona: the high-pitched suona is called the jian di, the low-pitched suona the da di; and its performance forms include kakhuang, menhuang and kaxi, while its blowing techniques include single-tongue, double-tongue and triple-tongue tonguing and the like.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Dangshan suona takes as its backbone the Jiangying Jiang Fajie suona band and the line of Zhang Liansheng and Chen Yulan, most bands consisting of six to eight people; the suona is divided into the jian di (the high-pitched suona) and the da di (the low-pitched suona), accompanied by the sheng, bangzi, drums and cymbals. Besides blowing the traditional qupai, the artists are especially skilled in using kakhuang, menhuang and kaxi to imitate the role types of Chinese opera and the calls of birds, and they incorporate folk trick feats such as eating fire and spitting coloured paper, forming a northern Anhui style in which blowing, kaxing and trickery all weigh equally.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Suona art is deeply loved by the people and has been well transmitted; it is an artistic rarity on the fertile soil of national traditional culture in Dangshan County. Jiang Fajie (official archive entry of the associated inheritor): A man of the Han ethnicity, born in October 1948, native of Dangshan County, Anhui Province. He founded the Jiangying Jiang Fajie suona band in 1965. He has served as chairman of the Dangshan County Suona Association from 1984. He is accomplished in blowing, pulling, striking and singing, and he improved traditional suona art, extending the range of its performance. Representative inheritor of the suona art (Dangshan suona) national-level intangible cultural heritage project of the fifth national-level batch. Building on the traditional blowing skills of his grandmaster Zhang Liansheng and his master Chen Yulan, he created new blowing techniques and methods of his own, and in performance added such folk trick feats as eating fire, spitting coloured paper, baring bristling fangs to portray a Vajra guardian and setting fire to the grape trellis, which strike the eye and ear afresh; he has won prizes many times in performances inside and outside the province. He devotes himself to transmission, taking in many disciples and training a body of successors for Dangshan suona.

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 (Suzhou, Anhui) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Jiang Fajie · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗