Liaoning Drum Music

01 · Historical Records

Liaoning drum music was in its early days sheng-and-pipe music; suona music was added in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the band took shape and became mature in the middle of the Qing dynasty. Especially among them, the Han tunes and the great named-tune pieces bear clear structural marks of the great suites (daqu) of the Tang dynasty and of the qupo pieces of the Song dynasty. In addition, the seven mode names given to the suona in Liaoning drum music provide important clues for the study of the development and evolution of the form of the suona.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Liaoning drum music has been very popular since ancient times, and once exerted a far-reaching influence on the drum music of all parts of Northeast China. The mural paintings of Han and Wei period tombs excavated in Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province, include a picture of ancient drum-and-trumpet performance inscribed with the six characters “guchui yan die huanxi”. Judging by its repertoire, it preserves a small number of Tang and Song tune patterns, while most of its music consists of Yuan and Ming southern and northern tunes and of Ming and Qing tune patterns; judged by its structure, the body of the drum music is very strict, each category of piece has a definite structural model, and the number of beats is strictly prescribed. Judging from the tonality of certain pieces, Liaoning drum music was clearly influenced by the music of northern minorities such as the Khitan and the Jurchen. In its modes, the “thirty-five modes” formed by Liaoning drum music through the borrowed-character technique are in fact a continuation of the “changing register and shifting mode” that originated in the Tang and Song dynasties, a survival of the “twenty-eight modes of Yan music”. Commonly used pieces include Gong Chi Shang, Mei Hua Diao, Shang Cai Qu, Ju Ju Shuang and Gui Zhi Hua.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Liaoning drum music takes as its main body the drum bands of Liaoyang, Yingkou, Anshan, Haicheng and the counties of southern Liaoning; the players are mostly passed down from generation to generation and make the band their profession. The bands around Shenyang and Liaoyang preserve relatively more Tang and Song tune patterns and Yuan and Ming southern and northern tunes, and lay stress on strict structure and strict beat counts; the bands of southern Liaoning are distinguished by their skill in the borrowed-character modulation of the “thirty-five modes”. In former times the bands not only taught apprentices locally but also carried their art to other places, so that their influence reached far into the three northeastern provinces.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Liaoning Drum Music.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Liaoning drum music has in turn produced a number of highly skilled inheritors such as Wang Wenzhou, Wang Guoqing, Wang Guoquan, Liu Yongnian, Liu Yongqing and Liu Baoshan; they not only taught apprentices in their own localities but also carried their art to other places, promoting the widespread transmission of folk drum music in Liaoning and indeed in the three northeastern provinces. At present Liaoning drum music remains as flourishing as ever, but the traditional pieces performed have steadily decreased, especially the great named-tune pieces and the Han tunes, of which very few can still be performed complete; the awkward situation has arisen that drum music activity is thriving while the traditional pieces are heading towards endangerment, and the departments concerned need to provide protection. Liu Zhenyi (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han nationality, born in 1914, native of Yingkou, Liaoning. He began taking apprentices and passing on the art when he formed the “Liuhe Drum Band” in the 1940s. On the basis of traditional technique he formed characteristics of his own, and is skilled at performing “Han blowing tunes”. He accumulated rich experience in the handling of pitch, metre and mode, and is thoroughly at home with and has innovated such highly difficult techniques as modulation by the suona's “borrowed-character method”. Performing “ka-xi” is his unique skill, and his sound imitation is wonderfully true to life. Representative inheritor of Liaoning drum music of the second national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage projects.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Liu Zhenyi 02-0279
• Zhang Lianti 05-2075
• Yu Shuilong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Liaoning Drum Music (Liaoning) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Liu Zhenyi · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗