Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble
01 · Historical Records
The “music of Gaoqiao village” is wind-and-percussion music transmitted by monks, traditionally said to have developed out of the Buddhist music taught by the monk Guangda of the Zhengding Dawang temple, who travelled here during the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty; it is popularly called “the monks' scripture”.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Jizhong sheng-and-guan music is current in the Jizhong Plain, that is, the drum-and-wind music of nearly thirty counties and cities south of Beijing, west of Tianjin and north of the line running through Cangzhou and Dingzhou, popularly called a “music society” by the people. Because it is led by the guan and joined by the sheng and other instruments, it is also called “sheng-and-guan music”. Besides the sheng and other wind instruments, it also uses cloud gongs, flutes and such percussion instruments as the drum, nao, cymbals and clapper bells. Its pieces fall into three kinds: suites, short pieces and independent sets of percussion music. Suites are of great length and complex structure, and form the main part of “sheng-and-guan music”. “Sheng-and-guan music” is found all over the Jizhong Plain. Farmers in every locality form societies by village, borrowing instruments to meet, and perform and hand it on in local sacrificial rites, ritual observances and funerary folk activities. In performance the guan leads, three monks intone the scriptures and twelve musicians play. The Shang family has not only been versed in “dotting the sheng” generation after generation but is also familiar with the antique tone-lore of music, which to a large extent guarantees that the music of Gaoqiao village has been transmitted for a long time without losing its shape. The instruments of the northern music are of smaller form, its musical rhythm quicker, and the dress of its players also differs from that of the “southern music”. The music of Gaoqiao village originally had three volumes of score, of which only one survives, containing forty-seven pieces; the players can now perform only some twenty-odd of them, and several pieces such as Jin Tang Yue belong exclusively to the Gaoqiao village music society. The ancient music of Gaoqiao village preserves rather well the original appearance of near-ancient folk wind-and-percussion music.
Jin Tang Yue
One of the pieces found only in the Gaoqiao village music society.
Shang Zi Diao Qing Chui
One of the representative pieces of Hu Deming, an inheritor of the Gaoqiao village music society.
Monk chanting with ensemble
Wind-and-percussion music transmitted by monks, popularly called “the monks' scripture”; in performance the guan leads, three monks intone the scriptures and twelve musicians play.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The music of Gaoqiao village belongs to the local “northern music” (also called the “scripture”), which is distinct from the “southern music” (popularly the “meeting”) that ordinary folk people play for their own amusement. At the same time, the music of Gaoqiao village contains elements of local folk music and bears the marks of regional culture, and it is also of some reference value for the study of the intermingling and mutual penetration of Buddhist music and local folk music. The music of Gaoqiao village belongs to the local “northern music” (also called the “scripture”), distinct from the “southern music” (popularly the “meeting”) that ordinary folk people play for their own amusement. In performance the guan leads, with three monks intoning the scriptures and twelve musicians playing; the instruments of the northern music are of smaller form and quicker rhythm, and the players' dress also differs from that of the “southern music”. The music society is handed on through the family, and from the day of its foundation the people of the Shang surname (the Shang family having been versed in “dotting the sheng” for generations) have been its chief musicians, and it contains elements of local folk music.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Gaoqiao village music society has been handed on through the family, and from the day of its foundation the people of the Shang surname have been its chief musicians. Shang Xuezhi (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1947, a native of Bazhou, Hebei. He can play skillfully all the instruments used in the Gaoqiao music society and is especially good at blowing the sheng; his intonation is precise and his style antique and elegant, reaching a high artistic level. The sheng and flutes he makes are sold in Shanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Tianjin and elsewhere, and enjoy high fame. In 2005 the Music Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts and the BBC of Britain interviewed and filmed Shang Xuezhi. Representative inheritor of the second national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Jizhong sheng-and-guan music (Gaoqiao music society). Hu Deming (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1947, a native of Bazhou, Hebei. He is skilled in playing the sheng and the drum, with accurate pitch, high and ringing melody, a bright musical sense and a plain, antique style; his representative pieces include Shang Zi Diao Qing Chui, and he has been interviewed and recorded many times by music experts from the United States, Britain and at home. Representative inheritor of the second national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Jizhong sheng-and-guan music (Shengfang music society).
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Feng Yuechi 02-0302
- Cai Yurun 02-0303
- Shangxuezhi 02-0304
- Hu Deming 02-0305
- Xia Laofei 03-0849
- Liu Qin 03-0850
- Wang Ruhai 03-0851
- Hu Guoqing 04-1528
- Shi Junping 05-2083
- Shao Shutong 05-2084
- Cai Baoheng 05-2085
- Zhang Zhanmin 05-2086
- Jia Tingxin
- Lizhanglin
- Pan Desen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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