Xi'an Wind and Percussion Ensemble

01 · Historical Records

The tablature characters of the surviving hand-copied score treasure of the 28th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty are basically identical to those used in Jiang Kui's seventeen self-composed pieces of the Song dynasty; this proves that the treasure is of great antiquity, and that it is the tablature in popular notation that had already been lost throughout China since the Ming and Qing dynasties. Among the more than 1,100 pieces of Xi'an drum music preserved today are works bearing the same titles as Tang and Song music such as the Tang great suites, the Tang and Song yan-yue pieces and the jiaofang great suites; its vast structural forms comparable to the Tang and Song great suites, and its ensemble instrumentation that admits no instruments newly developed since the Ming and Qing dynasties, display a certain primordial character, reflecting the way Xi'an drum music strictly inherits Tang and Song music.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Xi'an drum music is a large-scale folk drum ensemble that has been passed down for thousands of years in Xi'an (ancient Chang'an) and the surrounding area. In ancient Chang'an and the surrounding area, especially at the many temples and Taoist monasteries on the northern foothills of the Qinling Mountains, the temple-fair activities of these temples and monasteries and the many folk music societies form the basis on which Xi'an drum music survives. Xi'an drum music is an important surviving remnant of ancient Chinese music; its distinctive complex musical structures and its rich characteristic modal clusters, melodic formulae and instrumental configurations are precious evidence for solving the riddles of ancient Chinese musical art; the large number of pieces transmitted in its scores enrich the treasury of Chinese musical culture and will play an important role in the further development of the national music culture of China.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xi'an drum music has been passed down generation after generation on the basis of Xi'an and the surrounding area, especially the many temples, Taoist monasteries and folk music societies on the northern foothills of the Qinling Mountains; by performance form it is divided into two categories, "zuoyue" (seated music) and "xingyue" (processional music), and the music societies are divided into the monastic, the Taoist and the lay systems, each with its own organisation, such as the Dongcang Drum Music Society and the Dajichang Drum Music Society. The tablature characters of the surviving hand-copied score treasure of the 28th year of the Qianlong reign are basically identical to those used in Jiang Kui's seventeen self-composed pieces; the repertoire includes works bearing the same titles as the Tang great suites, the Tang and Song yan-yue pieces and the jiaofang great suites; and the ensemble instrumentation admits no instruments newly developed since the Ming and Qing dynasties, displaying a certain primordial character.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Pieces commonly used today include "Guduanzi", "Dazazi", "Yinling", "Taoci", "Nan Ci", "Qupo", "Zaqu" and the like. Owing to the encroachment of the powerful modern culture, the folk humanistic environment on which Xi'an drum music originally survived, such as folk temple fairs, is gradually disappearing and the soil of its survival is vanishing; moreover, as old artists pass away one after another and few successors emerge, Xi'an drum music is on the verge of extinction and urgently in need of rescue and protection. Zhao Gengchen (official archive entry of the associated inheritor): A man of the Han ethnicity, born in 1918, native of Weinan, Shaanxi. From the age of fifteen he studied yunqu and the playing of the sheng, guan zi and dizi under artists of the Dongcang Drum Music Society such as Liang Zhenyuan, and learned from the Xianmi Temple artist Zhu Tong the ensemble playing skills of drum, double Yunluo gongs and bronze instruments; he was able to master the zuoyue in the four modes of Liu, Chi, Shang and Wu, was proficient in all forms of xingyue, and was also versed in singing the text chapters and in reciting passages; he was honoured as a "living fossil of Xi'an drum music" and was awarded the title "grand master of a generation of Xi'an drum music" by the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture. Representative inheritor of the Xi'an drum music national-level intangible cultural heritage project of the second national-level batch. Gu Jingzhao (official archive entry of the associated inheritor): A man of the Han ethnicity, born in 1946, native of Zhouzhi, Shaanxi. A member of the Xi'an Musicians Association and of the Shaanxi Provincial Association of Folk Literature and Art, in 1962 he took as masters such old artists as Wang Shuntang, Wenming, Chen Youwei and Li Shigen; he mastered the drum patterns of both xingyue and zuoyue together with all their singing scores and performance methods, keeping the drum music's original ancient flavour and tunes, and was also responsible for the administrative affairs of the music society. Representative inheritor of the Xi'an drum music national-level intangible cultural heritage project of the second national-level batch. He has taken part many times in musical performances at home and abroad and has won prizes.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Zhao Gengchen 02-0308
• Gu Jingzhao 02-0309
• Tian Zhonghe 02-0310
• He Zhongxin 03-0852

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Xi'an Wind and Percussion Ensemble (Shaanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhao Gengchen · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Gu Jingzhao · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗