Lantianpuhuashuihui Music

01 · Historical Records

Historical records state that the Water-Land Hall of Wuzhen Temple at Lantian, capable of accommodating a thousand monks, was already an important venue for large Buddhist ceremonies held by official bodies and by the people in the Tang dynasty. The hand-copied scores of Lantian shuihui music originally contained more than eighty tune patterns, and their notation is the Tang-dynasty banquet-music half-character notation, which is also material evidence of its great antiquity.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Lantian Puhua shuihui music is a form of folk wind-and-percussion music that has been transmitted for more than a thousand years in the area of Puhua Town, Lantian County, Shaanxi Province, and is used exclusively for Buddhist ceremonies, acts of charity and sacrifice. Lantian County lies at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains on the south-eastern part of the Guanzhong Plain, and was the gateway from the ancient Chang'an to the Jingchu and Bashu regions. Shuihui music is plain, clear and ringing, elegant and delicate, forming a sharp contrast with the stirring and rough Qin opera. Common pieces include Qing Jiang Song (In Praise of the Clear River), Xiao Qu Zi (Little Tune), San Lian Zi (Triple Links), Ba Ban (Eight Beats), Gong Diao (Palace Mode) and Lao Ding Gang (The Old Cobbler).

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Lantian Puhua shuihui music is divided into two classes, marching music and seated music; because the matters it attends to are serious and solemn, it is never used at festive or wedding occasions.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At large Buddhist ceremonies such as the water-land rite, the wind-and-percussion music helps to enliven the proceedings and create the atmosphere, and this form, Lantian Puhua shuihui music, has been transmitted to the present day by monks and folk musicians. Lantian shuihui music displays very high historical value and academic research value in such respects as the instrumental composition of the band, its repertoire and its notation; the rescue and transmission of this distinctive form of folk music is of important value for enriching the cultural life of the masses, building a harmonious society and promoting social development. After suffering a heavy blow in the 1960s and 1970s of the twentieth century, Lantian Puhua shuihui music has remained in an endangered state for many years; scarcely any scores survive, many instruments have been lost or damaged, and the old performers have passed away one after another, so that rescue and transmission cannot wait. Deng Yinhai (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han, born in November 1953, a native of Lantian County, Shaanxi Province. In 1976, after graduating from the Xi'an Conservatory of Music, he was assigned to work at the Lantian County cultural centre. From 1980 until now he has devoted himself to the excavation, collation, study and research of Lantian Puhua shuihui music and to organising performances, bringing new life to shuihui music, which had been interrupted for many years. In order to rescue shuihui music he has travelled over the mountains, rivers and open fields of Lantian to conduct investigations, visiting drum-and-wind music societies and academic institutions in places such as Chang'an District and Zhouzhi County of Xi'an City and consulting a large amount of material; he has deciphered the ancient scores of Lantian shuihui music, attracting the attention of scholars at home and abroad. In October 2008 the shuihui music performance he conducted was a great success at the opening ceremony of the Fourth China West Culture Expo. In the same year he led a troupe to Japan for exchange performances, which Japanese friends praised as the "lifeline of shuihui music". He has run a number of shuihui music transmission and study classes, developing more than ten new members. Representative inheritor of Lantian Puhua shuihui music of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage projects.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Deng Yinhai 05-2087

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Lantianpuhuashuihui Music (Lantian, Shaanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Deng Yinhai · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗