Gong and Drum Art

Ⅱ-123Traditional MusicTaiyuan, ShanxiBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Taiyuan gong-and-drum music was evolved and inherited from shegu, the community drum music with a long history, and is current in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, and in parts of Jinzhong and Lüliang. Its origins can be traced back to the pre-Qin period, and it first took shape around the reign of Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song. “Dui da” refers to two groups of naos and cymbals playing against each other; this form arose in 1962 and shows a strong contrastiveness and antagonism.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Although the instruments used vary from place to place, they consist mainly of high-volume percussion instruments such as gongs, drums, naos and cymbals; the rhythm is stirring and sharply marked, the performance scenes are grand, the artistic style is marked by imposing momentum, martial vigour and ardent warmth, and it is performed mainly at various folk auspicious celebrations and ceremonial occasions. Taiyuan gong-and-drum music wins by the distinctive sound of its naos and cymbals; its style is vigorous and powerful with clearly distinguished layers, its movements intense and expansive, rough and masculine, its rhythm stirring and sharply marked, and its performance scenes magnificent to behold. Its performance forms mainly comprise “qi da”, “dui da” and “big-and-small-instrument dui da”; under certain conditions they can be converted into one another. “Qi da” refers to naos, cymbals and drums being played together; this is the earliest performance form of Taiyuan gong-and-drum music and has a history of more than eight hundred years, and in “qi da” drum pieces such as 【Liu Shui】 are mainly played. “Big-and-small-instrument dui da” is a traditional performance form with a history of more than four hundred years, in which the “big instruments” are naos, cymbals and drums, and the “small instruments” are the horse gong, small battle drum, second biao, jiao zi, hand gong and so on. Taiyuan gong-and-drum music now preserves seven well-known suite pieces and more than fifty commonly used tune patterns, among which the most famous tune patterns include 【Liu Shui】, 【Shuang Yi Er Wu】, 【Niu Dou Hu】, 【Gou Xiang Yao】, 【Xuan Feng Cha】, 【Shui Long Yin】 and others. The drumming action in performance is extraordinarily rich, with many techniques such as “striking the drum centre”, “knocking the drum rim”, “dancing the drum flowers”, “grinding the drum nail” and “striking the drum block”. Cymbal-striking technique is reputed in Shanxi gong-and-drum music as one of the “three peerless techniques”, and there are many astonishing displays of it; the peerless cymbal technique “pao ji” (tossing strike) is one example. The performer tosses the cymbal several metres into the air; it then falls while spinning rapidly, and the performer takes the advantage of the momentum to catch it steadily, without a single beat of the performance rhythm being missed. At present the tune patterns performed in Taiyuan gong-and-drum music amount to less than one tenth of the seven drum suites, and the practice lays stress on form rather than musical content; if this continues it will affect the normal development of this traditional folk drum music, and reasonable measures for protection and revitalization are urgently needed.

Liu Shui

One of the most famous tune patterns of Taiyuan gong-and-drum music; this is the piece mainly played in “qi da”.

Shuang Yi Er Wu

One of the most famous tune patterns of Taiyuan gong-and-drum music, originating in the Nanshangzhuang drum piece and widely promoted in the urban area after being re-collated and re-arranged.

Niu Dou Hu

One of the most famous tune patterns of Taiyuan gong-and-drum music; its name conveys the sense of two strong contenders struggling against each other.

Gou Xiang Yao

One of the most famous tune patterns of Taiyuan gong-and-drum music, characterized by duelling to win.

Xuan Feng Cha

One of the most famous tune patterns of Taiyuan gong-and-drum music.

Shui Long Yin

One of the most famous tune patterns of Taiyuan gong-and-drum music.

Unison, duel and full-instrument duels

The performance forms mainly comprise “qi da”, “dui da” and “big-and-small-instrument dui da”, and under certain conditions they can be converted into one another; “qi da” means naos, cymbals and drums played together and is the earliest form, with a history of more than eight hundred years; in “big-and-small-instrument dui da” the big instruments are naos, cymbals and drums, and the small instruments are the horse gong, small battle drum, second biao, jiao zi, hand gong and so on.

Tossing-cymbal feat

Cymbal-striking technique is reputed in Shanxi gong-and-drum music as one of the “three peerless techniques”; the performer tosses the cymbal several metres into the air and it falls while spinning rapidly; such highly difficult techniques are now on the verge of being lost.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Gong-and-drum music is a relatively common form of folk instrumental performance in China; it is widely distributed, and is found in Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi, Shanghai, Henan, Hubei, Shanxi and other places. Taiyuan gong-and-drum music is applied mainly to folk shehuo (ritual festival performances) and congratulatory celebrations; it is an important part of the social life of local people and provides extremely important reference material for the study of Shanxi traditional folk customs and folk music.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

These highly difficult techniques are now on the verge of being lost. Liu Yaowen (per the official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in March 1933, a native of Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. He loved gong-and-drum art from childhood, and through long association with the folk artists Zhang Shi and Cui Zhenqi he mastered many skills and the traditional drum scores of Taiyuan gong-and-drum music in his study. From the founding of the People's Republic of China until about 1963, he mainly played the drum in the stilt-walking team of Sanqiao Street and the lion-dance team of Xihuamen in Taiyuan City. His drum beats were steady and powerful with strong explosive force, and he was honoured as the “drum king” of shehuo. In the 1960s and 1970s there were few suite pieces for Taiyuan gong-and-drum music, so together with Pei Guangming, Wu Tianzeng, Pei Zhongxiang and others he re-collated and re-arranged the Nanshangzhuang drum piece “Shuang Yi Er Wu” and promoted it widely in the urban area, naming it “rural one-two-five”. After years of effort he organized more than fifty commonly used tune patterns for the big-and-small-instrument dui da and trained a number of shehuo drummers such as Zhu Doudan, Zheng Fu and Wang Xiang. Representative inheritor of the gong-and-drum music (Taiyuan gong-and-drum music) item of the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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