Gong and Drum Art
01 · Historical Records
In the 1950s of the twentieth century Laohekou established a national music research society, which carried out specialised research and development work on the luogu jiazi (drum frame).
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Laohekou luogu jiazi is a traditional wind-and-percussion music current in the urban area of Laohekou City, Hubei Province, and the surrounding townships. According to legend the luogu jiazi was brought there by merchants from Shanxi in the third year of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty (1725); over the centuries, as successive generations of performers worked on it and polished it, blending in fine tune patterns of the local folk music such as Gou Si Yao, Shi Yang Jin and Jin Zhi Ling, it developed into a gong-and-drum performing art with distinct local Laohekou character. A performance of Laohekou luogu jiazi requires one drum frame; the other instruments include the suona, the jina, the qudi, the ban drum, the large drum, the large cymbals, the small cymbals, the chimes, the dang gong, the horse gong, the large gong, the small gong, the wooden fish, the bangzi and so on. There are two forms of performance, the processional and the hall performance. The processional is performed on the road at occasions such as the New Year and festivals, temple fairs, weddings, ancestor worship and grave-sweeping; the performers wear ethnic dress, and at the head of the procession two people respectively hold aloft large dragon-and-phoenix banners to lead the way, the banner poles being bamboo poles more than one zhang in length with a one-metre feather duster inserted at the top, waved up and down as they walk. Behind them two people carry the drum frame, the drummer follows and plays, and the others follow in order holding the large gong, large cymbals, small gong, suona, qudi and other instruments, the number of performers being about twenty. The hall performance is mainly held at gatherings and various celebrations, with the stage and public spaces as the main places of performance. In the hall performance the drum frame stands in the centre and the performers sit in a semicircle around it; different pieces are played according to different circumstances, sometimes for an hour or two, sometimes right through the night until dawn. The performing forms are varied: some are led by the wind instruments, some by the percussion, and some combine wind and percussion; each tune pattern has its own expressive content and performing technique. Laohekou luogu jiazi music is fresh and bright; more than half of it uses a six-tone scale with a raised gong, the five-tone scale accounts for 40 per cent, seven-tone scales are few, and in the final pitches the yu, zhi and shang degrees are common while the gong and jue degrees are few. The structure of the music is divided into single pieces and suites: a great suite is a succession of civil and martial tune patterns performed in combination, while in the small suites the succession of tune patterns is for the most part fixed, the combined suites being varied according to different places and needs. Between more than 80 per cent of the tune patterns, the same percussion patterns are used cyclically to link them together into suites; the patterns are inserted into the middle of musical phrases like interlude passages, and the rhythm is highly varied. Afterwards the luogu jiazi took part many times in provincial and prefectural arts festivals.
Gou Si Yao
One of the fine tune patterns blended into the luogu jiazi from local folk music.
Shi Yang Jin
One of the fine tune patterns blended into the luogu jiazi from local folk music.
Jin Zhi Ling
One of the fine tune patterns blended into the luogu jiazi from local folk music.
Martial, civil and percussion pieces
The repertoire categories of Laohekou luogu jiazi are divided into three kinds: martial tune patterns, civil tune patterns and gong-and-drum patterns.
Processional and hall performance
There are two forms of performance, the processional and the hall performance: the processional is played on the road at occasions such as the New Year and festivals, temple fairs, weddings, ancestor worship and grave-sweeping, with two people at the head of the procession holding aloft large dragon-and-phoenix banners to lead the way, the banner poles being bamboo poles more than one zhang in length with a one-metre feather duster inserted at the top and waved up and down as they walk; the hall performance is mainly held at gatherings and various celebrations, with the drum frame in the centre and the performers sitting in a semicircle around it, sometimes playing for an hour or two and sometimes right through the night until dawn.
Drum-frame setup and instrumentation
A performance requires one drum frame; the other instruments include the suona, the jina, the qudi, the ban drum, the large drum, the large cymbals, the small cymbals, the chimes, the dang gong, the horse gong, the large gong, the small gong, the wooden fish, the bangzi and so on; in the processional form two people carry the drum frame and the drummer follows and plays, the number of performers being about twenty.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Its repertoire is divided into three categories: martial tune patterns, civil tune patterns and gong-and-drum patterns.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Laohekou luogu jiazi depends mainly on transmission from master to apprentice. In the 1980s of the twentieth century the Laohekou mass arts centre made a comprehensive collation of this traditional art, gathering more than forty luogu jiazi tune patterns into a volume which was selected for publication by the Collection of Chinese Folk and Popular Instrumental Music, and at the same time carrying out creative performance work and the training of successors. Laohekou luogu jiazi has a long history and rich in content and performing technique; it has both the loud ardour of percussion and the melodious ease of wind music, combining the performing styles of gongs and drums of both northern and southern China; it commands a high degree of social recognition and a weighty sense of history, and is of important academic value for the study and transmission of the traditional gong-and-drum and wind-and-percussion art of China.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Yaowen 03-0882
- Zhao Manzong 05-2134
- Zhang Shushe 05-2135
- Wu Mingchang 05-2136
- Yang Renhe 05-2137
- Liu Qingyun 05-2138
- Liu Zhen 05-2139
- Li Xingguang 05-2140
- Wangdaozhang 05-2141
- Cheng Qinxiang 05-2142
- Wang Guohai
- Xuezongfeng
- Hong Yuqing
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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