Gong and Drum Art
01 · Historical Records
The history of Shunde bayin gong and drum can be traced back to the late Qing dynasty. The surviving “Mingsheng Tongtai” drum cabinet was purchased in the eighth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty (1869), and was already a refurbished second-hand item at the time. From 1912 to 1949, Shunde bayin gong and drum was at its most flourishing, and performed in the towns of Daliang and Chencun in Shunde as well as in various places in Guangxi and Hong Kong.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Bayin gong and drum is a traditional music form that uses the drum cabinet as a mobile stage and performs on percussion, wind, and plucked and bowed string instruments. It is popular in Shunde District of Foshan City, Guangdong Province — an area in the hinterland of the Pearl River Delta and one of the centres of the Guangfu cultural region. Shunde bayin gong and drum has three forms — wind-and-percussion playing, sung bayin, and drum-cabinet playing. All of them can be performed seated or in procession, and all take the splendid and magnificent drum cabinet as their distinctive artistic expression and mobile stage. In performance the cabinet is the centre: the clapper leader stands behind it, the cymbal and gong players stand to its right with the gong in front and the cymbals behind, and the suona player stands in front of the cabinet. The performing material consists of complete sets of Cantonese opera plays, together with label tunes and minor melodies. The principal instrument is the suona. Generally it begins with gong and drum; gong, drum and suona then alternate, playing together with instruments such as the wooden fish, the shadi (a percussion block), the war drum, large cymbals and high-rimmed gongs. Its pieces are often set to more than one mode: a fully skilled player can perform a single piece in seven modes. In performance, the large suona represents male roles and the small suona female roles, imitating the sung styles of the sheng and dan role types and preserving the archaic Cantonese opera style. The imitating vocal style shapes its phrases in the stage register of Mandarin, and uses large gongs and drums together with rigid instruments (also called “hard bows”), giving an antique, bold and ardent style. At the same time, bayin gong and drum is closely related to opera. Performing complete sets of opera on the large and small suona is essentially another form of “acting out a play”. Some of the instruments commonly used are shared with Cantonese opera. According to the musicians, bayin gong and drum made players such as the big-gong player Dayuan and the gong player Dashu, and trained a large audience.
Wind-and-percussion playing
One of the three forms of Shunde bayin gong and drum.
Sung Bayin
One of the three forms of Shunde bayin gong and drum, in which complete sets of Cantonese opera plays are sung to vocal music.
Drum-cabinet playing
One of the three forms of Shunde bayin gong and drum, which takes the splendid and magnificent drum cabinet as its distinctive artistic expression and mobile stage, and can be performed either seated or in procession.
Suona imitating male and female roles
In performance, the large suona represents male roles and the small suona female roles, imitating the sung styles of the sheng and dan role types and preserving the archaic Cantonese opera style. The imitating vocal style shapes its phrases in the stage register of Mandarin, and uses large gongs and drums together with rigid instruments (also called “hard bows”), giving an antique, bold and ardent style.
Mingsheng Tongtai drum cabinet
The surviving “Mingsheng Tongtai” drum cabinet was purchased in the eighth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty (1869), and was already a refurbished second-hand item at the time; the history of Shunde bayin gong and drum can be traced back to the late Qing dynasty, and from 1912 to 1949 the art was at its most flourishing.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Bayin gong and drum evolved in the late Ming and early Qing period from the a-cappella singing troupes of Xiqin opera in the Haifeng-Lufeng area of Guangdong, and by the end of the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty it was already popular in the Cantonese-speaking area of the Pearl River Delta.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Bayin gong and drum is transmitted mainly through the master-apprentice line; it is played at folk religious occasions such as deities’ birthdays, weddings and funerals, and has become an important resource for community cultural development. In this way, through bayin gong and drum, more musical elements of Cantonese opera and Cantonese song that are about to disappear or have already disappeared can be recovered, and this has some reference value for the historical study and the innovative development of Cantonese opera and Cantonese song. Shunde bayin gong and drum takes the drum cabinet as a mobile stage, with the clapper leader behind it, the cymbal and gong players to its right and the suona player in front of it. Its material consists of complete sets of Cantonese opera plays, together with label tunes and minor melodies; a single piece is set to more than one mode, and a fully skilled player can perform one piece in seven modes.
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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