The Artistic Features of Muyu Song

1) musical instrument. According to reports, when singing Muyu songs, string accompaniment is often used, that is, erhu, guzheng, pipa and sanxian. When there are no musical instruments, you can also use bamboo boards. It is also said that wooden fish can also be used to clap hands. When Liu Lao performed live, he used Xiao Sanxian (see photo). Xiao Sanxian, also known as Quxian, is 95 cm long and is divided into three parts: the head, the stem and the drum. As a fingerboard, the piano rod has no mass. The speaker is flat, nearly oval, and has two shells.

2) performance. Liu Lao sang the clips of "Chasing Luan Dian" and "Qiu Jiang Farewell" for the author in an elegant way (see photos and recording files). He first reported the title of the track, then plucked the strings, and then a crisp and pleasant voice floated out. There are only two sentences at the beginning, and the text is a paragraph composed of four sentences, each sentence is mostly seven or nine words, so it is generally "223" or "2223" rhythm, and the part exceeding seven words does not occupy the board when singing. Because the lyrics are long, this passage can only be repeated until the end of the song. Using the rhyme of "bamboo among plum blossoms" means that one sentence is high and the other is low. Pause between sentences requires long or short accompaniment, and then sing the next sentence and use it alternately.

Muyu songs are originally pentatonic, and the melody rhythm is relatively stable. But after all, it belongs to the loose board, and it will change occasionally when singing. Sometimes, because of the change of story content and characters' psychological activities, you can jump and change the rhythm relatively freely and flexibly, especially when you are emotional. At this time, a second inversion will appear, forming a seven-tone scale. Teacher Liu's expression on her face is very devoted, and her voice is rich, tactfully low and melancholy. Just like a senior Qu Dajun said, "Sing a word, or delay for half an hour, you will make a long speech, and you can reply yourself. If you refuse to go all the way, your words will be extremely colorful, your feelings will be extremely extreme, and people will feel happy and sad. " When asked about Long song, he said that his memory declined with age, and he needed some time to remember them. Sing "into two buckles"

There are two timbres of wooden fish: one is bitter voice and gloomy tune, which is suitable for expressing lingering sadness, such as "jade broken beads". The other is that the tune is clear, which is suitable for expressing cheerful emotions; Among the above-mentioned tracks, the song of making a bed, the singing of hometown folk songs, and several ditties sung by Liu Lao, including Guirenju, Huaguo, Chengerkou, Welcome to the Lamp Holder, Twelve Nannies, Warm Spring in bloom and Welcome to the New Embrace (the name of all people for their daughter-in-law), all belong to the latter. Bed-making songs are related to the old customs in Dongguan. When the bride enters the new house and uncovers the red handkerchief, "Daikin" (the matchmaker) puts the curtain, bedding and pillow of the bride on the bed, and then asks the bride to stand in front of the bed. Daikin began to sing the song of making the bed. The lyrics are nothing more than wishing the couple a happy marriage and a prosperous life. These songs are also used in various festivals, such as the completion of new houses and the celebration of lanterns for baby boys. And "Playing and Singing Hometown Folk Songs" was written by the staff of the Cultural Bureau during the 200 1 Liu Lao competition, praising Dongguan's achievements in reform and opening up. So, it all sounds lively and festive. In these recordings, it is found that both men and women sing Muyu songs with the same sound, and they are all solo and have no roles. Although Muyu Song belongs to Tanci system, it is different from Suzhou Tanci in that it has no opening words, poems, words, sets of numbers and plain words. Later, influenced by Cantonese opera, Nanyin and Longzhou songs, it began to be dull. When singing, erhu, guzheng, pipa and Sanxian are used as accompaniment, and bamboo board can also be used for high-fiving. There are two kinds of tunes: "Zheng Qiang" and "Bitter Throat". The former is lively and cheerful; The latter is melancholy and sad. There are about 500 wooden fish books with 4000 ~ 5000 volumes. The content is mixed. Some are adapted from Buddhist stories and scrolls, such as "Mu Lian Save Mother" and "The Birth of Guanyin"; There are legendary works from novels, such as the White Snake Leifeng Pagoda in Towa Tei, Gui Ren. There are also tracks that reflect the theme of the real society, such as Jin's "It's better to sigh", "Chinese workers' resentment" that describes the ban on anti-American Chinese workers, and "National Complaints" that exposes imperialist aggression. The most famous traditional songs are Flowers and History of Two Lotus Flowers.

Dongguan Muyu Song, with a long history, makes the past serve the present. At the opening ceremony of Dongkeng "Prostitution Festival" on the second day of the second lunar month in 2006, the Muyu song of "Muyu Rap and Prostitution Festival" appeared on the stage, giving the traditional Dongguan Muyu song with a history of 400 years a brand-new content and expression, which was warmly welcomed by the masses and attracted the attention of many media. Muyu Song in Dongguan (also known as Song of the Blind, named after the blind artists who used to sing this song) has a long history, which originated in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and lasted for more than 400 years. For hundreds of years, wooden fish songs with beautiful voices have been widely circulated in urban and rural areas of Dongguan, but times have changed. Now it's not romantic, it's almost a swan song. It is only sung by some elderly people in urban and rural areas, and is located in Xicun Village, Guancheng District.

For more than 400 years, despite the strong impact of the global economy and modern industrial civilization, Dongguan Muyu Song still has many researchers and readers in the world. This is because, due to historical changes, most of the best versions of Muyu books describing Muyu songs in history have been lost abroad, and the number of collections abroad is far more than that in China and Dongguan. At present, it has collections in Tokyo University, London University, Oxford University, British Museum, National Library of Paris, Institute of Sinology of Leiden University in the Netherlands, National Diplomatic Library of Moscow, National Library of Bavaria in Munich, Prussian Cultural Library in West Berlin, and the United States. Goethe (1749 ——1832), 1827, a famous German poet, once called the legendary Dongguan Muyu Song Hua Ji Jian "a great poem". Therefore, in the 2 1 century, Dongguan Muyu Song has attracted the research of scholars from the United States, Britain, Russia, Japan and other countries. In recent decades, Dongguan Museum, Dongguan Library and other related departments, as well as Dongguan enthusiasts such as Dong, have attached great importance to the collection and collation of Dongguan Muyu songs. In particular, Yang Baolin, a scholar of literature and history, devoted himself to research for decades, and made every effort to collect several engravings (volumes) of Flower Ji Jian, the earliest extant work of Wanyin Muyu, in the British Museum, Oxford University, the National Library of Paris and other places, and wrote monographs such as A Preliminary Study of Muyu Song in Dongguan and A Study of Flowers, which contributed to the inheritance of this precious cultural heritage of Dongguan Muyu Song.

Rich cultural accumulation is a solid cornerstone for Dongguan to build a "new cultural city". Dongguan Muyu Song is popular in Dongkeng "Prostitution Festival", which creates a new way for Dongguan traditional culture to serve the present. It can be believed that the precious cultural heritage rooted in Dongguan-Dongguan Muyu Song will surely shine brilliantly.

In addition, "Muyu", "Dragon Boat" and "Nanyin" are three closely related concepts. Tan Zhengbi and Tan Xun believe that "Muyu Song" is the general name of Guangdong Han folk rap literature, which has many names and forms since its emergence and development. The earliest classification, such as Lian Chang Gong Ci and Pipa Xing, is what we call "Dragon Boat", and what we call "Yin Nan" is the story about "novel" written by people in Yuan Dynasty through playing Ci. Its' short tune' is the original folk song that we think is the ancestor of Muyu. "In fact, there are differences between Dragon Boat Song, Muyu Song and Nanyin. The former is mostly spoken, and the number of words is not limited. But both flat and oblique sentences should rhyme, and trivial things should also be written. The latter is mostly elegant words, mostly seven words, rhyming flat sentences, writing more historical legends, lyrical and full of feudal preaching; Muyu Qu is similar to Nanyin, but Nanyin's flat meter is more strict, and it has the order of onset, which is one-sided. Nevertheless, quite a few people simply think that the short "Muyu Song" is "Dragon Boat". The long Muyu Song is Nanyin. According to Mr. Yang Baolin's research, the word "Nanyin" was not marked on the wooden fish book carved by Dongguan Bookstore, but it appeared in Guangzhou and Hong Kong after the Republic of China, and the former was mostly printed by machine, which means that the original version did not have "Nanyin" and was later added by other bookstores. The reason may be related to the development of Cantonese opera. In the early years of the Republic of China, Cantonese opera was changed from the official dialect in the theater to Cantonese, and Nanyin was also included in Cantonese opera and Quyi. For example, the famous actress Bai Jurong sang Nanyin's masterpiece A Journey of Autumn Hate, which was popular for a while. In order to attract customers, Guangzhou Bookstore printed the word "Nanyin" on the cover of Muyu book. But for ten thousand people, standard Cantonese should be used to sing "Nanyin" and ten thousand languages should be used to sing Muyu songs. The broad masses of working people, especially women, generally don't know how to sing Nanyin. If the word "Nanyin" is printed, it will definitely lose the market. Therefore, nine times out of ten, the authentic Nanyin Kingdee published by Chen Xiangji Bookstore in Hong Kong should be a wooden fish book, not a Nanyin song.