Paragraph 28 in Ansai Waist Drum "makes people feel strange to her". Why women?

When I took a bumpy bus all the way down from Jingbian to Ansai, I didn't have much impulse to this long fish-shaped small county, because when I came up from the undulating loess plateau, my eyes and head were full of deep local feelings, and I returned to a county mixed with some modern civilizations. There is always some discomfort, but after all, this is the famous hometown of folk art and waist drum in China, so I'm going to wander around the street and find a hotel to stay.

This small county with a population of 6.5438+0.5 million is located in the hinterland of the Loess Plateau, only 30 kilometers away from Yan 'an city. The county seat was built on the bank of a small river. Only after asking the local people did they know that this river was the Yanhe River at the foot of Baota shan. Most people in the street are dressed in modern clothes, unlike the old farmers in northern Shaanxi who still kept the white sheep belly towel and big cotton-padded jacket dressed decades ago, but girls and boys can still see a gentle and kind face on their faces. The taxi driver I took told me that the law and order here is very good, and even in the most lively festivals, petty theft rarely happens, because later I became friends with the driver and one of his classmates, so I know and believe this more.

There are few high-rise buildings in the whole county, and the two main roads are parallel, which is very cold in winter. Fortunately, the county seat is backed by mountains, and the wind is not strong. Banners are hung everywhere in the county town: "Build Ansai into a famous cultural tourism county in China". Although the form is a bit rustic, it can be seen that local leaders still attach great importance to protecting local folk art and culture. When I got off the bus, there happened to be a painting and calligraphy photography exhibition in the street. Large-scale works, like cabbage and potatoes, were placed on dusty streets, but they quickly brought me into the rich cultural atmosphere here, especially the photographic works reflecting the lively waist and drum scenes and the vicissitudes of the elderly in northern Shaanxi, which made me like this county town without much affectation.

Waist drum: the greatest square dance

According to the local advice, I stayed in the most luxurious hotel in the county: Ansai Hotel, a standard room of 70 yuan for one night, which is the highest consumption level in the local area. Because the information here is the most abundant, I can get the most information about local folk activities from the waiters. Sure enough, I just opened the room, and before I could put my bag in, I heard that there was a big waist drum performance on the steamed buns in the northern dairy factory. Then I put my luggage at the front desk and drove to the southern suburbs.

Far away, I saw a group of men with red ribbons and white towels, waist drums on their shoulders, dancing enthusiastically in the yellow dust all over the sky. Far away, I can hardly see their team, only hear the strong drums and the long suona sound being blown to my ears by the wind. The rising dust was embedded in the blue sky, and white and black figures flashed inside. This is the perfect combination of the beauty of the Loess Plateau and human movement. No wonder many scholars say that the core of loess culture in China lies in Ansai, northern Shaanxi. I was really shocked by such a grand and spectacular scene.

Waist drum is a leisure dance form for soldiers to celebrate victory and express joy in ancient battlefields. The waist drum worn is a kind of war drum, and the battlefield stage uses the same prop. Since this is a tribute to the straightforward temperament of soldiers, it is difficult for them to boldly publicize any other literary form. In addition, they are all spread among the people, which combines the most primitive and rugged enthusiasm of men in northern Shaanxi. The background and stage are all plateaus and lands filled with yellow dust, which further reflects the artistic tension of this local dance.

Because it is on the fifteenth day of the first month, the custom waist drum celebration here will last from the sixth day to the sixteenth day of the first month. First, the villages performed, then the villages got together, then the counties got together, and then the Yan 'an City got together, so the next day just happened to catch up with the performance in Ansai County, so it was a feast for the eyes.

The waist drum performance I watched the next day was even more amazing. I not only saw the bravado and exultation of these people in northern Shaanxi at close range, but also got a comprehensive understanding of this dynamic folk art form from their performances and explanations by others.

In Ansai, from the age of 70 to preschool children, about half of the county's population of 6.5438+0.5 million can play waist drums. In the past, only men played waist drums, but now they have expanded naive dolls and newly grown girls. In short, in this almost transpiration land, almost everyone is full of blood and enthusiasm. The most touching thing is that the dolls, almost children who have just stood firm, can even knock out the momentum of ten thousand, shake their heads and smile, sometimes crisscross, sometimes jump up and down, and some children even jump up and down with excitement. I can't help but sigh that one side of the soil and water can feed a person!

There are not only a large number of foreign journalists and photographers here, but also local people who enjoy their art with smiles under the protection of the police. Because of its popularity, more than half of the audience must be active in the crowded field in front of them. In fact, for folk art, their viewing itself constitutes a very vivid picture. I once sat with a famous young man who performed in the local area while I was eating. They don't have the airs of big stars at all, just a little shy.

Ansai waist drum is distributed in Tanjiaying, Xihekou, Yanhe Bay, Zhenwudong and other towns and villages in Ansai County. There are four schools, which are distinguished according to the characteristics of waist drum performances in different regions. Tanjiaying school with prominent leg patterns, Xihekou school with prominent drum patterns, Yanhewan school with prominent satin fluttering patterns, and Zhenwudong school with vivid shaking heads. Among them, Zhenwudong School is more eye-catching, because other teams are all white trousers and white coats with red thick ribbons, but Zhenwudong School is black trousers and black coats with red thick ribbons, which is very imposing. General teams are divided into old age group, mature age group, juvenile group, juvenile group and teenage group according to their age. Judging from the overall style of play, it can be divided into two types: one is literary warfare, the other is martial arts; Generally speaking, wenwan is a heavy twist and light touch, with delicate and soft movements. Wushu generally combines the forms of beating, kicking, crossing and stamping, which is difficult to move and requires a large amount of exercise and freedom of play. In the whole performance team I have seen, except for the women's group, all of them are martial arts, jumping freely and exulting. As a great folk art form, waist drum is difficult to be defined as dance, because dance seems to twist the waist too much; It can't be defined as martial arts, because martial arts is too stiff. Waist drum is waist drum, an art form that fully shows the enthusiasm of northern Shaanxi people. I feel a little pale in both photos and words, which is not enough to express the strong shock brought by the waist drum scene, because it seems that the men, women and children in northern Shaanxi are not deliberately performing at all, but are completely entertaining themselves to the extreme. Everyone who has seen the waist drum will say, that's what happens when we are happy.

Third, the waist drum artists I met

In Ansai, the first waist drum artist I met should be a taxi driver and his old classmate who was a policeman. I learned most of my knowledge about waist drum from them. Two young people in their early twenties, a Zhuang Ansai dialect, are very enthusiastic. Because I lost my camera in Jingbian, the young policeman generously lent me the Minolta camera he used to record the crime scene, and tried his best to help me clear the way and find the most suitable shooting angle. They said that in the past, when I was at school, almost everyone played waist drums, and every festival performance, except for a few inflexible legs and feet, I had to perform. Of course, there are also good and bad performances. If they play well, they will have a chance to participate in large-scale performances. After playing for a long time, these things are as easy for them as doing morning exercises. The driver said that he attended the opening ceremony of the Asian Games and communicated with the team in France. The police said that he went to Thailand that year. When chatting happily, I asked them to teach me a few tricks, and they immediately moved away from the table and made gestures. Looking at these simple young people, I can't help but feel a warm current. Although they participated in such an important performance, they still lived so seriously and so ordinary. In their eyes, waist drum never seems to be a great thing, and it has never surpassed anything, but when it comes to waist drum, they are so energetic. Perhaps it is this indifference that makes waist drum an art form.

After the driver took me to see the waist drum performance, he introduced me to his waist drum teacher, an old artist with great prestige in the local area. He smiled brightly. He is the umbrella head of the whole waist drum team, just like the Yangko team, and the umbrella head is the core conductor of the team. He trained hundreds of miles of waist drum teams in Fiona Fang. He returned to the team before we had time to communicate in depth. Seeing him playing with everyone in the yellow dust reminds me of the soldiers who had fun with soldiers in ancient battlefields. The beautiful waist drum may be passed down from generation to generation in the fun of border guards and soldiers.

4. Drummers and drummers of Waist Drum Team.

In the waist drum team, there are often two important roles that are easily overlooked, that is, drummer and trumpeter. These two teams add a lot of color to the whole performance, and also largely determine the success or failure of the performance. In the middle of watching the waist drum performance, the drummer missed the drum twice and the whole team was in chaos. Momentum immediately weakened a lot, and the umbrella head immediately yelled at the drummer. It can be seen that they are also serious about their casual performances.

Chuishou has a special position in northern Shaanxi, because Chuishou can play suona independently, and the high-pitched part is either festive or resentful. Simple people in northern Shaanxi seem to care about these two extreme feelings, but it may be easier to simply approach the essence of life and art. In stark contrast to the distant suona, the Xintianyou in northern Shaanxi is also worth mentioning. Singers sing freely in the fields, usually without accompaniment, and their high-pitched songs reverberate in the vast yellow land. I believe no matter who it is, it will be moved by that passion. He Yutang, a famous folk singer in northern Shaanxi, lives in Ansai, but unfortunately he didn't take time to see it. His "Dongfanghong" sang the voices of many people of that generation. However, on the way to Ansai, we also heard several songs about the old people's belief in heaven: "A towel on the belly of a sheep is blue, but it is easier for us to talk when we meet." One is on the mountain and the other is in the ditch. If you can't pull the message, just wave ... "。

Five, the embarrassment of folk art

I watched the waist drum performance for a few days and visited the local cultural center. In this small county, I found that the best building is actually this cultural center. This is very rare for a small county that is not rich. Moreover, its interior exhibition hall is beautifully decorated, and its elegance is far less than any exhibition in Beijing China Millennium Monument. All Ansai's folk art works are exhibited in it, among which the paper-cut works are the most. Compared with the waist drum full of male momentum, Ansai paper-cut is a unique form for women to create beauty in northern Shaanxi. With their infinite love for men and children, these women aunts seem to be born with artistic cells. Through the combination of exaggerated deformation and freedom, they use scissors to make the beauty of life stand out from small pieces of paper.

But when I left Ansai, I saw many oil wells under construction and busy oil trucks along the way. According to the driver, since the discovery of oil fields and gas fields with unusually rich reserves, it has not been as quiet as before. The policeman also said that he was going to save money to build a derrick with his friends. After all, being a policeman earns too little, let alone a waist drum. He told me that even after watching those wonderful performances, the actors were paid less than 80 yuan every day. I was speechless at that time. Whether folk art can withstand the test brought by this noise and agitation is not only a problem faced by Ansai, but also a problem faced by all folk art circles in China.

Six, waist drum performance season and place

Waist drums are usually performed between the Spring Festival and the fifteenth day of the first month, often on a breezy hillside or on a threshing floor. The breeze often raises dust to set off the atmosphere of the stage. Ansai often organizes folk photography activities. During the Spring Festival this year, the "New Year in Northern Shaanxi" series of activities was very successful. It is estimated that there will be such activities every year in the future. In addition, in the event of an important wedding, someone will organize a waist drum performance alone.

Traffic situation and matters needing attention in visiting Ansai waist drum

1, Ansai is more than 30 kilometers away from Yan 'an. You can take the same day train or bus from Xi 'an to Yan 'an, which takes 5-7 hours, and then take a two-hour long-distance bus from Yan 'an to Ansai.

2. The best place to stay in Ansai is Ansai Hotel, and the lowest standard room is 70 yuan every night. Of course, there are some low-priced guest houses on Ansai Street, but foreigners are advised not to stay there in winter. The heating in private hotels is generally insufficient and very cold. It is recommended to stay in the cave hotel in Hexi, which can fully experience the feeling of living in caves and the service quality is better, but the price is a little more expensive than Ansai Hotel, 100 yuan or so.

There is a snack city less than one kilometer north of Ansai Hotel, which is actually a big hotel, where you can taste some snacks from Ansai.

Ansai is located in the Loess Plateau, with dry climate in autumn and winter. Take some anti-crack skin care products when traveling. In addition, Ansai entered the winter earlier, generally after 1 1, and it was dry and cold, so we should pay attention to keep warm.

5. Ansai specialty: Ansai is the hometown of art. When you go back, you can bring a few waist drums as artistic decorations, as well as lifelike paper-cuts and peasant paintings, which are sold in bulk and books. Except in cultural centers, if it is a festival, you can drive to the countryside to ask your aunts who made paper-cuts or painted pictures, buy the original ones from them and let them teach you how to cut them.