China's four major drum music

?? China’s four major drum music

Quanzhou Nanyin, together with Xi’an City God’s Temple Drum Music, Shanxi Wutai Mountain Qinghuang Temple Music, and Beijing Zhihua Temple Music, are also known as the “Four Major Ancient Music Systems in China” ".

Quanzhou Nanyin

? Nanyin, also known as Xianguan, Jinqu and Nanguan, is an ancient music type of the Central Plains culture with a long history. It is recognized by the world today as "the living fossil of Chinese music" ".

? Quanzhou Nanyin has a long musical history and diverse cultural characteristics. It is one of the oldest music in China and even the world. Nanyin was conceived in the Jin and Tang dynasties, formed in the Tang and Song dynasties, and developed into very prosperous in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Historical records record that during the Yongjia Rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty in the fourth century AD, a large number of Jin people fled from the Central Plains to Fujian and settled along the river in Nan'an, hence the name Jinjiang. Afterwards, after several large-scale "transfers of clothes to the south" from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and even the Southern Song Dynasty, Central Plains culture (including language, music and other arts) continuously flowed into Quanzhou, Fujian, including the art form of Nanyin's predecessor.

? Nanyin gathers the legacy of ancient music from the Central Plains since the Jin and Tang Dynasties, and blends it with the folk music of southern Fujian to form its own style. The music has elegant charm and beautiful melody. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Quanzhou was historically a trading port with foreign countries. At the time when the maritime "Silk Road" was flourishing, various cultural exchanges were frequent, which promoted the mutual influence and penetration of various art forms. Nanyin was further improved in Quanzhou. and development, and is widely popular in Quanzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou and other areas of Fujian. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the spread of Quanzhou Nanyin has further expanded to Taiwan, and spread to Southeast Asia with the footprints of overseas Chinese in southern Fujian, and its influence has spread to Europe and other countries.

During the Kangxi period, Nanyin artists from Quanzhou went to Beijing twice to perform in the imperial court. They were highly praised and returned with generous gifts. When Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne, Singapore sent the Southern Music Ensemble to perform and received the Gold-plated Crown Award. Musicians from the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Japan, Korea and other countries heard about Nanyin's reputation and visited Quanzhou one after another. The Quanzhou Orchestra has performed many times in Western Europe, Japan and South Korea.

?In 1982, the Nanyin Chinese Music Society of Tainan, Taiwan was invited to visit France. French National Radio broadcast the Nanyin performance in Paris live, and about 3 million people listened. Oriental music once captivated Paris. The concert was called "the longest concert in the history of European music" and was well-known in Europe. In recent years, Quanzhou Nan Music Troupe has frequently visited and performed abroad, and has been deeply welcomed and praised by overseas Chinese. Nanyin has mature a cappella songs, suites and instrumental music scores, which have been circulated to this day.

Xi'an Drum Music

? Xi'an Drum Music, also called Shaanxi Drum Music, is a large-scale wind and percussion music popular in Xi'an. It is the most complete large-scale folk music discovered and preserved in my country so far. One of the genres, it was born out of Yan music in the Tang Dynasty, and later integrated into court music. During the Anshi Rebellion, it flowed into the folk with the exile of court musicians. Tracing its historical origins and analyzing the structure, music score, title of the music, and the use of instruments, etc., it is inextricably linked to the big songs of Yan music in the Tang Dynasty. According to the analysis and investigation of the data, Xi'an drum music may have originated in the Tang Dynasty, and originated in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. It flourished in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. After thousands of years of practice and development, especially the influence of opera music since the Ming and Qing dynasties, it has gradually formed a complete set of large-scale national classical music forms.

? Xi'an drum music is a large-scale music that is a mixture of percussion and wind instruments. It has rich content, a large band, numerous repertoire, and complex structure. It is a miracle in the development history of ancient Chinese music and even the world's folk music. . Chang'an drum music is divided into three schools: monks, Taoists and seculars, each with different styles. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Drumming Society was very active. At that time, there were hundreds of temples in Xi'an, and almost every temple had a drumming club surrounding it. Temple fairs are held one after another, and the sound of drum music is endless in the ancient city of Chang'an. At present, there are about a hundred volumes of Chang'an drum music scores, more than 3,000 repertoires, more than 1,200 song titles and brands, and more than 40 suites, including extremely rich folk songs, operas, raps, and court and religious music.

Xi'an drum music uses bamboo flute as the main instrument, and is divided into two forms of performance: "sitting music" and "walking music". "Sitting music" is chamber music. The wind instruments include flute, sheng, pipe, and percussion music. The instruments played include sitting drums, war drums, music drums, solo drums, and percussion instruments such as large cymbals, small cymbals, large cymbals, small cymbals, large gongs, horse gongs, lead gongs, hinges, large bangzi, and hand bangzi. Sometimes cloud gongs are also added. Xi'an drum music is often played every summer and autumn (from the end of May to the end of July on the lunar calendar) at township fairs and temple fairs held in various places to celebrate the harvest. The performers are "drum music clubs" organized by villages and towns, as well as large temples and temples. drum corps. Due to the erosion of modern strong culture, the folk cultural environment, such as folk temple fairs, that Xi'an drum music originally relied on for survival is gradually disappearing, and its living soil is disappearing. In addition, old artists have died one after another, and there are few successors. Xi'an drum music is on the verge of extinction and is in urgent need of rescue and protection. .

Wutai Mountain Qinghuang Temple Music

Mount Wutai is located in the northeast of Xinzhou District, Shanxi Province. It is known as the "Roof of North China". It is a place that integrates natural scenery, historical relics, ancient architectural art, Buddhism It is a tourist area integrating culture, folk customs and summer vacation.

Mount Wutai is the monastery of the Buddhist Manjushri Bodhisattva and one of the four major Buddhist holy places in China.

? In Mount Wutai, a Buddhist country, there are both Huang Temple (Yellow Temple, where monks wear yellow hats and yellow clothes, that is where lamas live), and Qing Temple (monks wear the three colors of morning, three and evening, also called Monk Temple) . It turns out that every temple in Mount Wutai had a band. The Qingmiao team plays mainly the sheng, with the support of the pipe and flute; the Huangmiao team plays the main role of the pipe, with the support of the sheng and the flute. Because the Qinghuang Temple plays different instruments and has different tones, the timbre and style of the music have different effects. Temple music has multiple functions: one is to accompany sutras, the other is to accompany dances, and the other is to serve as an instrumental ensemble.

Beijing Zhihua Temple Music

? Zhihua Temple, located in Lumicang Hutong, Beijing, has become the center of ancient Chinese music because it has preserved Beijing music that has been circulating for nearly 500 years. One of the communication centers.

? Zhihua Temple was built in 1446. It was originally the family temple of Wang Zhen, the powerful eunuch of Emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty. Wang Zhen, a devout believer in Buddhism, brought the Ming Dynasty's court music beyond the walls of the palace, absorbed the essence of folk music at that time, and hired a large number of artistic monks with profound musical attainments to play and sing in temples, which gradually evolved into Beijing music. This ancient and unique form of music. As an ancient Chinese music form, Zhihua Temple music still uses traditional Gongchi music to teach and sing. The instruments used include Jiuyun gongs, pipes, shengs, flutes, drums, etc.