In the field, the rape blossoms are blooming, and a marriage team is approaching. There are bursts of refreshing suonas, sometimes jumping happily, sometimes melodious, and happiness climbs the brows. This is a scene in the exhibition hall of Xiangtan County Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Inheritance Center, Jingui South Road, Yisu River.

A picture that evokes a ray of nostalgia. Invite a suona team to welcome the marriage in a lively manner. This is the most elaborate pomp of wealthy families in Qingshan Bridge and surrounding areas in Xiangtan County in the past. Since when did the "Qingshan Suona" in the hands of the artists enter the intangible cultural heritage exhibition hall from the fields?

memory

At noon, Mo Baihuai did not rest. Taking advantage of Zhu Dian's good practice, he added fire and taught the 17-year-old boy how to grasp the details of the performance, so that the melody flowed in the song.

Mo Baihuai is a native of Shigu. He learned to play suona under the influence of his father since he was a child, and he has been connected with him for half his life. Zhu Dian, a new college student, is also a native of Shigu. During the summer vacation, he made a special trip to learn suona with Mo Baihuai.

Qingshan Suona, a popular folk music in the former Qingshanqiao District (including Shigu, Qingshan Bridge, Fenshui) and surrounding areas of Xiangtan County, weddings and funerals, dragon dances, lion dances, Wu Nuo sacrifices, etc. Have a soul. According to research, it has taken shape in the Ming Dynasty, and it was widely used in Xiangtan folk activities in the Qing Dynasty. When local officials met the imperial decree, they also played suona to create a grand pomp.

There are many festive weddings and funerals in the folk. Artists simply form drum music classes and perform around the venue. It is also a good way to support the family. This also created the all-round development of Qingshan Suona in the 1920s and 1930s. Zuo Kehe, who was over ninety years old, used suona performances to support a large family, and Zhu Daxiang's apprentice and apprentice music class, everyone has achievements, and all of them are "famous actors".

Art comes from life, combined with the aesthetic taste, customs, etc. of the masses, artists have created many unique music cards with local characteristics. Everyone also competed secretly, often competing with each other on the same stage, and created unique performance techniques called "Western Gongzi" and "Meng Gongzi". The skill lies in the transformation of Qi method and fingering method. It is very important to which holes and methods to press. The music played in this way has a special emotion, the charm of sadness, the interest of joy, and the harmony and coexistence. , straight to the heart. Thanks to this, the fame of Qingshan Suona has spread far and wide, and it has won the reputation of "Qingshan Bridge Chinese Music".

Perhaps it is the protection of the stone drum and the mountain barrier around the Qingshan Bridge. The Qingshan Suona has not been influenced by foreign music, and it is still the original appearance.

shine

Mo Baihuai, who was born in the 1960s, was in the era of Qingshan suona. The artist was taught by word of mouth, and children were fascinated by it. Many locals would play or sing.

They will memorize the "Gong Chi score" that ordinary people can't understand. They learn "Western Gongzi" and "Suppressed Gongzi", and they can also blow their noses and breathe for air circulation. Mo Baihuai performed with the music class at the age of 11. Later, he walked out of the mountain and knocked on the door of the Xiangtan County Cultural and Art Team with superb suona skills, and then became the head of the county's cultural tourism department.

Suona artists perform diligently. At first, they may just want to capture more "business" with their wonderful performances. Unexpectedly, the flowers inside the wall and the fragrance outside the wall moved the audience outside the mountain.

"Blockbuster" happened in 1957. Artists Zhu Meijiang, Chen Qingfeng, Zuo Yuanhe played the unique song of Qingshan suona "Cry and Ignore", which played with "Menggongzi". They were promoted in the middle level of the second national folk music and dance show, and finally entered the Zhongnanhai Huairentang. Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and other older generation of proletarian revolutionaries gave presentations and performances, which were praised as "representatives of the Southern School Suona Art" and were well-known in the capital.

Later, Mo Baihuai, who played the local accent of the stone drum, opened up a world outside the mountain. He took the suona to perform in Xiangtan City's Beijing performance "The Ballad of the Tubular Car", which helped him win the "Wenhua Award". He has created many suona songs, and won many provincial awards such as "The Rhythm of Qingshan Township" and "Fengming Qingshan". He brought Qingshan Suona to the Great Hall of the People, Taiwan, Sweden, Russia...

Time flies, Qingshan Suona exudes more and more rich folk art charm. In 1996, Xiangtan County was named the first batch of "Hometown of Chinese Folk Art (Suona Art)". In 2008, Qingshan Suona was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage protection projects. And Mo Baihuai, who loves suona, has excellent skills, and single-handedly promoted the successful application of Qingshan suona to the World Heritage List, has become the national representative inheritor of this skill.

fire

The 36-year-old Zuo Tianlu, from Tongliang Village, Shigu Town, has more than ten people in his family who love suona. A few days ago, there was a family in Tongliang Mountain who held a white wedding. Zuo Tianlu performed for 4 consecutive days, and the daily income reached 400 to 500 yuan.

In the world of suona, time seems to be frozen in stone drums and green mountains. Relying on the business of weddings and funerals, Zuo Kehe used to play suona for his whole life. Later, his son Zuo Duhua was like this, and it was still the same when he arrived at Zuo Tianlu, his grandson. The business is still as busy as it was back then. Sometimes Zuo Tianlu has to catch up with several venues a day, and sometimes he does not eat at home for months in a row.

Qingshan Suona still has a broad mass base. As a national representative inheritor, Mo Baihuai is naturally quite gratified. However, his "ambition" is obviously not satisfied with this.

More than 20 years ago, he began to lead the field investigation of Qingshan Suona. Visited old artists one by one, recorded and sorted out sentence by sentence, and translated the obscure Gongqi notation into the more popular notation, sorted out more than 370 precious songs, and recorded more than 800 minutes of original ecological video. Now that he has relegated to the second line in advance, he has more time to study and organize Qingshan Suona, which is the happiest thing for him.

Cultivating backbone successors is also what he has been doing. He handed down his skills, insisted on teaching the purest and most traditional Qingshan Suona, and left more performance opportunities for young artists, such as Zuo Duhua, Mo Huixin, Zuo Tianlu and other representative inheritors of the fourth and fifth generations. From the depths of the mountains to the domestic and foreign stage.

Seeing that the rural tourism in Tongliang Mountain is getting more and more popular, he discussed with Zuo Tianlu again, and plans to organize a suona training class in Tongliang Village, and do a good job of "tourism + culture" articles, so that more people can understand and learn The most orthodox Qingshan Suona.

Some questions often make Mo Baihuai ponder. For example, the funds for the protection of intangible cultural heritage are insufficient, and some young people are eager to go out and perform to make money after learning some basic skills. As soon as he thought about it, he felt that the time was not for me.

Time is silent, waiting for the flowers to bloom. The protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage is an eternal issue that requires the joint participation of all parties. Fortunately, more and more young people are joining in now. Listen, Zhu Dian sounded the suona again.