Have you seen the movie "Hundred Birds Chaofeng"? In the film, the suona craftsman Jiao Sanye and his apprentice Tianming's persistence in the suona skills made people cry. In Fuyang, there is also a "suona village". There are more than 1,600 people in the village, and about a quarter of the villagers are professional suona players. There are more than 60 suona performing teams. One team can perform 200-300 performances a year, and the cost of a performance is thousands or even thousands of yuan. Foreigners are attracted to study art

a heir
Blow out the suona

Walking into the high-rise natural village of Xiaopo Administrative Village, Linquan County, you can hear the intermittent sound of suona, reminding visitors that "Suona Village" is here. "In our village, there is no 'disturbing the people'." Zhang Tianying, a villager squatting under the shade of the trees at the head of the village, closed his eyes slightly and listened to the sound of the suona from time to time.

The 36-year-old Huang Lei is the 10th generation inheritor of the Huangjia Suona Class in Gaolou Village. He is also a county-level non-genetic person of Linquan Suona, and Deputy Secretary General of Anhui Anhui Suona Art Research Institute.

(Huang Lei and his wife Zhang Li)

According to the records of Linquan County, the ancestor of the Huang family's suona class was Huang Deguang. At that time, the suona class he formed with actor Bao Dechang from Ruzhou, Henan once circulated the saying that "the audience in the tragedy of Nanbaochui sheds tears, and the hilarious jokes of Beihuangchui burst into tears". . "At that time, suona was a means for villagers to make a living." The elders described to Huang Lei that his father and neighbors went out begging for food with a suona and a bowl.

In 1997, Huang Lei went to the Middle School Affiliated to the China Conservatory of Music and studied music theory with Hou Yanqiu, a teacher of the China Conservatory of Music. In 2002, Huang Lei joined an orchestra in Guangdong as a keyboard player. During this period, he fell in love with and married Zhang Li from the same village. In 2017, the couple returned to their hometown and began to form a team to take over business performances.

a family
Skills passed down through three generations

In Gaolou Village, there are three great suona families, the Huang family, the Zhang family, and the Yang family.

The Yang family suona has also gone through three generations. Yang Jingfu, president of the Wadian Town Suona Association, is the second generation descendant. Under his careful training, the third generation descendants, Yang Shuanghua, Yang Nana, Yang Lianghua, Yang Longlong and others, rely on their superb skills to establish The Qu Opera Troupe, the Henan Opera Troupe, and the Yang family have formed up to 10 teams.

(Children are practicing suona)

In addition to commercial performances on holidays, Huang Lei spends more time at home and tutors the children with his wife to learn how to play suona. "Many times, traditional suona artists can play and perform, but they can't speak, let alone teach, and I have some theoretical knowledge." Huang Lei said. In 2018, with the increase of popularity, the surrounding villagers and suona artists from many places sent their children to learn the arts. The farthest students came from Shandong, Sichuan and other places.

(Huang Lei is teaching students)

an economic chain
Using art to help rural revitalization

Xiao Haidong, secretary of the Party branch of Xiaopo Village, introduced that among the more than 1,600 people in Gaolou Village, about a quarter of them are professional suona players. "Many families have formed performing arts teams, and there are not a few families with two or three teams."

Xiao Haidong said that Gaolou Village is adjacent to Henan and lacks pillar industries. These suona-based performances have become the main source of income for many villagers.

According to Huang Lei's understanding, the performance of the team in the village is between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan per performance, and even in the twelfth lunar month, each performance can even reach 5,000-6,000 yuan. "A team can perform more than 200 performances a year, and the more famous ones are up to 300 performances every year."

(Building a big stage for suona culture)

Huang Lei told reporters that, like many traditional arts, the high-rise village suona used to have a strong opinion: it was not passed on to outsiders, it was passed on to daughters-in-law but not women, and it was not passed on to all disciples. After the reform and opening up, under the encouragement and guidance of the government, as long as they are interested, they will not hesitate to teach them, thus promoting the continuous growth of the suona team.

According to Yang Bing, a cadre of Bao Village in Xiaopo Village and the Deputy Mayor of Wadian Town Government, the local party committee and government are very concerned about the development of high-rise suona professional villages. Since 2009, the high-rise suona has never been absent from the cultural activities of the previous Goat Culture and Food Festival; in 2015, it participated in the first suona competition in Fuyang City and won the Excellence Award; on April 19, 2021, 126 villagers participated as suona players in the "Suona" organized by the Municipal Cultural Center. "Hundred Na Celebrating Party Students" event won praise.

Yang Bing said that Xiaopo Village currently has a furniture production factory, a handicraft weaving factory, and a professional farm for goats, pigs and cattle, and the development momentum is strong. "In the work of rural revitalization, there are various channels for the development of industries in the village. In terms of cultural industry, the suona culture and art of high-rise natural villages have also driven many people to find jobs, and the annual per capita income is as high as tens of thousands of yuan." Art and culture are the driving forces, creating a strong atmosphere of cultural activities in the town, and leading the villages to contribute to the construction of beautiful villages and the promotion of rural revitalization with the butterfly effect.