At ten o'clock in the evening, the more than two-hour live broadcast ended, and the six members of Peixian Suona Cao's family put down their musical instruments.

More than two hours of high-intensity live broadcast, the back of the costume was already sweaty, and even the mouth that had been playing was slightly swollen, but everyone was very happy: a live broadcast, nearly one million likes, and more fans Not a lot.

This has been the daily routine of Cao's class in the past month: non-stop creation and rehearsal every day, and two live broadcasts on Douyin at 10:00 in the morning and 8:00 in the evening. Although offline performances have been affected by the epidemic, they have gained more than 200,000 fans in just one month online, and the income obtained through rewards is close to the offline income before the epidemic.

This makes everyone believe that the suona, as the "king of a hundred instruments" of traditional folk music, still has many fans; in the Douyin live broadcast room, they can make their stage bigger and the high-pitched suona sound get more points Thumbs up.

The family has been passed down to six generations, and the suona has become the local "top stream"

The class leader of the Cao family class is Cao Henan (stage name), the only provincial non-genetic person in Pei County, Xuzhou, and the president of the County Suona Association. He was born in a suona family, and his grandfather's grandfather would play the trumpet. When his father Cao Weibang came, he had become the head of the Cao family suona.

Cao Gao, the son of Cao Henan, told the Yangzi Evening News/Ziniu News reporter that Pei County is the "hometown of suona". The local history of suona can be traced back to ancient times, and this folk art is widely circulated locally. In the 1970s and 1980s, there were more than ten local suona performance teams, with more than 10,000 employees. To use a fashionable Internet catchphrase, Caojiaban can be regarded as the "top class" of the local suona team. Cao Jiaban has also participated in many competitions at all levels and has been invited to tour all over the world.

(Caojiaban is one of the few fixed suona performance groups in Pei County, and has a certain reputation locally)

For suona artists who rely on folk performances for a living, the epidemic that started in 2020 has had a great impact: under the normalized prevention and control of the epidemic, many performances cannot be ordered, and folk weddings, funerals, and marriages also advocate simplicity and less crowds. Cao Ga said that about 20 years ago, the monthly income of suona artists could exceed 1,000 yuan, and the monthly income of suona artists could exceed 10,000 yuan at their peak. For a long time, the skill of suona could allow an artist to support the whole family with one suona. Take the Cao family as an example, the suona has also kept the family from going hungry for more than half a century.

However, with the development of the times, daily celebrations, performances and other activities are keen on new Western musical instruments. Many people are unable to make a living by playing suona alone, and they have changed careers. In addition, suona is difficult to learn, young people prefer to go out to work, gradually Even in the "hometown of suona", the number of suona teams in Pei County is now less than half of what it was at its peak. Caojiaban is one of the few fixed teams that still rely on suona to make a living.

At present, there are more than ten regular members of the Cao family class, most of whom are relatives and younger members of the family. Usually, the main income model is to perform performances and celebrations. The plight of the offline market after the epidemic has caused these suona artists to seek ways to cross the border, hoping to allow their local folk art to access the digital fast lane and be seen and liked by more people.

The daily increase of fans is nearly 10,000, and the daughter-in-law of several generations of fans is welcomed by Cao Jiaban

During the epidemic, the performance was stopped, but the skills could not be abandoned. The suona players of the Cao family class often gather at home to practice various musical instruments that they play and cooperate with. Cao Ga said that after the pause button was pressed on the big stage, everyone from Caojiaban discussed that it would be better to open a Douyin account online and live broadcast every day, which should attract a lot of people. Although the mobile phone screen is small, the numbers behind it The stage of the link is bigger, so that people farther away can hear the suona of Cao Jiaban.

Just do it. On March 18, Cao Jiaban started the first Douyin live broadcast at his home in the unit building. What everyone did not expect was that the popularity of Douyin was so intense: by March 30, the number of fans had already exceeded the 11th day of playing Douyin and livestreaming with Caojiaban Suona in Peixian County. 100,000, an average of 10,000 followers a day. From the fourth day to the fifth day, the popularity of the live broadcast has already exceeded 10,000.

On April 5, the 82-year-old grandfather Cao Weibang also came to the live broadcast room. He is the father of Cao Henan, the grandfather of Cao Ga, and the fourth-generation descendant of the Cao family. He plays suona and has a history of more than 70 years.

Grandpa Cao was at the scene and played two ka dramas "Playing Golden Branches" and "Seventh Grade Sesame Official". Some netizens commented in the live broadcast room: I really didn't expect to see this on Douyin, the last time I saw it was the same 20 years ago, when I was in my hometown.

This is the first time that three generations have been on the same stage since the live broadcast for half a month. When grandpa played, Cao Henan was playing drums and gongs, Cao Ga’s electronic piano, and Cao Ga’s younger brother, Cao Gan, was in charge of the percussion instrument and accompanies grandpa. During the 3-hour live broadcast that day, the audience liked more than 2 million.

Cao Ga told a reporter from Yangzi Evening News/Ziniu News that when the live broadcast first started, there were many villagers nearby who came to watch the live broadcast, many of whom were old acquaintances and regular customers. Ban played the suona to welcome the door, but the one who played the suona changed from Cao Henan's father to Cao Henan, and later Cao Henan brought his apprentices and juniors. This is the charm of local art.

Many of the songs played by suona in the suona vibrato live broadcast room of Caojiaban in Peixian County are familiar to everyone, such as "Hundred Birds Chaofeng", "One Flower", "Pig Bajie Carrying Daughter-in-law", "Beautiful Woman with Lonely Lamp" and so on. Cao Jiaban also practiced and rehearsed a lot of popular songs and songs on the Internet. "The Son of Heaven", "Bao Qingtian", "Rap Face Makeup", etc. are all very skilled, and they can even play the recently popular "Compendium of Materia Medica". Blow a tune. Because they played a lot of songs, many netizens ordered them in the live broadcast room, and many young people imitated their suona performances on Douyin. They even found that foreigners were imitating them on Douyin.

(Cao Jiaban's suona performance has aroused the imitation of many young people)

The stage gets smaller, the world gets bigger, and local art touches the digital border

Cao Ga told reporters that the suona is one of the most difficult musical instruments to learn in folk music., "suona is the king of all kinds of musical instruments". In addition to the musical talent, the 8 holes of the suona cover the mouth. , tongue, hand, breath and other coordination, it is difficult for ordinary people to learn and succeed. In addition to the reasons for the prosperity of the industry, fewer and fewer people learn. I have also been learning suona under the guidance of my father since I was two years old, and now my three children and my brother's family have also entered the door under the leadership of their elders, becoming the sixth generation of the family's suona inheritors. Not long ago, the children Participated in the competition and won an award.

(The sixth generation of the Cao family class, three children Xiyue (right), Junming (middle), Junze (left) learned suona since childhood, and now they can perform on the same stage with their grandfather and father)

After the live broadcast of Douyin's account, Cao Jiaban's suona became popular. Cao Ga said that at the beginning, the team members broadcast live in the unit building. Later, he was worried that the daily high-frequency music performance would affect the neighbors, so he rented a venue specially, arranged some background and audio equipment, etc., and fixed it every day. Live online on Douyin, and train new songs and practice skills in the venue when not live. Now everyone is more and more proficient in the live broadcast, and more and more people like Caojiaban Suona in Peixian County, and they have also gained a certain amount of income through the live broadcast, which makes everyone more confident.

Cao Ga told reporters that in fact, when Douyin launched the live broadcast at the beginning, everyone just thought that the things of the ancestors should not be lost. I hope that a few like-minded people will get together to make music, and make this music possible through digital means and the Internet. Door skills have been passed down from generation to generation, attracting more people to like suona.

Now, after a month of live broadcasts, I did not expect so many audiences to like it. For each live broadcast, thousands of people are waiting in the live broadcast room. Some people leave a message to applaud him. Some parents said that they should send their children to learn suona...

All these made him and the members feel that although the current live broadcast room is not as big as the original stage, the number and distribution of the audience linked behind the mobile phone screen is far beyond the original local art. The audience's reward also gave them more confidence and motivation. He said that Cao Jiaban will continue to do it, hoping that this skill he loves can explore further artistic boundaries through digital means.