As soon as the Qingyang suona sounded, everyone in the ravines and ravines of the Longdong Loess Plateau could hear it.

What kind of wonderful chemical reaction will this folk wind and percussion music, which flows in the mountain streams and echoes in the mountains, embrace pop music in the recording studio?

Ma Zigang, the national intangible inheritor of Qingyang Suona, has been thinking about this for years, and how to make Qingyang Suona, which has a history of more than 400 years, enter the hearts of more young people and move to a broader stage...

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On April 20, 2022, in the Dunhuang Art College of Northwest Normal University, Li Mingtao, a sophomore, is studying the suona professional course...

Li Mingtao was admitted to the suona major of Dunhuang Art College of Northwest Normal University two years ago. At the age of 14, he began to study suona with Ma Zigang. Speaking of the initial study of suona, Li Mingtao said that it was only because the parents signed up for the class and then followed Mr. Ma to study. The more he learned, the more interested he became. What he did not expect was that he eventually embarked on a professional road.

As the saying goes, "Five miles are different in style, and ten miles are different in customs." The Chinese suona, a highly expressive national wind music, has different styles in the vast land of the motherland due to different customs and cultural characteristics.

Qingyang Suona, also known as "Longdong Suona", blows thick and bright tunes with rich content and a long history. In 2006, it was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Speaking of the performance of teacher Ma Zigang and singer Tan Weiwei in the theme song "Flammable and Explosive" for the PC version of Fantasy Westward Journey, Li Mingtao said proudly: "My teacher Ma is amazing!"

"Suona is about to become refined", "The sound of the suona will turn the audience up", "the crystallization of the mutual embrace of fashion and tradition"... This is the praise given by too many young people like Li Mingtao to Ma Zigang's innovation in Qingyang Suona.

People often say: When the suona rings, it is either great joy or great sorrow. However, the local rhythm on the Loess Plateau, which has been taught by traditional artists, is gradually changing - it actively collides with modern pop music, with a passionate and hearty vocal tone, plus the thick and loud chorus part The suona of Qingyang has produced an instantly stunning effect. The most worth mentioning is that it has also changed many people's traditional understanding of Qingyang suona.

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From the folk "drummer" to the "national king of singing" and then to the "national representative inheritor", Ma Zigang started out as a rural drummer playing standard interval suona poles, and went all the way to university classes, compiling music texts, and now with the Cooperating with pop music, "I hope that Qingyang Suona, a long-standing folk culture and art in Longyuan, will go to a wider stage and develop with the development of the times." This is what Ma Zigang is looking forward to.

On the afternoon of April 19, 2022, Ma Zigang was busy in his workshop as usual. While sorting out the suona tutorial, he also prepared to record some songs and keep them as materials.

Qingyang Suona has undergone continuous inheritance and processing by generations of artists, and is famous for its numerous tunes, huge performance teams, extensive folk customs applications, unique performance skills and strong local characteristics. On December 20, 2012, with the approval of the State Council, Ma Zigang became the first national representative inheritor of the Qingyang Suona Art Project.

Ma Zigang said: "Learn a suona piece, you will soon, but if you want to be able to use it flexibly and have superb skills, you need to practice for three to five years. Now there are about 50 students studying suona with me. Suona should be learned while young. In the future, young people will continue to be the main force of Qingyang Suona. Let more young people fall in love with Suona, it is the top priority.”

According to the records in "Qingyang House Records", advocating music was part of the wedding and funeral customs and rituals in the Ming Dynasty. In the book "Ye Huo Pian" written by Shen Defu of the Ming Dynasty, it was said that "Ground Wind" and "Silver Twisting Silk" and other pieces of music played in the Jia and Long years also have the same name in Qingyang Suona. There is no fixed number of people in the Qingyang Suona group, ranging from two to a dozen.

Referring to traditional repertoire, Ma Zigang said: "Qingyang suona music cards have been passed down from generation to generation, and each song card has a distinct musical image, some are humorous, some are sentimental and sad, and there will be special music cards for red and white things, which are played during entertainment. Various folk minor tunes, such as 'embroidered purse', 'little herding cow', etc."

Many traditional music cards are mostly "secret and not passed on", and there is no ready-made music score information. Over the years, Ma Zigang has traveled all over the mountains and fields, looking for old artists, recording traditional music cards and writing music scores by listening to notes, visiting people, etc. A few years ago, he edited and published the "Compilation of Folk Instrumental Music in Qingyang Region". "The scores are still being updated continuously. With these efforts, there is still a long way to go before young people fall in love with suona." Ma Zigang Say.

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Among the vast folk music in China, Qingyang suona art, as a Qingyang "music dialect system" with a strong local flavor, has been deeply cast in the cultural life of the people of Longdong, nourishing and comforting people's spiritual hearts.

"Many people think that suona is only suitable for weddings and weddings. In fact, it can also be integrated with popular music. People in their 40s and 50s like traditional suona songs, while young people prefer suona songs. I keep the traditional suona when I play. Qingyang Suona style, but also continue to learn to play the songs that young people like." Ma Zigang said.

How did the intangible cultural heritage suona culture with oriental characteristics break away from traditional cognition and burst out with greater power?

Ma Zigang, who has never been interested in online games, did not have much impulse to cooperate with Fantasy Westward Journey at first, until he calmed down and learned that the game and the audience behind the game are a large number of young people. This moved him.

"She (Tan Weiwei) is high, I am low; she is dense, and I am sparse. This kind of music cooperation has both foil and integration, and finally completed this work." Ma Zigang said, "This cooperation with Menghuan Westward Journey is the right one. Qingyang Suona and I have played a great role in publicity, and I am very happy that more people and young people can know about Qingyang Suona. The rock music on Huangtupo can amaze everyone through games, and the most important thing is to let young people know about Qingyang Suona. People are paying attention, and I think this cooperation is a success.”

The cross-border linkage between traditional intangible cultural heritage and pop music has sparked a spark, and it has also rectified Ma Zigang's title of "King of Folk Music". In the whole work, the suona finally changed from a simple accompaniment to the protagonist that guides the style of the song - a wooden pipe, a copper bowl, and the "rusty" suona in Qingyang, Gansu, and it became popular.

Through this attempt, Ma Zigang not only changed his own understanding of the game, but also made him deeply realize that cultural needs need to keep up with the pace of the times, and there may be more possibilities for the modern expression of Qingyang Suona.

"Recently, some young musicians approached me to cooperate. In the future, I may have more new attempts. Next time, I may play a song for everyone on the city wall of Xi'an. In fact, I am looking forward to it myself. It penetrates the mountains and rivers, and blows into thousands of households." Ma Zigang said.