What kind of folk opera wears a woodcarving mask?

Anshun local opera performed with wooden masks.

This unique form of folk drama originated from the traditional performing arts of Tunpu people in Anshun City, Guizhou Province. As a national intangible cultural heritage, it is famous for its unique performance form of wearing wooden masks. These woodcarving masks are affectionately known as facial masks, and the complexity and fineness of their production process are amazing.

The performance procedures of Anshun local opera are generally divided into unpacking, inviting gods, topping gods and sealing boxes. Among them, jumping is a formal performance, which is divided into setting up the DPRK, playing the table and returning to the DPRK. The rest is a Nuo opera activity, with exorcism and Naji elements.

The main performance form of local operas is singing and dancing. Singing is a kind of rap without musical instruments, regardless of occupation, only male and female roles, no difference between male and female voices. The characters in the play sing while telling stories. Its dance, in fact, is to fight, is to show the fighting scene.

He played more than 30 favorite books, including Xue Jiajiang, Yue Jiajiang, Di Jiajiang, Heroes of the Three Kingdoms and Tunpu Wagang Heroes. The content is very simple, only the story of the Battle of Kingoma Iron. There is no drama of a talented person and a beautiful woman, an upright official and a case-solving, an outlaw rebellion and a grotesque fairy. Only loyal ministers and good generals sang the drama of loyalty and serving the country, reflecting the era from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Ming Dynasty.

Inherited value:

1. Cultural value: the social function of the historical remains of Anshun local opera: its script structure preserves the research value of rap literature style in Song and Yuan Dynasties. Its rich research value of ancient folk cultural factors; Its unique mask technology highlights the aesthetic value; The unique historical and cultural value of Tunpu people; Its religious value of comforting the spirit and exorcising evil spirits.

2. Dramatic value: the research value of Anshun local opera Yiyang Gudiao: the comparative research value of its standardized ceremony and ritual dramas in Jiangnan and other regions: the research value of the dramatic factors contained in its performance programs; The research value of its development process in the transition from Nuo opera to drama in the history of China opera.

3. Social value: Local opera is an important part of Tunpu culture, which is isomorphic with other cultural phenomena of Tunpu people (language, costumes, architecture, beliefs, folk customs, art, etc.). ) The legacy of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the legacy of Jiangnan, which has been formed for 600 years, has attracted the attention of people at home and abroad.