Introduction of Ansai Waist Drums

Ansei waist drums have a long history, originally used by the ancient military to increase morale and pass information, and here is used to express the joy of victory and the joy of the harvest. The sound of the drums is quite dense, strong pace, changing formations, strong shouts, showing the masculine beauty of men, in the international community is extremely prestigious...

The Ansai Waist Drum is a unique folk large-scale dance art form with a history of more than 2,000 years. The unique charm of Ansai Waist Drums is like a raging wind on the loess land, showing the simple and bold character of the farmers on the loess plateau in northwest China and flaunting a unique artistic personality. It has been displayed in Beijing, the capital of China, in Hong Kong, and all over China, and has attracted the attention of the world. The bold and rugged changes in movement and the vigorous and vigorous dance fully reflect the simple and honest personality of the people of the northern Shaanxi Plateau and their courageous and ferocious character. As early as 1986, Ansai waist drum won the first Chinese folk dance competition, the highest honor award, in recent years, it has been in the 11th Asian Games opening ceremony, Hong Kong's return to the celebration of large-scale activities such as performances, and went to Japan to perform. Ansai waist drum performance can be performed by several or thousands of people together, majestic momentum, exquisite performance is intoxicated, known as "the world's first drum". 1996, Ansai County was named by the Ministry of Culture as "China's hometown of waist drums"

Ansai Waist Drum

"Waist Drum" is a form of folk dance widely circulated in northern Shaanxi, especially in Ansei County in Yan'an area, Yulin area, Hengshan, Mibi, Yulin and other places are most prevalent, and it is one of the folk dances of Shaanxi that has a great influence -.

Shaanxi waist drum has a broad mass base and a long history of development. In some of the main circulating areas, almost every village has a drum team and every family has a drummer. And it has been passed down from generation to generation, and has never failed. Because of its long circulation, wide range, the number of participants, so the basic form of the dance and rhythm, although roughly the same, but in different areas, the formation of their own different performance styles and customs. The Ansai Waist Drum is one of the representative ones.

Ansei waist drums are mostly performed collectively, and the drummers (called "satchel drums" or "kick drums") are as few as dozens of people, and as many as a hundred or more. The team includes pulling the flower female corner, umbrella head, savage mother-in-law, savage Han and other roles, and "running donkey', "water boat", and other small programs such as the composition of the vast and mighty folk dance team. In the performance emphasizes the overall effect, requires the action of the neat unity and formation changes in the normative, mainly through the drummers bold and rugged dance and powerful drumming skills, fully demonstrated in the man born on the Loess Plateau men's masculine beauty.

Ansei waist drum has a complete performance program and activity customs. In the past, it was performed in festivals and temple fairs, and the annual Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival is the centralized activity time. Before the start of the event, the president of the temple (elected by the village) to organize sacrificial activities, known as "visit the temple": the dance team under the umbrella head, beat up the gongs and drums, blowing the oboe, and sometimes carry a whole pig whole sheep and other offerings to the temple to burn incense to the gods, praying for the gods blessed with good weather and prosperity of the country and people's peace. And in the temple square kicking and punching for a while, intended to entertain the gods. "Visit the temple" end, the first eight or nine after the first month, the drum team will begin the door to the New Year activities, commonly known as "along the door. There is a local proverb: "gongs and suona straight sound miles, buttocks under the stick pry miles!" The masses could not sit still. At this time, the waist drum team according to the situation in the village in order to walk around the house, in the courtyard of the main house, kiln performance for a while, the umbrella head according to the situation of each family, touching the scene to sing a few auspicious rice-planting songs to express the intention of the New Year's greetings. The host family believes that the waist drum team into the yard into the house, beating, jumping and singing, can eliminate disasters and disasters, peace in all seasons. This may be the ancient "townspeople Nuo" customary legacy. Sometimes two teams of waist drums on the way to meet, generally by the umbrella head of each other singing rice-planting songs, *** congratulations on the New Year, make way, but sometimes there will be a mutual failure to give way to the situation, at this moment we have to compete in the art of competition, to compete for a high and low. The drums and gongs of the two teams were in full swing, and the sound of suona and waist drums was like the rolling of spring thunder. Drummers beat and jump as much as they like, like crazy, playing to the climax, the drums will stop for a while, and the umbrella head of both sides will come out to sing to each other, which is also an aspect of the competition skills. Until there is a team of the first corner of the chaos, action is not unanimous, drums, formations are not unified to a piece or the song on the answer, even if the loss, and then take the initiative to make way for the winner to go first.

"Along the door" after the end of the neighboring villages between the waist drum team will have to pay their respects to each other, each other visit, the exchange of performances, which is the same as the Shanxi rice-planting song, called "take color door". The first month of the fifteenth, the village drum team gathered in the square, began to compete with each other than each other activities. Drummers from all walks of life show their skills and compare each other's strengths and weaknesses, becoming the culmination of the year's waist drumming performances. This is not only active rural Spring Festival recreational activities, but also through each other to observe and learn from each other, promote the popularization and improvement of the waist drum. That night will also be held "turn the lights" (also known as "turn nine qu"), almost everyone is competing for the tour, the whole family with the turn. At that time, drums and music, lights flashing, waist drum team in front of the guide, followed by the crowd, presenting a lively and extraordinary scene.

The activities of the drum team often continue until the 17th or 18th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, and end only after sacrificing to the God of the Land. After that, the townspeople went to prepare for the spring plowing.

The performance of the drums can be broadly categorized into "road drums" and "field drums".

"Road drums" is a form of performance in which the drum team walks and dances while marching, led by two umbrella heads, followed by a dance team consisting of sidecar drummers and pulling flowers B - umbrella head followed by a sidecar drummer, called "head of the road drums," he is bound to be a skilled drummer. He must be a skillful drummer, and he commands the whole team's movements and rhythms. The back of the team, is dressed up as a barbarian woman, barbarian clowns, some dressed up as the Monkey King, Pigsy and other characters in the Tang Monk scriptures, twisting at will, teasing and making fun to add to the joyful atmosphere of the festival. "Road drums" due to the performance in the march, the general action is simple, small amplitude, mostly do "cross step", "walk step", "horse step around the waist? and other movements. Commonly used formations are "single street", "double street", "single dragon tail", "double dragon tail" and so on.

The "field drum" refers to the performance of the waist drum team arrived at the performance place, open the field after the performance form. At the beginning, the head of the umbrella waved the umbrella, and then the drums and music sounded, and the dancers danced with the head of the umbrella. This section is called "stepping on the field", performing at a slow pace, the purpose is to open the field, open the team, and stabilize the audience's mood. The second part of the song and dance, the performance of the tempo gradually faster, the action amplitude is larger, the formation changes a lot. Commonly used formations are "Divine Building", "Ancient Temple", "Hanging Gold Medal in front of God", "Fortune Keeping Head", "Monk's Tour of the Gate" and so on. To the introduction of the "sun arc" pattern, umbrella head stood to the center of the field to lead the singing of rice-planting songs, singing depending on the occasion and the object, "visit the temple", there are temple offerings, the general performance of the New Year's greetings to the audience, there are also celebrating the harvest and wishing good luck and other content. Umbrella head singing, the dancers at the edge of the field in slow circles, and repeat the last sentence of each section of the catch-singing, commonly known as "catch the sound". After singing, the umbrella head exits the venue, and the satchel drums and flower pulling enter the show, coming out of a variety of complex and changing formations. At this moment is not limited by time, the dancers to show their skills, passionate emotions, ups and downs, so that the performance reached a climax.

In recent years, in order to emphasize the skills of the satchel drums, Ansai Waist Drums performs the "field drums" by the satchel drums in the field alone. Drummers in the head of the drums under the command of the drummer, the spirit of exhilaration, drums dancing wildly, at this time only to see the drumsticks waving, colorful silk flying, drums, such as thunder, shocking the earth, the sound force is compelling, extremely infectious.

After the end of this section, then interspersed with the performance of other forms of small field programs, such as "donkey", "water boat", "stilt walkers", " Two ghosts fighting", "big head monk" and so on. The number of programs depends on the talents and conditions of each village. After the end of the small show, a big show of waist drums follows. At this moment, the gongs and drums are beaten quickly, the suona is blown tightly, the drumming is more intense, and the mood is more cheerful, so that the whole show ends in a strong atmosphere and high emotions.

Ansei Waist Drums are based on different styles and rhythms of the original cultural and martial arts, "cultural waist drums" are relaxed and happy, dashing and lively, with a small range of movements, similar to the style of rice-planting songs; "martial waist drums" are cheerful and fierce, rough and unrestrained, and have a large kicking and punching, Jumping and rotating movements, especially the drummer's aerial leaping skills, giving people a martial, exciting feeling. At present, the waist drums of Wen and Wu are gradually combined to form a new style, and the two places of Xihekou Township and Zhenwudong in Ansei have the most characteristic features. They vividly reflect the naive and simple temperament and character traits of the local people. Especially in the performance, and organic blend of folk martial arts and rice-planting dance movements, relaxation and tension, alive and not chaotic, in and out of order, majestic, strong. The masses praise it as "generous style code hard". Ansai waist drum style characteristics can be summarized as follows:

1. Through the changes in the rhythm of the expression of the dancer's inner passion. Dancers can not help but slightly shaking their heads and shoulders when they hit the drums, so that the inner feelings and the outer rhythms of the organic combination of both God and shape, harmony and ease;

2. Dancers swinging the drumstick have a hard, whether it is up to hit, hit the bottom or wrap the waist to hit the drumstick with both hands to be thrown away. But although hard but not barbaric, it seems to be upright and thick, and still does not lose its sense of finesse;

3. When doing kicks and jumps, whether it's a big kick, a small kick, or stomping action, there should be a stock of "brute" strength. Rhythmic, difficult, on behalf of the Ansai waist drum rough and bold, strong and spicy style;

4. Drumming and turning is the key to the performance of the Ansai waist drum. In the dance, all squatting, kicking action will turn around, turn around must be fierce, especially to do air jumping landing squatting, turning around, while starting a set of action combinations, must be in a fixed beat, the use of rapid force in order to complete the action of the changes and connections;

5. The complexity of the form of the movement, jumping amplitude is large. With the acceleration of the rhythm of the performance, the foot began to complex kicking and jumping, and increase the amplitude of the body swinging from side to side. Such as doing "horse stomp", "even turn", "horse jump" and other actions, the dancers use the lunge backward jumping twice, and then the left leg stride forward, the right leg stomps and rises, the potential as a dragon and tiger leaping. The momentum is like a dragon leaping over a tiger, showing a state of mind of tenacity and hard work.

Satchel drums dress dress and traditional opera. In the martial arts in the similar, wearing black tight qua; head wearing a straw hat circle; wear beard, face to red, eyebrows to thick, when the performance of the beard to swing open. With the change of time, the dancer's costume is also changing. In recent years, the waist drum costume in the area of West Hekou Township, has been close to life, and Zhenwudong waist drum team's costume; still retains the ancient warrior's dress, head tie hero scarf, waist girdle war skirt, foot stirrups red tasseled shoes, rather like the ancient battlefield soldiers and generals.

Ansei waist drums in addition to the dancers themselves hit the drums as the main accompaniment, there are also folk drumming band accompaniment, musical instruments are drums, cymbals, gongs, etc., and suona playing song, commonly used song (So Shan Ling).

Ansei waist drum form and development, and the local historical and geographical environment and folk customs are inseparable. Ansai is located in the northern part of the Yan'an area of Shaanxi Province, a vast area, gullies and ravines, the Yan River meanders through the territory, is a typical loess plateau landscape. Historically, it is a military town, known as the "throat of the upper county", "the key to the northern gate," known as one of the border fortresses to resist foreign invasion. Local people say, as early as in the Qin and Han Dynasties, waist drums were regarded as indispensable equipment by the garrison generals as well as swords, guns, bows and arrows. Encountered enemy raids, the drums alarm, pass the message; two armies against the battlefield, to drums to cheer; victory in battle, soldiers and drums to celebrate. With the passage of time, the drums gradually developed from military use into a folkloric dance when local people prayed to the gods, wished for a good harvest, and celebrated the Spring Festival, thus making the drums have a greater mass, but in the style of drumming and performance, it continues to retain some of the Qin-Han generals' vigorous and heroic posture.

In 1981, in Yan'an City, neighboring Anse County, Liangcun Township, Wangzhuang Village, a small hill called "tomb collapse", the masses in the plowing found an ancient tomb. Which unearthed the same shape, character modeling of the two waist drum portrait bricks, are turned mold molding after firing. By the Yan'an area of cultural relics and archaeology experts, the Department of the Song Dynasty. Portrait bricks shaped by the drummer, the waist sat on a fine drum, side, head to the left after raising the left foot on the ground, the right leg before the cross stirrups, both hands a high and low as a hammer drums; the left side of a person for the cymbals, jumping up, sucking the left leg, eyes to the left, both hands in front of his chest cymbal shape. The drummer is bare-shouldered, wears lantern pants and a colorful sash around his waist, which floats to the bottom of the front. Especially the drummer's movements and image, quite similar to today's Ansai waist drums in the "horse stance stirrups" of the fourth beat and "forward progress" of the second beat. Waist drum portrait brick picture clear, beautiful shape, vivid performance of China's Song Dynasty in the northern Shaanxi region of the waist drum performance, the study of the historical origin and development of the northern Shaanxi waist drums, provides a valuable and informative cultural relics information.

In 1942, Yan'an and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border area, the new rice-planting movement, so that the Ansai drums of this ancient folk art has been developed, and become hundreds of millions of people celebrating victory, celebrating the liberation of a symbol, and is known as the "Victory Drums", all over the land of China, the revolutionary movement of literature and art in the glorious annals of history. In 1951, Ansai waist drum to participate in the National Folk Music and Dance Festival, by Ansai Fengjiaying village of Ai Xiushan and other folk artists to the Chinese Youth Cultural and Industrial Troupe taught the waist drum technique, held in Budapest, the World Youth and Student Gala after the performance, won the Grand Prize, which made the Ansai waist drums famous at home and abroad.