The Style and Characteristics of Agricultural Music and Dance in North Korea

South Korea's agricultural music dance dances with elephant hats.

Reporting area or unit: Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province

During the agricultural music and dance performances, each village sent its own powerful dance team to participate in local celebrations. At the front of the dance team, there is an order flag and an agricultural flag with "agriculture is the foundation of the world" as the leader, followed by a man who plays Xiao Gong at the head of the team as the chief commander. Under his leadership, bands with Taiping Xiao, trumpet and various drum instruments and various disguised figures formed the ritual part of the dance team. Next, there will be a group of actors performing small encouragements, flat encouragements, long encouragements, fan dances, crane dances, hat dances, mask dances and pantomime, and the number of participants is unlimited. Elephant hat dance is an important form of agricultural music and dance, with various types and dance techniques, including long elephant hat, medium elephant hat, short elephant hat, line elephant hat, feather elephant hat, tail elephant hat and spark elephant hat. Its tail-swinging skills include swinging left and right, standing back and forth, single pendulum, double pendulum, even three pendulum, standing pendulum, squatting pendulum, kneeling pendulum, flapping and so on. The elephant's tail is several feet long and several feet long. Shaking the elephant hat is the basic action of the elephant hat dance, and it is also a unique performance skill. During the performance, the dancers shook their heads frequently with the strength of their necks, and their hat-throwing movements were innovative, such as "flat", "left and right", "main" and "exposed shaking". They can swing and jump at the same time, and perform difficult actions such as "swinging across" and "bending over", which drives the ribbon on the hat to form a dynamic ring with smooth lines. Elephant hat dance is a group performance, which is very particular and divided into certain steps and procedures. First, the music begins. First of all, swing the short elephant hat, match the tambourine and do simple dance movements. Then put on an elephant hat, with a long drum, and do body movements such as drilling, rotating and turning; Finally, one to three people waved the elephant hat and made difficult movements such as jumping paper, going up the steps and circling people, so that the dance reached its climax. In the dance, tambourines, long drums, side drums, gongs, small gold, flutes, piccolo and Korean suona are always accompanied. The elephant hat dance is lively and elegant, with a cheerful and comfortable rhythm, which fully embodies the spiritual outlook and national temperament of the Korean people in their work and is a precious wealth created by the Korean people in their long-term life.

manufacturing process

The special production technology of elephant hat determines the performance mode of elephant hat dance. At first, the elephant hat was made by sawing a gourd in half. A wooden stick is inserted at the bottom of it, and then a long window paper is tied with a cowhide rope and fixed on the wooden stick. There are many kinds of hats worn by dancers, most of which are made of hard plastic, and their ribbons have also evolved into cellophane, which can be divided into long elephant hats, medium elephant hats, short elephant hats, line elephant hats, feather elephant hats and spark elephant hats due to different characteristics. The long, medium and short elephant hats are named after the different lengths of ribbons. The short one is only 1 meter, and the old one is 12 meter. At present, the longest is 28 meters. Others are named after different materials and decorations of ribbons and hats. For example, the feathered elephant hat is named after tying 10 egret feathers together and tying them on the tip of the elephant hat to form a swaying belt; Spark elephant hat is tied with dozens of fireflies on a long belt, which looks like fireflies flying up and down during the performance, and it is extremely dazzling.

Korean agricultural dance and Qili dance

Reporting area or unit: Benxi City, Liaoning Province

Begging for food dance is a kind of self-entertainment folk dance. It not only absorbed the essence of "duet" in tug-of-war, but also incorporated the song and dance part of "begging for food" into it, forming a unique performance form. Begging for food dance has relatively stable traditional programs, but it is not completely limited by traditional programs. Performers can dance according to the mood of the scene, and the whole dance has strong improvisation. When the performers are in high spirits, they show their magical powers, and the male shakes the elephant hat to make the tassel fly and rotate, drawing a beautiful arc; The girl spins quickly while playing the long drum, expressing her feelings with the sense of movement and beauty of her body; Older actors not only pay attention to the charm of dance, but also pay attention to posture, and their movements are varied. They can express their inner joy incisively and vividly through improvisation. Begging for food dance is a typical representative of Korean farmers' collective dance, with a large number of participants and wide influence. On holidays, there are a large number of people participating in the performance, and the scene is grand. Someone needs to come out to preside and guide the dance team into the performance venue. From the entrance of the dance team to the formation change, until the dance company is full, the performances are relatively stable. During the Korean wave activities such as "Doing Week", "Jiahui Festival" and "Jiahui Festival", due to the limitations of performance venues and participants, it is not necessary to enter the venue and take formation. Therefore, the performances have changed relatively. According to local conditions, the main characteristics of begging for food dance performance have been formed. The performance of begging for food dance (taking the festival performance as an example) needs to be held in a spacious venue, and men, women and children can participate. Every performance, from dozens to hundreds of people, but long drummers and round drummers are indispensable. The scene was warm and the lineup was strong. When entering the venue, in front of the dance team, there were young men and old people wearing "photo hats" and kept shaking the colorful long silk on their hats. Followed by the commander-in-chief of the whole dance team, a respected old man in the village. Clam in hand, walking with rhythm, led the dance team out. Followed by two round drummers and two long drummers, young men and women in the dance team and elderly people. At the back of the dance team, there is an actor who performs "duet". On their shoulders, stood a child, with colorful silk (or flowers) in his hand, dancing constantly. In the "duet", there should also be an old man over 60 years old, who should occupy a prominent position among the elderly. After the dance team appeared, it gradually formed a big circle. Round drummers, long drummers, young men and women, and old people went down to the scene in turn to perform their best skills. After the climax, the performers will return to their positions and retreat with the chief conductor's cymbals. Begging for food dance is mainly performed in Korean major festivals or large-scale activities, such as making a week (one-year-old birthday), returning to Jia (60th birthday), returning to marriage (60th wedding anniversary) or weddings, opening shops, building temples, repairing temples, etc. Old people in the village will take the lead in organizing song and dance performances. Begging for food dance is mostly passed down by the family.

custom

Korean people are good at singing and dancing. Whether it is a festive festival or a family gathering, men, women and children are used to dancing with gayageum accompanied by calm drums. Korean people living under Changbai Mountain in northeast China have been engaged in rice production in the north for a long time. In order to facilitate large-scale rice planting and management, they often adopt collective labor and mutual cooperation. Every time people go to the fields, they bring "Pinggu" and "Suona" to the fields with farm tools. During the break, people will improvise in cheerful drum music and use cheerful songs and dances to clear up fatigue. With the passage of time, these impromptu songs and dances have gradually formed an entertaining Korean folk dance, which runs through various traditional folk activities.

Cultural characteristics

The traditional Korean folk activity "Nongle Dance", which originated from agricultural labor and has ancient sacrificial elements, generally has two forms: one is to perform a plot performance in the form of dance and pantomime; The other is a mass performance at the beginning of the new year and during the harvest celebration, with enthusiastic and rich traditional dances. By then, each village will send its own mighty "Nongle Dance" dance team to participate in local celebrations. At the front of the dance team, the "Lingqi" and "Nongqi" with the words "Agriculture is the foundation of the world" are the leaders, followed by a man who beat Xiao Gong as the chief conductor of the team. Under his leadership, there are "Taiping Xiao" and "Trumpet" bands, various drum instruments and various disguised figures, which form the ritual part of the "Nongle Dance" dance team. Next are the actors who will take part in the performances of "small encouragement", "flat encouragement", "long encouragement", "fan dance", "crane dance", "elephant hat dance", "mask dance" and "pantomime". The performance of "Nongle Dance" consists of twelve parts. There are "Little Encouragement" performed by young men, "Luohan" performed by dancers, "Ping Encouragement" performed by many people, "Long Encouragement" performed by both men and women, and "Fan Dance" performed by many people with big flower fans. This dance originated from ancient witchcraft dance, as well as "Crane Dance" performed by actors in Raising the Home Front, and finally "Elephant Hat Dance". First of all, under the different rhythms of coolies, the "Little Encouragement" performed by young men appeared as the stylized opening program of "Agricultural Music Dance", followed by a group of dancers performing various formations and queues, as well as the "Luohan" performance with the rapid rotation of "Yanfengtai" music. With the progress of the program, the artistry of the dance performance becomes more and more intense. The traditional "flat encouragement" of multi-person performance is an "encouragement" that both men and women can participate in. The size of the "flat drum" used by everyone varies according to gender. The men's performance is mainly group dance, and the dancers run and jump in the fierce and jubilant drums, which fully shows masculinity. The solo dance of women with "flat drum" on their shoulders should not only show diverse and skillful drum skills, but also perform the graceful and vigorous dance of Korean women under the condition that "flat drum" frequently gives off pauses, setbacks and sudden and slow sounds. These two styles of "flat encouragement" always attract people's applause.

Although South Korea's "Long Drum Dance" is already familiar to everyone, many people mistakenly think that this dance is just a Korean women's dance. In fact, the folk "Long Drum Dance" is a dance that can be performed by both men and women. "Long Drum" is one of the most beautiful and unique musical instruments of hipsters. Tall and slender, with different timbres at both ends, it is expressive and distinctive to strike with drumsticks, whips and fingers. "Long Drum" is a musical instrument and a popular dance instrument. Accompanied by the melodious gayageum, they hold a thin bamboo "drum whip" about 30 cm long in their right hand, and with the cooperation of the palm of their left hand, they play clear, harmonious and different drums from the left and right drums. In the music, a group of dancers dressed in white coats, long pink dresses and "long drums" tied to their chests walked on the stage with gentle steps like spring water. Their graceful dancing with loose shoulders and lifted arms is as soft as wax flame, as light as weeping willows, and as leisurely as flying cranes, which is intoxicating and fascinating. After a slow version, the dancer pulled out another wooden drumstick and played a strong and fast rhythm. Dance with the drums into a crazy rotation, bold and unrestrained. At this time, the performers who were intoxicated in the climax began to show their unique skills of "inspiring people" and pushed the performance atmosphere to a climax. After the "Long Drum Dance", many people held large flower fans and began to perform the "Fan Dance" which originated from the ancient "Witch Dance". Dancers perform patterns and shapes with single or double fans. Next is Dance of Forgers. Dressed up as a group of red-crowned cranes with beautiful long-necked crane heads and two black wings, they spread their wings and danced a "crane dance" with light and elegant steps to pray for good luck and peace in the future. For the "farmhouse dance", the "elephant hat dance" of the last man in "The Grace of Raising" is always a striking and wonderful dance. One by one, young men dressed in festive colorful clothes and wearing ribbon round hats performed in order of standing posture, walking posture, propping posture and turning over to the ground, and threw the ribbon out of a horizontal, vertical and inclined arc with their heads. There are more skilled people in the center of the venue, performing difficult ribbon-shaking skills, up to 20 meters. Suddenly, a batch of colorful ribbons, like thousands of neon lights, were born. If thousands of raindrops fall into the blue sky, it will be dazzling and imaginative. At the climax, dancers holding "small drums" and wearing "flat drums" and "long drums" appeared again and danced again in colorful ribbons, which was the end of "Agricultural Music Dance". After the rich and enthusiastic "farmhouse dance", people will turn to the collective self-entertainment dance for self-entertainment as a continuation of celebrating the festival.