Artistic characteristics of Liangzhou's virtuous filial piety

As soon as I set foot on the land of Liangzhou, as long as many people gather, I can almost see such a picture of national customs full of local flavor: a blind artist, with three strings in his arms, sitting on the floor, playing and singing; Around him, standing, sitting or squatting, surrounded by the audience. The blind man's emotional singing is sometimes low, sometimes cheerful and sometimes sad.

This is Xiao Xian in Liangzhou. As a Han rap art rooted in Liangzhou folk, it can be said that "... she turned the tuning pin and tested several strings, and even before she played, we could feel her feelings." It exists as an aesthetic object of the public in an extremely straightforward and simple form, which is deeply loved by the masses and has strong vitality and artistic appeal.

The singing form of Xiao Xian in Liangzhou is very simple. If one or two other people play the flute and erhu, or play vegetables, wooden fish and other accompaniment, or several people sing the last sentence to strengthen the atmosphere, it is called "accompanying the sound."

The content of virtuous filial piety in Liangzhou is mainly based on the stories of ancient and modern heroes, married women, dutiful sons and grandchildren, emperors and princes, talented people and beautiful women, and includes the purpose of covering up evil and promoting good, telling the world when encountering business, and being virtuous and filial, so it is named "virtuous filial piety".

The lyrics of Xiao Xian in Liangzhou are mainly in Liangzhou dialect, which are humorous, popular and vivid, full of life breath and contain certain philosophy of life. The virtuous filial piety of Liangzhou is full of charm and touching only when it is sung in Liangzhou dialect. If you sing in another dialect, your artistic strength will be greatly reduced. Therefore, it is a unique and irreplaceable folk art form in Liangzhou. In singing, in order to enliven the atmosphere or arouse the emotions of the audience, artists sometimes improvise while communicating with the audience, rhyming with each other and making witty remarks, which are fascinating.

"... she turned the tuning pin, tested several strings, and even before she played, we could feel her feelings. Xiao Xian in Liangzhou, as a Han rap art rooted in Wuwei, has great vitality and artistic appeal. As soon as we set foot on the land of Liangzhou, no matter in villages and towns, farmhouses, streets and lanes, teahouses and restaurants, as long as people get together, we can see such a folk painting full of local flavor almost everywhere: a blind artist sitting on the floor with three strings in his arms, playing and singing himself. Standing, squatting or sitting, surrounded by the audience. The emotional songs of the blind are sometimes low, sometimes cheerful and sometimes sad; People's hearts are deeply influenced by him, either angry, happy, sad, sad, sighing or talking to themselves. In this rich local art atmosphere, people chew the ups and downs of life. Xiao Xian in Liangzhou exists as a mass aesthetic object in such a simple form and is deeply loved by the broad masses of the people.

As an ancient Han rap art, the content is mostly historical legends and folk stories, mainly telling stories of heroes, wives and concubines, filial sons and grandchildren, emperors and princes, talented people and beautiful women, etc., which contains the purpose of restraining evil and promoting good, keeping words and deeds, karma and filial piety for the virtuous. Therefore, Xiao Xian's lyrics are mainly in Liangzhou dialect, which is popular, humorous and vivid. Full of life breath, contains a certain philosophy of life. Xiao Xian's music retains many ancient vocals, absorbs the rich nutrition of Liangzhou Zaqu and local folk songs, and is full of rich and distinctive local characteristics. "Xiao Xian in Liangzhou" is mainly created and circulated orally, rather than relying on the recording and dissemination of words. This kind of oral creation and communication is always inseparable from the group of creation and communication. The people who inherit these contents are a group of artists who live at the bottom of society. Their language is usually the most popular language in life, and it can also be mixed with local languages. Although the prototype of this creation may also be works created by literati such as novels or legends, the stories told by artists have obvious folk characteristics and oral styles, which are passed down from generation to generation. At first, it was created by one person, but after countless people's inheritance, the content also developed in the direction that people liked.

In the story of "Twenty-four Filial Pieties Burying a Child for Mother", it was originally recorded as follows: "Han's family was poor. The mother tries to eat as little as possible for her three-year-old son. The giant said to his wife,' Poverty cannot support his mother, and his son is the denominator of food. How can you bury this son in a box? The child can have it again, but the mother can't get it back. His wife didn't dare to disobey, so she dug a pit more than three feet. Suddenly, he saw a pot of gold and said, "Guo Ju, a godsend son, is he an official?" ?

People-oriented, not people-oriented "You see, there are a few words in the original book that are clearly explained, but with the processing and circulation of the people, the story not only adds a lot of details, but also increases the situation that neighbors refuse to report to the government. Corrupt officials confessed without distinguishing right from wrong, and were later blamed by the Emperor of Heaven, and Guo Ju's son was also the top student in high school. From these changes, we can easily see that folk art always follows the development of people's lives. They not only reflect the reality, but also reflect people's wishes and values for life. The language that expresses these contents, that is, lyrics, is also full of folk characteristics. For example, the lyrics in "Three Sons Divide Wealth" and "Catch People One by One" say: "The sun shines on Dongpo, and Dongpo shines on the west slope (yeah). There are many suns on the east slope, many shade trees on the west slope, and many old people on the west slope. The use of these languages is popular and humorous, which sounds like casual conversation in ordinary farmland and outside the yard. This colloquial expression has undoubtedly narrowed the distance between the singer and the audience and increased the popularity of rap itself. The music of Xiao Xian in Liangzhou retains many ancient vocals, absorbs the rich nutrition of "Liangzhou Miscellaneous Tunes" and northwest folk songs, and is full of rich and distinctive local colors. The melody is smooth and beautiful, full of variety, and can improvise and vividly express all kinds of story characters. Rap is free and changeable, and it is generally set flexibly according to the development and change of the story, not sticking to one pattern. The length of the interlude is arbitrary, and it is also arranged according to the number and interest of the current audience.

The songbooks of Xiao Xian in Liangzhou are very rich, mostly with classical and traditional contents. In singing, according to the composition of the audience and the characteristics of the season, it can be divided into "Duan" and "Drama". "Duanzi" has less content, mostly one thing and one song. A lot of teaching and exhortation has been added to the short story, which is straightforward, concise and lively. Such as "Persuade Sister", "Xian Sao" and "Mother-in-law", the melody is the same, usually four sentences and one paragraph. "Drama" is suitable for singing in the slack season, and its content is mostly the romance of unofficial history, which can last for dozens to hundreds of hours. There are generally two types of dramas: letters from home and letters from home. The former focuses on life stories that reflect the world, joys and sorrows, such as White Parrot Pigeon Stealing Peach, Ding Lang Engraving Mother, Sweat Towel and so on. The latter mainly focuses on the relationship between emperors and princes and the rise and fall of state affairs, such as Xue Dongzheng and the biography of five women in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Some also reflect modern political events, such as "whipping the staff", "attacking the northwest" and "liberating Wuwei". For these contents, the audience has long been familiar with them, and most of them can hum three or two sentences, but because of the unique singing style of Xiao Xian in Liangzhou, they can still be deeply attracted. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, some new songs specially written by mass artists for blind artists, such as Raising Chickens in Wang Po and Blind Artists Seeing the Light Again, have also been deeply loved by the audience.

Xiao Xian in Liangzhou is a folk singing method with local characteristics and national traditions, which is straightforward, natural, authentic and unpretentious. Due to the limitation of the way of creation and circulation, there are some superstitious and even obscene things in some songbooks. Through the excavation, sorting and sublation of cultural workers, the artistic quality has been greatly improved, which has played a very good role in promoting national culture and publicizing Liangzhou, a famous historical and cultural city.

"Liangzhou Xiao Xian" is a kind of rap art that exists in Wuwei (Guliang), Gulang, Minqin, Jinchang, Jingtai and other areas of Gansu Province, and mainly spreads in Wuwei City. It is named after mainly singing stories that persuade people to be kind, guide people to be filial to the elderly, parents and praise loyal people. Lyrics are divided into "national letters" and "family letters". The "Credentials" praised the loyal people of various dynasties, such as Wu Zigu crossing the river, Xue Dongzheng, and so on. "Credentials" is huge in length and lengthy in content, and the singing form is divided into chapters. Sometimes it takes several days to finish a big book. The main content of "Letter from Home" is to sing "Twenty-four Filial Pieties". Twenty-four Filial Pieties is a filial piety classic compiled by Guo Juye in Yuan Dynasty. The book contains the stories of twenty-four dutiful sons from Shun to Huang Tingjian, such as "White Stealing Peach" and "Wang Xiang Lying on the Ice". Because of the freedom and variety of singing, artists can sing all the stories that can be told, such as seventy-two stories of An and selected passages from The West Chamber. After liberation, artists wrote many songs about the new society according to the social conditions at that time, including Lei Feng and liberation.

Northwest "and other tracks. Most of the artists who sing "Liangzhou Xiao Xian" are blind. They have no other source of livelihood. They only beg for food and clothing by "selling art" They either walk together, or are led by people with vision to make a living by singing in the streets. As long as they stop at one place, they will sing for days. In the past, when there were no advanced entertainment facilities such as TV and radio, their songs always attracted many listeners. When two or more people accompany, one sings the other and performs in turn. When there is no time to sing the whole long story, just sing some small comments and exhortations, accompanied by jokes and entertainment. According to artists, this kind of singing has been handed down from generation to generation since the Qing Dynasty, because Shen Qiyu, the last scholar in the Qing Dynasty, was regarded as a master of art by artists. (1) Oral: Xiao Xian in Liangzhou is usually sung by blind people, and the content of singing depends entirely on the artist's word of mouth, mainly on oral creation and circulation, rather than on the recording and dissemination of words, and has not been recorded in writing or processed by literati. Therefore, in Xiao Xian's lyrics, almost all of them use unprocessed spoken language, and a large number of lively, easy-to-understand, playful and true Liangzhou are used.

(2) Flexibility: The flexibility of Xiao Xian's lyrics language is mainly reflected in the length and change of lyrics. In terms of the number of words used in lyrics, the sentence length varies, with seven sentences in the majority, and four, five, eight-character and cross sentences are commonly used. There are even six sentences and nine sentences that are rarely used in other rhymes, and sometimes more sentences are used than crosses. Even in sentences with different words in the same aria, the oral part is freely played by the singer, which can be long or short and flexible. Xiao Xian's songbooks in Liangzhou are rich in official songbooks, most of which are traditional jokes. Generally divided into "national letters" and "family letters" two categories. Songs with the theme of the relationship between emperors and generals and the rise and fall of state affairs include Guoxin, which reflects modern political events, such as Biography of Five Women in the Prosperous Tang Dynasty, Guan Yunchang's Going to the Meeting Alone, Bao Gongan, The Cane of Whipping, Fighting Northeast China and Fighting Northwest China. Letters from Home mainly focus on life stories that reflect secular human feelings, joys and sorrows, such as butterfly lovers and Crane and Pigeon Stealing Peach. "Khan towel" and so on. The newly created influential books mainly include "Liberation of Northwest China", "Blind Artists See the Light Again" and "Raising Chicken in Wang Po".