Folk Drumming Drumming Folk

Drumming is the soul of the land in my hometown. In the area of Taosi, a person from birth to old age, walks in the drum music all his life. Full-moon birthdays, weddings, funerals, festivals and sacrifices, every major event, and drum music are linked together to create an atmosphere, express feelings. Thousands of years in the yellow soil infiltration, the roots of the drum music, in the folk alive and unceasing, unceasing.

1

A group of farmers carrying suona, snare drums, cymbals and gongs assembled under the big elm tree at the entrance of the village, took out their belongings, and with a bit of debugging, the instruments in their hands suddenly emitted different musical sounds, like several streams of music. The instruments in their hands suddenly made different musical sounds, like several streams converging together, instantly flowing out a high-pitched, cheerful and melodious tune. The bride-welcoming team with colorful flags, stepping on the melody followed, from time to time there are uproar of the best man lit up the double sounding cannon, swung round and thrown in the air, sending out a cracking sound. Dressed in a new, chest tied with a striking red flower of the young man, anxious to follow the procession, from time to time to look back at the shy new daughter-in-law, naive face overflowing with happy smiles.

The sound of the drums gradually spread to every street and alley, and a half-grown boy ran and shouted, "The drummers are coming, the new daughter-in-law is back!" So the people who were busy at home and abroad, who were cooking, who were picking vegetables, who were guillotining the grass and feeding the cows, all put down their hands and ran towards the street.

At the crossroads of the street, those holding dolls in their arms, those with flour on their hands, and those with soles on their shoes, gathered together, laughing and joking, and vying to see the grandest of all the countryside's hustle and bustle. Some good people stood at the intersection and stopped the drumming group. The leader of the group understood the situation and asked his men to gather around, shaking their heads and making exaggerated movements to put on a show. The suona player's face was red, with an enraptured expression, the suona played a high-pitched and melodious, stirring up the hearts of the people. The song has not yet finished, the sound of applause has become a piece.

The hometown of the welcome scene, for many years so that the drums and music accompanied, cheerful, warm, festive, in the folk along into the habit. How many young girls, in the sound of drums and music married to a woman, began a life of prosperity. Who married, if the lack of drumming band, will seem cold, tasteless, even the master will be in front of the village people short three, lost face.

When my cousin's uncle got married, my third grandpa spent a whole winter making up reed mats in order to hire a drumming troupe. In the winter night, in order to save charcoal fire, he was in the cold room to cut open the reeds one by one, peeled off the outside leaves, and then asked the cousin to put under the shaft of a thin gabion, and then, one-legged kneeling on the ground began a long time of weaving. On market days, he drove a donkey cart over a big ditch to sell reed mats at the Taoji market across the ditch. If he was lucky, someone who was building a new house or getting married would reserve a few mats and make an appointment to sell them at the next fair. Third Grandpa would hum a little song as he drove his donkey home. The wind was blowing, and he never drank a bowl of steaming goat soup.

One winter down, his rough hands covered with large and small wounds, legs due to cold limp, but the corner of the rough cloth bag, has been wrapped in a thick pile of money, "enough to hire a drumming class!" Third Grandpa felt that the bag was full of his face and hope. When the new aunt in red makeup married into the family in the sound of drums and music, three grandpa squinted his eyes, wrinkled face smiled into an old chrysanthemum flower.

2

After the wheat was cut, Grandma began to make flower buns and carry them in her flowery pocket to visit relatives in the surrounding villages. Or one day, some relatives also carried flower buns, dressed in new clothes, pushed open the door of the courtyard early, sat in the shade of the courtyard, and happily exchanged their harvests. My mother, who taught at the middle school, was on wheat vacation and was busy setting up a small square table with a few small dishes picked in the yard and making fragrant vegetable dishes or noodles to serve the guests. It so happens that there are neighbors old man to visit the door, they greeted together into the seat, *** talk about sang ma. Quite a "willingness to drink with the neighboring relative, the hedge call to take all the remaining cups" of the Tang style of ancient charm.

At this time, there are drums from the village alley from far and near, rolling. Someone shouted at the door: "Go to Tao Temple to see the social fire!" The relative heard this and pulled his leg to go. He was the village's drummer and was going to form a team to perform in the countryside. The old man also got up to say goodbye, to rush to the Tao Temple to see the fun.

Every year after the wheat harvest, the gongs, drums and stilt teams from all the villages in the area converge on Taosi Township, beating gongs and drums, twisting rice-planting songs, and celebrating a good harvest in the midst of drumming and bustling.

The layers of benches, stacked fifteen high, stand like towers in the sky. When the joyful gongs and drums knocked up, a nimble, strong man, holding a baton, blowing a whistle, broken step wind, teasing two large nose, high forehead, basin mouth round purpose of the big lion swinging his head and tail, climbed the "tower of heaven". The whole set of actions in the sometimes gentle, sometimes rapid drumming, and dance and performance, interesting, thrilling and strange.

Three grandpas squinted their eyes, looked up at the "tower top" of the Hanzi, smacked his lips and said: "This kid, really slippery bar!" I was also mesmerized to see the lion dancers and the two big lions in the "stool tower" on the roll and turn, prancing and jumping. The heart-stopping movements and brilliant performances attracted a lot of applause and made people forget to come back.

The program called "Lion on the bench" is a reserved program in the social fire. The man who led the lion to the tower of heaven, named Li Dengshan, is a villager of Taosi village. Years later, the "Lion on the Bench" was renamed "Tianta Lion Dance" and was selected as one of the first national intangible cultural heritage protection programs. Li Dengshan, as the heir to the "Tianta Lion Dance", has become a well-known figure in the village and even in the Jinnan area.

In all kinds of celebrations and art competitions, seeing him waving the lion dance stick, dashing and robust figure, I feel a kind of long-lost cordiality. That cheerful drumbeat, from the depths of the distant rustic countryside dense.

On a drizzly spring day, I went to Taosi Village with a colleague to interview the famous folk artist. The poplars by the roadside have sprouted, bright green, vividly dressed in the hometown of spring. In his farmhouse full of lion heads, benches, long dragons and other social props, once again met the famous lion dance heir. He formed the "Tianta Lion Dance" art troupe, has become an important part of Dingtao culture, step by step out of Niangziguan, on the world folk culture festival hall. Just when the tiger step windy strong man, has sideburns gray, become a nearly old man. He did not know, sitting in front of him, is the year the social fire crowd in the little girl looking up to him.

The sound of the drums is still there, as if in an instant, the years have lifted away how many years.

3

Running the drum car is the Fen Township of Yucun, South Anointed, North Anointed area of the grandest folk athletic events. Most of the performances and competitions are held during the Spring Festival or on the day of the Qingming Festival, which is a spectacular and inspiring scene. Competition, drums embedded in the chariot, the car needs three strong boys to drive - an experienced strong man in the yamen to support the yamen, two smart and fit on both sides of the hold yamen. Drum car on one side of a rolling pin thick long rope, dozens of people more than hundreds of people on both sides of the pulling rope, dragging the drum car wind speeding through. Drum car each standing two people, a drum, a gong, drums and gongs resound and urge people to move forward.

Running drum car will be bold and majestic drums and the beauty of the perfect combination of stronger and faster sportsmanship, with a simple and chivalrous cultural factors, performance of the people in this area of the plagiarism, wild, magnificent personality and momentum.

A cousin aunt married to Yucun. She was the daughter of her mother's uncle and was raised by her grandfather and grandmother because her parents died early. Cousin Aunt and Mother were very close, had endless words together, and made me beautiful red flat velvet shoes, which were comfortable and pretty.

According to the customs of my grandmother's area, the Ching Ming Festival, cousin aunt came in a hurry on the evening of the first day, for grandpa and grandma to send a snake steamed buns, pricked cattle two big flower buns, live one night, the next day early in the morning, said the village to run a drum car race, to rush back to fry the cake, and left in a hurry. Cousin aunt before the foot away, grandmother sat in the patio wiping tears, said cousin aunt when all the time is in a hurry, even a whole day can not stay.

Standing by the river with my mother, I watched my cousin, dressed in a red shirt and blue pants, flash into the reeds.

Cousin Auntie's deep-fried doughnuts are oily and fragrant, and they are prepared for the men who pull the rope. Pulling the drum carts is physically demanding and often requires a change of hands midway through the journey. Handover point, waiting at the roadside hanzi whistling up, replaced by the lads sweating, panting. At this time, the roadside baskets, filled with a variety of oil cakes, to entertain these warriors. The oil cake is each housewife carefully fried, different colors, different shapes, but carries the most simple warmth of the countryside.

Many of the farmers' women, like their cousins, put their love and emotion into the exciting drumming. The men pulling the rope on the top of the drums are getting old, and then the men are coming up again. The old cousin, can only sit on his own bed, listening to the noisy running drum car from the doorstep of the majestic drive through.

The mountains are high and the Fen River is long. The sound of drums and music, from time to time, from the courtyard, from the fields and lanes and strangles of the hidden, become a landscape of the countryside, a special and secret connotation. Alligator drums, earth drums, copper bells, stone chimes and other musical instruments unearthed at the Taosi site show that in ancient times they were used as carriers of rituals, in the form of combinations, and appeared in a variety of ritual activities.

All the sounds of folk music and drums have found their original source in this long, thick land. Drumming is a ritual and a grand expression of the spiritual totem of the common people for generations.

The sound of the drums permeates the soil under the feet and becomes a factor in the bloodline, carrying the light of ancient civilization and flowing in the simple folk customs for thousands of years.