Yangko Opera (Shuozhou Yangko Opera)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Yangko Opera (Shuozhou Yangko Opera)

Applicant: Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province

Project No.: 214

Project No.: Ⅳ - 70

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Shanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province

Protection unit: Shuozhou Shuocheng District big Yangko inheritance Research Center (Shuozhou Shuocheng District big Yangko Troupe)

Introduction to Yangko Opera (Shuozhou Yangko Opera)

Applicant: Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province

Yangko opera is a popular folk opera in northern China, mainly distributed in Shanxi, Hebei, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shandong and other places. It originated from the songs sung by farmers when they worked in the fields. Later, it was combined with folk dance, acrobatics, martial arts and other performing arts. It sang the program with story plot during the social fire in the first month of each year, and gradually formed the form of opera. In the middle of Qing Dynasty, after the prosperity of Bangzi opera, Yangko opera in Shanxi, Hebei and Shaanxi drew on and absorbed the repertoire, music and performing arts of local Bangzi opera to varying degrees, and gradually developed into stage performance and evolved into local opera.

Yangko opera is named after the rising or popular areas, such as Qitai Yangko, Shuo Yangko, Fanshi Yangko, Xiangwu Yangko in Shanxi, Dingxian Yangko, Longyao Yangko, Yuxian Yangko in Hebei, Hancheng Yangko and Shanbei Yangko in Shaanxi. Some of these Yangko mainly sing folk songs, such as Qitai Yangko, Hancheng Yangko and Shanbei Yangko; some folk songs are combined with plate type changes, such as Shuo county Yangko, Fanshi Yangko and Yuxian Yangko. The main singing and plate type mostly come from Bangzi tune, and plate type has head type (Adagio), two type, three type, medium type, scattered type and rolling type, among which the folk songs are collectively referred to as "training tune" They include Siping training, kuacacia training, Gaozi training, Xiashan training, falling money training and tuimen training. Banhu, dizi, Sanxian and other accompaniments are used in singing, commonly known as "bangzuozi"; some of them belong to plate changes, such as Dingxian Yangko and Longyao Yangko. The singing plate is composed of Adagio, Erxing (Erliu), Allegro, Sanban, Daoban, etc Bangu or bang Festival, most do not orchestral, only gongs and drums accompaniment, so also known as "dry board Yangko.".

The traditional repertoire of Yangko opera can be divided into two types: small play and big play. Small play is commonly known as "shuashuaxi", including "Wang xiaokuai", "Jie", "guaimozi", "xiuhuadeng", "make small shirt", "Tianqi Temple", "xiaoguxian", "Lanqiao meeting", "Lvmeng zhengquzhai" and so on. Big play includes "Huating meeting", "jiuqiyi", "Luhua", "riyuetu", "Liyue"《 Biography of the White Snake, changing wives of the old and the young, Liang Shanbo going down the mountain, Li Da Naodian, Ding Deng, Ni Yao, Wu Yudai, Jiang Lang divorcing his wife, Lu Lin meeting, an an an sending rice, etc. In Yangko opera, there were only "three gates" of clown, Xiaodan and Xiaosheng, and then "three gates" of Xusheng, Hualian and Qingyi were added. Its musical singing absorbed the characteristics of Bangzi tune, formed a compatible system of Qupai style and banqiang style, and its performance was greatly enriched and improved.

Yangko opera is flexible and free in form, and is good at expressing real life. During the Anti Japanese War, Yan'an and other anti Japanese base areas carried out the new Yangko opera movement, reformed the music, performance and dress of Yangko opera, and edited and performed such plays as brother and sister reclaiming wasteland, husband and wife literacy, and Niu Yonggui wounded, which showed the masses' participation in production, learning and fighting against the enemy. The development of Xinyang opera movement not only created a new form of drama new opera, but also promoted the innovation and development of Yangge opera and other folk operas. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, with the support of the party and the government, Yangko has been developed to varying degrees. Professional troupes have been established in Shuo county, Fanshi County, Ding county and Longyao county.

After the founding of the people's Republic of China, with the support of the party and the government, Yangko has been developed to varying degrees. Professional Yangko troupes have been set up in Fanshi and Xiangyuan of Shanxi Province, and Yuxian of Hebei Province. The singing level of actors has been further improved through standardized training. But after entering the new era, Yangko opera, as a small folk opera, is not only facing fierce competition with big operas, but also being squeezed by modern popular songs and dances, with less and less performance activities. Many kinds of Yangko opera are on the verge of extinction, which is in urgent need of attention and support from all walks of life.

Shuozhou Yangko is a comprehensive folk art form integrating martial arts, dance and opera. It is popular in Shuozhou City and the surrounding areas of Jining, Hohhot, Baotou and Hetao in Southern Inner Mongolia. It also exists in Zhangjiakou of Hebei Province and cities and counties near Shanxi Province of Shaanxi Province. Shuozhou Yangko, which was performed by yangko dance teams in squares and streets in the early stage, has a long history. Martial arts was added in the Song Dynasty, and story content was added in the late Qing Dynasty. Now it is performed in folk art forms of dance and opera.

Yangko, which is mainly based on dance, is called "kick drum Yangko". It is mainly performed in festivals, birthday celebrations, birthday wishes, son-in-law worship, and other folk customs. The total number of performers is 108, but there are also 30 or 50. Male role is called "kick drum", female role is called "pull flower", men and women perform in pairs. Most of the actors dressed up as the characters in "Water Margin" and "journey to the west", performed rough and unrestrained. There are a series of programs in the performance process, such as paying New Year's greetings at home, performing in square, praying in the courtyard, sitting in the lamp office, suppressing evil spirits in the street, burning incense and sacrificing the wind, visiting the garden in the lamp house, spinning the fire and taking the next journey. Performers, small venues and street shows each have their own forms of performance. Yangko, which focuses on acting, is called "big Yangko". Dayangko's singing focuses on the local popular folk tunes, and draws on the singing structure and melody of other operas, forming a unique "complex" of banqiang and Qupai. The repertoire mainly consists of Taoist stories and folk stories.

Shuozhou Yangko has been popular in the local area for a long time, and evolved into different art forms, which provides fresh materials for the study of the development, spread and evolution of Chinese folk art. Due to the impact of modern multi culture and the time limit of performance, Shuozhou Yangko, like other traditional folk art forms, is gradually on the verge of danger, and the time for rescue and protection is not waiting for us.

Chinese PinYin : Yang Ge Xi Shuo Zhou Yang Ge Xi