Yangko Opera (Fanshi Yangko Opera)

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

Applicant: Fanshi County, 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: Fanshi County, Shanxi Province

Protected by: Fanshi County Cultural Center

Introduction to Yangko Opera (Fanshi Yangko Opera)

Applicant: Fanshi County, 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.

Fanshi county is named for its many temples. It is located in the northeast of Shanxi Province and belongs to Xinzhou City. Fanshi Yangko opera is popular in Fanshi county and surrounding areas.

Yangko was introduced into Fanzhi's Fendi and Baimashi area (now Yingxian county) in the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty. At that time, it was just a kind of square art of singing at street stalls. People called it "plaything" and called it "Fendi Yangko" according to the local name. During the reign of Daoguang in Qing Dynasty, folk artists Zhang Xin and Zhang Dai collected and improved the popular Yangko tunes and instrumental music tunes, absorbed the singing styles of other operas, integrated them into the "Yangko", transplanted other operas and put them on the stage for performance, which was deeply loved by the masses and has been handed down to the present day. On October 1, 1956, Fanshi county government organized the diaspora folk artists and formally established Fanshi Yangko troupe.

Fanshi Yangko opera has 86 repertoires, more than 70 of which are often performed, including the early folk opera and the gradually developed lianben opera. The singing structure of Fanshi Yangko is composed of banqiang and Qupai. There are 10 kinds of banqiang, 17 kinds of Qupai and 75 kinds of instrumental Qupai.

Fanshi Yangko opera evolved from folk dance to opera, and there are still traces of the evolution process. In particular, its singing integrates various forms of opera singing, which is of great value for the study of the development history of Chinese drama.

Chinese PinYin : Yang Ge Xi Fan Zhi Yang Ge Xi