background information
Time: 2006 Category: Traditional Drama. : Ⅳ- 13
One of the first national intangible cultural heritage projects. Xiang opera is the most important local opera in Hunan Province, which is popular in Shi Ping, Qimen, Lechang, Guitou, Lishi and Shaoguan in western Guangdong 17 counties and cities. Xiang opera's foot color industry has a detailed division of labor, with 12 lines, such as big handle, second handle, singer, niche, big face, second face, purple face, third face, Zheng Dan, work face and so on. There are four kinds of young people: Wen towel, Luo hat, pheasant tail and python leaning, and poverty, literature, wealth and martial arts.
"If Huagu Opera is equated with pop music, then xiang opera can definitely be regarded as a good name." Teacher Zeng Jingui, a national first-class xiang opera actor, jokingly described xiang opera to reporters. Xiang opera is also called Changsha xiang opera, because it takes Changsha and Xiangtan as its activity centers.
Xiang opera originated in the productive labor.
There are many kinds of vocal cavity in xiang opera, such as Kunqu Opera, Gaoqu Opera, Tanqu Opera and Zaju Minor. From the early Ming Dynasty to Jiajing, Kunqu Opera and Yiyang Opera introduced to Hunan were combined with local dialects and folk music to form xiang opera. Xiang opera's performances fully absorbed the artistic factors of Kunqu Opera, singing and dancing, lively and lively, and there are a number of plays famous for their modeling and martial arts. The "shoe lane" where slippers move forward, the "boat lane" where the golden rooster is independent, the "drunken lane" where you stumble, and the "big foot and old woman lane" of Danxing all have distinct characteristics of operas. There are more than 300 pieces of Qupai in xiang opera, mainly Nanqu. In addition to the North-South Road, there are anti-Lu Nan Road, anti-North Road, Pingban, Anqing Tune, Seven Hammer and a Half, etc. When singing, suona, flute and other accompaniment are used. Xiang opera's accompaniment can be divided into folk and military scenes. In the field of literature, orchestral instruments such as Erxian, Yueqin, flute and suona are used for singing, while percussion instruments such as drums, cymbals and gongs are used as foil in the field of martial arts.
After hundreds of years of artistic practice, xiang opera in Hengyang has become an independent drama in Hunan. Tan Baocheng is the founder of Tan School performing arts in xiang opera. His performance is deeply influenced by Kunqu Opera, which is vigorous, elegant and unique. Drunk Mountain Gate starring 1952 10 participated in the first national traditional opera performance, and was highly praised by party and state leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and famous performing artists such as Mei Lanfang.
Xiang opera was created by Kunqu Opera, and xiang opera took Kunqu Opera as his soul. At the same time, he combined the elegant Kunqu opera art with regional culture, reaching the realm of appealing to both refined and popular tastes. This practice of localizing foreign elegant art is of great value in the study of opera history and even art history.
Treading on thin ice xiang opera develops through innovation.
Zeng Jingui, who is over 70 years old, is the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage xiang opera Project. He outlined the current development direction of xiang opera by "step by step". He said: "I insist that xiang opera's inheritance can't stick to the rules, and we must innovate in content and form so that more people can accept it."
Once in Zeng's hometown, there was a strong smell of xiang opera, and all kinds of Facebook on the wall really amazed the reporters. "Once a group of foreigners came to my house and said, let me draw their faces." He said that this group of foreigners also shaved their heads. Recalling the scene at that time, Zeng Lao lamented in particular. "After the 1980s, xiang opera gradually faded out of people's lives, and even many people didn't even know what xiang opera was."
"Fortunately, in recent years, xiang opera has made innovations in all aspects!" It is reported that on 20 10, The Hero of Ancient Paintings, created by Changsha Xiang Theatre, not only won the "Wenhua Excellent Drama Award" in China Opera Art Festival again, but also created a miracle of "full house" during the 100 performances. In this regard, Zeng Lao summed up: "This is the result of innovation!" It is understood that "Heroes of Ancient Paintings" not only introduces the stage elements of modern science and technology, but also adds creativity that meets the requirements of the times in terms of clothing, dialogue and expression. "Many young people ran backstage after watching the performance to find the actor's signature! Such a thing was put in the past, and we couldn't imagine it at all. " Zeng Lao recalled.
How can xiang opera inherit it better?
Then, as the most thoughtful, artistic and ornamental work in xiang opera recently, how is the hero in ancient paintings shaped? Does the great success of Heroes of Ancient Paintings mean that xiang opera, as a national intangible cultural heritage project, is currently in a healthy development? The reporter visited the Hunan Theatre in Changsha.
In an alley in Qingshan Community of Changsha Labor Square, next to the old vermilion iron gate, the number of Changsha Hunan Theater almost overlaps with the telephone pole next to it, which is easy to be missed. Through the low walkway, an old red brick building came into view, and the scene in front of us really shocked the reporter. The reporter was received by Cao Rulong, head of Changsha Hunan Opera Troupe and inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage xiang opera Project. He told reporters that only two offices in this building belong to Hunan Theatre.
Colonel Cao's office is about ten square meters, and the medals awarded to Changsha Xiangjun Theatre by all walks of life in recent years are hung on the wall. Regarding the reporter's surprised expression, Colonel Cao said indifferently: "Our facilities are indeed a little crude, but it is better than the situation that all the war zones under our jurisdiction have disappeared." He told reporters that there were dozens of Hunan theaters in Changsha in the middle and late last century, all of which were wiped out because of urban construction. The only remaining Xiangjiang Theater belongs to Hunan Xiang Theater, and it is also the only existing xiang opera performance venue in Changsha. It is reported that compared with Changsha, Beijing has not demolished any theater so far. On the contrary, with the construction of the city, many new performance venues have been built to provide theatrical performances.
Let people who have seen xiang opera like xiang opera.
"Without a theater, just like a homeless child, how can xiang opera grow up healthily?" This is the view of a graduate student in the School of Journalism and Communication of Hunan University. He told reporters that he became attached to xiang opera at the "Everyday Good Play" held in Pozi Street, Changsha not long ago. Although with the support of the government, the Hunan Opera Troupe in Changsha has a lot of time to send plays to the countryside every year, it has never performed such publicity performances in Changsha city. "At that time, it was snowing heavily, and many old people even lined up in wheelchairs to buy tickets." Thinking of that scene, Cao Rulong, who was nearly seventy years old, choked.
"I am confident that as long as one hundred people watch our xiang opera performance, one hundred people will definitely say' OK!' "Cao Rulong said frankly, if you don't let the audience into the theater, and don't let the public know about xiang opera, how can xiang opera spread and pass on? It is understood that Hunan Theater in Changsha is a public welfare unit, which has long relied on government financial subsidies to maintain its basic operation. However, differential subsidies still make it difficult for these performers who shoulder the heavy responsibility of inheriting xiang opera. "Good things don't come, good things don't stay", this is Cao Rulong's experience in the process of cultivating new people in the performance industry in xiang opera. "Our career needs to be passed down, we need innovation, and we also need potential newcomers to stick to xiang opera's research and performance."
"In fact, the local operas such as Beijing Opera and Henan Opera have good recognition and dissemination because the local media are sparing no effort to promote them." Cao Rulong plans that this year Changsha Xiang Theatre will bring Heroes of Ancient Paintings into the university campus and primary school classrooms, and will also play 10 national fine operas on the basis of 30. "I look forward to giving us a stage of our own while we get more honors and welcome. I firmly believe that xiang opera will be passed down healthily. "