The inheritor of Chenhe Opera, the artistic characteristics of Chenhe Opera

The stage language of Chenhe is refined on the basis of the official dialect of Xiangxipu City, and the patriarchal Zhongzhou rhyme. There are more than 200 surviving music cards, with high-pitched tones, rough style, tactful and melodious melody, blending with mountain songs and trumpets, and commonly used vocal help cavity and trivial help cavity, which is very characteristic of Xiangxi. There are 162 Kun cavity surviving music cards.

There are more than 300 low-cavity surviving songs. When singing, the low cavity is more unrestrained, warm, and imposing, accompanied by suona; The Kun dialect is more elegant, quiet, fresh and beautiful, accompanied by a bamboo flute. The stage language of the bullet cavity is different from that of the high cavity, and the coastal towns in the upper reaches of Yuanshui mostly use Changde official dialect.

It is composed of the North Road and the South Road, with a variety of plate combinations of singing voices, rich in expressiveness. The accompaniment instruments of Chenhe Opera are mainly suona, bizi, jinghu, erhu, sanxian, big drum, small gong, cloud gong, cymbal, small drum, big barrel drum, flag drum, lesson, ruler board, etc. The local special high-cavity suona, the voice is high, the pronunciation is soft, the timbre is beautiful, similar to the soprano, it can be integrated with the singing cavity, and it plays an important role in the help and accompaniment, and has strong characteristics.

In the early years, Chenhe's high-pitched roles were divided into eight lines: Sheng, Dan, Net, Ugly, Outside, Vice, End, and Sticker. After the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, it became the four elements of life, dan, purity and ugliness. The raw corners are divided into positive students, old students, red students, and small students. Dan horns are divided into Zhengdan, Xiaodan, Shadan, and Laodan.

The performing art of Chenhe Opera is simple and natural, with a strong earthy atmosphere. In the early martial arts scenes, the moves of Xiangxi folk martial arts were integrated. In the long historical development, on the basis of maintaining its own characteristics, Chenhe Opera has absorbed the nutrients of other art categories and brother operas, so that its own performing arts have become more and more mature and formed different performance styles.

The Chenhe area was formerly known as the professional opera troupe as the Jianghu class, and its performances can be divided into five types: big wish play, small wish play, god play, hall play, and selling play. The Great Wish Opera is sung by the local gods to pray for God and protect the safety of the people, and it must perform "Mulian", which is generally performed on a grass platform in the wilderness. The purpose of the small wish opera is jointly organized by a certain family, a village or several villages, and the purpose is to pray for a good harvest for the family, the village and the village, and it is mostly performed on the fixed stage of the ancestral hall in the village.

The gods will play the gods in various places, the townspeople's halls, and the industry halls, and they will sing for the entertainment of the gods they worship on the birth and death days. Tang opera is a singing event held by the gentry and wealthy families for red and white ceremonies. Selling plays is a common ticketed performance, which is generally performed in theaters in towns and villages.

The latter has become the main form of Chenhe opera performance.

At present, such an ancient drama genre that has completely retained the characteristics of national culture and has a broad mass base has reached the point where it has almost been lost. Only the Luxi County Chenhe Opera Gaocao Troupe has persevered, and for many years, this troupe has brought its own means of transportation, stage props, and bedding to the countryside for performances, and has not borrowed anything from the masses. The conditions of the mountain village are poor, and when the troupe performs in the village, the stage is often set up halfway up the mountainside, and the car can only drive to the foot of the mountain.

The troupe rehearses 2 to 3 major plays every year to ensure that the plays are not the same in each place. Their rehearsals of modern dramas, historical dramas, and excellent traditional plays have been well received by the audience. It makes the ancient drama flower of Chenhe opera, known as "the world's earliest stream-of-consciousness art", bloom more gorgeously.

In order to inherit the excellent tradition of Chenhe Opera and seek new development, the troupe also recruits more than a number of primary students from several counties and cities. Today, many students have become the backbone of Chenhe Opera and are active on the urban and rural stages. Chenhe Gaocao is known as the treasure of oriental art and the living fossil of drama.

Chenhe Opera has been deeply rooted in Xiangxi, Hunan, and has become a spiritual feast for the locals. At the same time, it has also become a favorite place for locals!