Zhuang opera is a unique drama of the Zhuang people, what are the main repertoire?

Zhuang opera is a general term for Zhuang opera. It is prevalent in the western part of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Funing and Guangnan in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. Zhuang opera is developed on the basis of Zhuang folk literature, singing and dancing, and rap art, and has been performed in the Guangxu period of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty.

In the process of development, some have also been influenced by Han folk art and opera. Due to the different dialects, singing tones, performance styles and popular areas, Zhuang Opera is divided into Guangxi's South Road Zhuangju, North Road Zhuangju, Zhuang Shigong Opera, and Yunnan's Funing Zhuangju and Guangnan Zhuangju.

Zhuang opera, also known as "Zhuang opera", is developed on the basis of Zhuang folk literature, singing, dancing and rapping skills. In the old days, the Zhuang people called themselves "Bhutto", which means "natives" and "locals", and called Zhuang opera "Changtuo", that is, "local opera", to distinguish it from the Han opera. There are also four common names for Zhuang opera:

1. Bench play - one or two people sit on the bench and sing. 2. Doorway drama - move the bench to sing at the door. 3. Flat play - singing on spacious flat ground.

4. Theater opera - singing in the courtyard.

There are seven main kinds of traditional dramas of the Zhuang nationality: the Dejing puppet drama that is popular in Jingxi and Debao, the Makou drama that is popular in Jingxi, Debao and Napo, the Tianlin drama that is spread in Tianlin, Lingyun, Leye and Baise and other areas in western Guangxi, the Longlin drama that is spread in Longlin, the Funing drama and Guangnan drama that are spread in Funing County, Wenshan, and the Shigong opera that is spread in Wuming, Hechi, Yishan, Laibin, Guixian and other places. Due to the differences in regional environment, dialect and native language, singing, performance style and accompanying instruments, Zhuang Opera has produced branches such as North Road Zhuang Opera, South Road Zhuang Opera, Zhuang Shigong Opera (also known as Zhuang Shi Opera) in Guangxi, and Funing Zhuang Opera and Guangnan Zhuang Opera in Yunnan.

The Nanlu Zhuang opera is performed in the Nanlu Zhuang dialect, mainly distributed in Jingxi, Debao, Napo, Tian, Daxin, Tianyang, Tiandong and other counties; The North Road Zhuang Opera is performed in the North Road Zhuang dialect, which is mainly distributed in Tianlin, Xilin, Longlin, Lingyun, Leye in Guangxi and Funing and Nan counties in Yunnan. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 100 traditional repertoire on the South Road and 200 on the North Road.

Zhuang opera is one of the national intangible cultural heritage, in the early Qing Dynasty has begun to take shape, the development of the representative repertoire includes "The Girl on the White Horse", "Nong Zhigao", "Zhang Sijie Descends to Earth", "The Blind Man Makes a Shop", "Ten Thousand Years Tree", "Golden Flower and Silver Flower" and so on.

The Zhuang people have seven kinds of traditional dramas: the Dejing puppet drama that is popular in Jingxi and Debao, the Makou drama that is popular in Jingxi, Debao and Napo, the Tianlin drama that is spread in Tianlin, Lingyun, Leye, Baise and other areas in western Guangxi, the Longlin drama that is spread in Longlin, the Funing drama and Guangnan drama that are spread in Funing County, Wenshan, and the Shigong opera that is spread in Wuming, Hechi, Yishan, Laibin, Guixian and other places.

The Zhuang people are fond of Zhuang opera, which was related to religious beliefs in the early days. The singing of the horse pass drama comes from the dance, and the dance is also related to the witch dance. The dance of Shigong Opera itself is the movement of the god of music, Shigong is a sorcerer, wearing a wooden mask or paper painted face, wearing a long red robe, singing and dancing to entertain the gods, called Wu.

Zhuang people are obsessed with Zhuang opera, in addition to the attractive content of the play, the sale of Leshen to eliminate disasters and longevity is also one of the important reasons. Zhou Qufei of the Southern Song Dynasty described the singing habits of the Zhuang people in "Those Outside the Mountains with Late Responses": Guangxi counties, many people can enjoy together, suburban villages, sacrifices, marriages, and funerals, all have fun, although they plough the fields, they will also enjoy each other.

The performance of the South Road Zhuangju, the role also has the old chain division of labor, the line is roughly divided into four lines: Sheng, Dan, Net and Ugly, and the flower face is divided into large and small flower faces.

The characteristics of the performances of Zhuang opera Sheng, Dan, Jing and Ugly are: the performance of Shengxing is gentle, generous, and simple, and often uses the Chinese eight-character step and the positive and negative swing techniques, showing the momentum of the Zhuang man. Danxing often uses the fan dance and other figures, and the performance is charming and dexterous, showing the demeanor of Zhuang women.

Jingxing often uses heavy eight-character steps and tiger palms, showing the style of Zhuang warriors and performing boldly. Ugly behavior often uses a variety of eye techniques, techniques, and footwork, and the performance is flexible, witty, and funny.

Percussion bands are generally composed of four people, and their instruments include percussion instruments such as board drums, wooden fish, seat drums, bee drums, small drums, big-topped cymbals, star gongs, and high-sided gongs. Among them, the bee drum is the most distinctive, the timbre is deep, and the sound is like the sound of an urn. The accompaniment of the grand opera adopts the technique of multiple voices, and the strings of various instruments are different, forming a variety of harmonic relationships in the melody, which is very interesting to play.

The lyrics and narration of the Zhuang opera are in the dialect of the Zhuang people, which is full of national characteristics. The arias in the adagio, the happy tunes, flower-picking tunes, and high-pitched ones in the middle boards, the high-pitched, fast-comedy, and fast-picking flowers in the allegro, and the crying tunes, cold tunes, poetry tunes, sweeping boards, etc., all come from the folk song tunes that the Zhuang people are familiar with; The lyrics of the main singing voice (including five-character sentences and seven-character sentences) maintain the unique rhythmic structure of traditional Zhuang folk songs: the form of rhyming waist and feet.

This is unique in Chinese opera. One of the characteristics of the singing of the Zhuangju on the North and South Road is that almost all the songs have lining words and sentences. When they are combined with the singing cavity, they are mostly used for the lining cavity of the song head, connecting the lining cavity and the lining cavity of the tail, which plays the role of prompting emotions, connecting the past and opening up the future, setting off the atmosphere, and strengthening the sense of language.

The performances of the grand opera on the north and south roads are all distinctive. In the performance of the South Road Zhuangju, there is also a division of roles. The flower face is divided into large and small flower faces, Xiaosheng has Wensheng and Wusheng, and Danjiao has Zhengdan, Wudan, and Lao Dan.

The Zhuang people are fascinated by Zhuang opera, because not only the plot is familiar to the Zhuang people, but also the singing and narration are also the dialect of the Zhuang people, which is very cordial to hear. In addition, the aria in the adagio, the happy tune, the flower picking tune in the middle board, the high tone, the fast happy tune, the fast flower picking in the allegro, the crying tune, the cold tune, the poetry tune, the sweeping board, etc., all come from the folk song tunes that the Zhuang people are familiar with, which is lovely. The lyrics of the main singing voice (including five-character sentences and seven-character sentences) all maintain the unique rhythmic structure of Zhuang folk songs

Rhyme with waist and foot rhyme form. The so-called "waist and foot rhyme" means that the last word of the previous sentence ("foot") rhymes with the second or third word of the next five-character sentence and the fifth character of the seven-character sentence ("waist"). This kind of rhyme makes people feel that there is complexity in simplicity, change in the same, tactful ups and downs, continuous, never tired of listening, and endless charm.

This is unique in Chinese opera.

The accompaniment instruments of Zhuang Opera are all played by the horse bone hu, accompanied by the earth hu, gourd hu and erhu, sanxian, quiver or flute, and sometimes the playing of wooden leaves as an auxiliary, in addition to percussion instruments such as wooden fish, small drums, big cymbals, star gongs, and high-sided gongs. The accompaniment of the grand opera, using the technique of multiple voices, the strings of various musical instruments are different, forming a variety of harmonic relationships in the melody, and it is interesting to play, and it is a treasure in the treasure house of one of the few multi-voice parts in our country.

When the Nanlu Zhuang Opera is in the middle of the line, it also adopts the form of "one person sings the harmony of the crowd", with the actors singing on stage and the band singing in the background. The help is mostly used in the first sentence of the board and the end of the singing paragraph, and the last sentence is the full gang of heavy sentences. This kind of gang technique has a strong artistic effect in terms of creating a stage atmosphere, setting off the plot environment, or revealing and rendering the inner feelings of the characters.

In addition to the "Positive Tune", there are several singing tones for different roles, such as the samurai with the "Wu Gong Tune", the old man with the "Old Han Tune", the Harlequin with the "Harlequin Tune" and other music cards.

The themes of Zhuang dramas mostly reflect the content of their own national life, Such as "Buber", "Nong Zhigao", "Zhang Sijie Descends to Earth", "Treasure Gourd", "Red Copper Drum", "Golden Flower and Silver Flower", "Buya", "Wenlong and Shawni", "Liu Erda Fan Ghost", "Mo Yi Wang" and "Bird Clothes", "White Horse Girl", "Red Copper Drum", "Night Pearl", "Rose", "Song of the Water Wheel Pump", "Jiejiu", "Double Champion", "Double Flower Match", "Treasure Gourd", "Buya", "Nong Zhigao", "Wenlong and Shawone", "Cowherd", "Liu Erda Ghost", "Shunzhi Zhuhai", "White Horse Girl", "Snail Girl", "Wine Cow", "Poor Mountain Change" Nong Zhigao", "The Blind Man Makes a Shop", "Li Yuanqing", "Xue Pinggui", "Golden Shapa", "Ten Thousand Years Tree", "Twists and Turns of the Ditch" and so on.