Investigation of Xinzhou Folk Opera (Part 2) - Wuzhai Chapter
Wuzhai County has been quite prosperous in opera performances as early as the Qing Dynasty. In the 16th year of Qianlong (1751) " "Wuzhai County Chronicles" describes the theater scene at that time. Every year, "three springs celebrate the performance, and both men and women watch it." The existing "Fire Temple" stage in the county was rebuilt in the third year of Daoguang's reign (1823) and was an important place for opera performances at temple fairs in the past. Wuzhai used to have many types of operas. According to the county annals, there were Sai Opera, North Road Bangzi, Middle Road Bangzi and Daoqing. In addition, there were Erren Opera introduced from Hequ and Baode, and there was also a kind of big Yangge with high-pitched and exciting singing. In the key of A, the actor needs to combine the real and false voices to pronounce the dorsal tone. It is probably spread from the Northern Shanxi Yangko. Today, the names of the operas recorded in the county annals are still familiar to our ears, but there are few performances on the performance market. This may have a lot to do with the disbandment of the local county theater troupe in 1996. Due to the impact of foreign entertainment methods and the lack of a more professional performance group to serve the local people, opera naturally gradually faded out of people's sight.
Fortunately, there are still two small operas circulating among the local people - —Daoqing and Erntai. Because of the strong mass base, especially in Daoqing, where some local peasant troupes were performing, local people became familiar with it and began to organize self-entertainment classes to perform self-entertainment singing in community activities. Wuzhai Daoqing has become one of the main contents of leisure entertainment for local people. Because it is only people who learn to sing, without the guidance and "innovation" of outside professionals, Wuzhai Taoqing still retains a bit of the original flavor, retaining the most simple feeling of Taoqing.
According to relevant historical records, Shanxi was once the area where Taoism flourished most, especially in northern Shanxi. As a native religion, Taoism naturally relied on some form of art to promote its teachings during its spread. Taoism Emotion has become one of the most important artistic means. In the eighteenth year of Dading of the Jin Dynasty (1178), Jin Shizong (Wan Yanyong) ordered Qiu Chuji, the founder of the Longmen Sect of the Quanzhen Sect, to go to Yanjing to preach. He went north along the Yellow River from Hejin, Shanxi, and went eastward via the Xinzhou River, passing Kelan, Wuzhai, Shenchi, Ningwu, Daixian and Fanzhi passed through Xuande in Hebei Province and entered Yanjing from Juyongguan. Along the way, they preached moral principles, sang Taoist sentiments and accepted disciples, which had a great influence. It was at this time that Taoism was introduced to the counties in northern Shanxi, and it was quickly integrated with local folk customs, dialects and humanistic concepts to form Taoism in northern Shanxi. Not to mention Shenchi Daoqing and Youyu Daoqing, local people in Ningwu, Jingle and other places are singing Daoqing, and naturally Wuzhai is no exception. The spread of Taoism in various places is related to the development process of Taoism. First, with the rise of the art of singing and singing, Taoism came down from the altar of Taoist temples and became active among the masses. Later, with the rise of opera art, especially Bangzi Opera in the Qing Dynasty, Taoism Love began to transform from rap to opera. It was only later that it gradually declined with the development of the economy.
Wuzhai Daoqing, as a branch of Northern Shanxi Daoqing, also pays attention to high-level education, promotes filial piety, and praises filial sons and virtuous grandchildren. Therefore, from the day it was put on the stage, it has a special status different from other plays. In the past, Daoqing was once regarded as a "sacred play", and people worshiped it to pray for the blessing of the "god of drama" Lu Dongbin. The first play in the temple fair was a god-reverent play, and people always loved to use Daoqing to worship the gods. The earlier Taoist artists were also highly respected, and the artists who once engaged in Taoqing were also very popular. This is one of the reasons why Taoqing spreads over a wide area.
In the past, Wuzhai Taoism existed among the people in the form of seasonal classes. The Jiaofang is the activity base for Taoism in northern Shanxi, including Wuzhai Taoism, and it is also a place to cultivate Taoism talents. Every winter leisure, villages and towns set up workshops one after another to recruit apprentices and teach their skills, rehearse and tell operas, and prepare for the next spring's stage singing. This is a tradition that has been inherited in Wuzhai area. According to incomplete statistics, there were more than 80 class clubs in Wuzhai County in the 11th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1831). These amateur class clubs later gradually developed into professional class clubs of a certain scale. For example, Yang Kanziban was active in the Shenchi and Wuzhai areas. There are Daoqing troupes in Madiwa, Majunying, Xinzhai, Jiuzhai, Hanjialou and Nanping troupes in this county. In addition to performing, the troupe artists also go out to teach and pass on their skills, traveling to various parts of northwest Shanxi. A number of influential folk artists have also emerged. Worth mentioning are Wang Changke, Yang Rencheng, Song Shichang, and Zhou Xiaoxiao. Their disciples are also distributed all over the country, and the Taoist art is prosperous and popular.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a proverb circulating in the 1950s: "I would rather not eat than miss watching Wuzhai Daoqing Wang Sandan".
If a type of opera is sung by more people in a certain place, it will definitely have a great impact and related theater troupes will be established. However, although Wuzhai County has a strong Taoist mass base, no theater troupe with a certain influence has been established since the founding of the People's Republic of China. There are also few records of relatively large-scale Taoist performances in Wuzhai County in opera performance materials. For some reasons, Wuzhai County did not establish a professional Wuzhai Taoist theater troupe. It has always appeared in the form of folk operas and folk troupes. In 1958, the County Cultural Bureau established a Taoist art class and hired Wuzhai Taoist artists Ji. Suo, Yang Huami and others specially trained a group of Taoist performers. Many Taoist performing artists such as Lin Fengming, Guo Lanxian and Lu Shuzhen came from this class. In 1959, Daoqing Art School was established. However, as Wuzhai, Shenchi, and Kelan counties were separated from each other after originally being part of Wuzhai County, a considerable number of Daoqing Class students joined the Shenchi Daoqing Theater Troupe, because the Shenchi Daoqing Theater Troupe was already quite large at that time.
Although there is no support from the state-owned professional troupe, Wuzhai Daoqing still has a number of Daoqing artists emerging. For example, Zhou Xiao, who studied under Yang Rencheng at the age of 12, mainly plays clowns. Li Yuan, Yang Tingxiang, Yang Xunzhu, Feng Chengchuan, Yang Cunxiao, Li Cunzhong, Fan Xiaowen, etc. Especially Fan Xiaowen and Yang Tingxiang compiled more than 240 Wuzhai Taoqing tunes in the 1950s and published a Taoqing album manual. Li Cunzhong, who was born in 1946, founded the Wuzhai County Xinxing Daoqing Theater Troupe in the 1980s and is still active today. He not only performs, but is also good at martial arts. He teaches his daughter, son, and nephew how to sing Taoism. The troupe members work on the farm during busy times, and go out to perform during their leisure time. He has traveled to Shenchi, Wuzhai and other surrounding counties and districts, and even performed in Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi. Now thirty years later, his son Li Changjiang also has a special liking for Taoist art in this family atmosphere. One person can play multiple roles, including old students, colorful faces, and clowns. During his years of traveling in the world, he eventually grew into a new Daoqing practitioner in the area, and the Daoqing tunes he sang also changed slightly to meet the needs of local performances.
Another thing that must be mentioned is Yang Tingxiang, born in 1945, with the stage name "Winehouse Red". He has been studying Taoist sentiments since he was a child, and he also sings Taoist sentiments. When I got older, I also taught Taoism at the Lijiakou Community Activity Center. His singing retains the most original Taoist flavor, and he sings euphemistically and beautifully. He also assisted the Wuzhai County Cultural Center in declaring Wuzhai Taoism as a provincial intangible cultural heritage and did a lot of work. But he hasn't declared it yet. The old man has been treated in Taiyuan Hospital for cerebral infarction not long ago. Nowadays, community Taoist singing activities are much deserted due to the absence of the elderly. Perhaps this is the fate of traditional opera art in the information age? unknown.
Today, ancient and special operas like Daoqing have lost a large part of their performance market, not to mention a county like Wuzhai. This is affected by large environmental factors. Judging from the current era, in an era where a large amount of information is obtained from computers and mobile phones, this traditional entertainment method has been far out of people's horizons, and people are more concerned about universal value information. From the artistic characteristics of Tao Qing itself, although the profession is complete. However, the emphasis was on literature rather than martial arts, re-singing rather than redoing, and mostly focusing on raw and dandy dramas, which really did not have much appeal to the impatient audience in the audience. Most of the artists who sing Tao Qing come from rural areas, mostly local farmers, and their skills are mostly passed down by word of mouth. In the monotonous life in northern Shanxi in the past, Daoqing opera must have been people's natural choice. However, today, most young people have gone to the city to work. They have no time and do not like this slow and long opera art. Most of the people who watch Daoqing are Middle-aged and elderly people in their forties and fifties. In this way, Wuzhai Daoqing has become one of the community activities and entertainment methods for people in their leisure time. The Qinglian Theater built after the founding of the People's Republic of China has also lost its former liveliness and looks peaceful and tranquil under the setting sun.