Shaanxi folk songs are rich and colorful, and its rich local smell and simple style is loved by people all over the country and also enjoys great reputation in the international arena.
Among them, "Journey to the Heaven of Letters" has won praise for its unique style.
"Journey to the Heaven of Letters" is one of the most representative and rich in local characteristics of northern Shaanxi folk songs. Its content and tunes are exceptionally rich, its rhythm is generally more free and stretching, the voice is high, loud and clear, with a wide range of tones, and the melody is very undulating, while others are smooth and euphemistic, and some are bold and straightforward, while others are soft and lyrical, showing a wide range of different thoughts, feelings and moods.
In terms of the singing characteristics, one is to express the mountain song style with straight and high-pitched voice, and the other is to express the minor key style with delicate feelings and gentle voice.
The theme of Shaanxi folk songs
The folk songs are closely related to the people's lives, and singing about the Party, the socialist motherland, labor, and happy life has become the theme of Shaanxi folk songs.
Here are some important aspects of the theme of folk songs in northern Shaanxi.
(a) Labor, created wealth, but also created human culture.
Therefore, singing about labor is the *** same feature of all folk songs and the prominent theme of all folk songs.
Generally speaking, labor songs include two contents.
One is to labor life as the subject matter, the expression of labor sentiment of labor songs.
This kind of song in the old society is often the workers in the heavy labor, sighing the hardship of life and their own situation of resentment, reflecting the antagonistic relationship between the workers and exploiters.
The second is the labor song that sings about labor itself, revealing a simple and healthy rhythm.
This kind of song is made up of laborers singing the rhythm of labor, with labor calls or all labor sounds.
These two kinds of songs, the former is richer in content, the latter is more simple.
(2) Political songs are a barometer of the people's political attitude.
There are war songs and hymns, war songs against the enemy and hymns against me.
The second prominent theme reflected in the folk songs of northern Shaanxi is the accusation and resistance of the laboring people against the feudal exploitation system and the landlord's armies, and their enthusiastic praise of the party, the leader and the revolution.
The folk songs are full of the people's sincere love and deep affection for the revolutionary leader.
(C) Life songs in the traditional folk of northern Shaanxi is extremely rich, and the subject matter is also more extensive.
There are songs reflecting family life, customs and traditions, as well as songs teaching natural knowledge and production experience.
Although these songs are little by little, piece by piece, and even some knowledge and experience are not introduced correctly enough, but these family life, customs and habits of the song, showing the cheerful character of the people of northern Shaanxi and optimistic mood; these sporadic knowledge, experience for the peasants living in the poor countryside, in the realm of their knowledge or to add something.
Folklore is a "textbook of life" and an "oral history textbook".
(4) Love song is a colorful flower in traditional folk songs and one of the oldest themes in folk songs.
The largest number of traditional Shaanxi folk songs and the most widely circulated are love songs.
The love songs, like all other types of folk songs, are a true reflection of the working people's way of life in love.
Among them, there are songs of young men and women's mutual adoration and pursuit, songs that express the correct understanding of love life and aspirations, and songs of strong resistance to the interference of the ruling class in marriage.
Especially the new love songs produced after the revolution, the meaning of "love song" has been developed and supplemented.
Although it is based on traditional forms, the new morality, new ideas and new feelings expressed in it are more valuable and moving, and many of its works are full of the flavor of the times.
The themes expressed in the love songs are summarized as follows:
1. Depicting young men and women in love with each other.
The feelings of attachment and the expression of the innocent thoughts of young men and women.
The emergence and development of love generally has a process, so the love songs make a subtle depiction of the psychology and mood of young men and women in the process of love.
2. They glorify the unswerving love that lasts until death, and express the lofty ideological virtues of the working people.
The pure love of the working people is different from the false love desired by the feudal class, it is sincere and resolute.
3. It expresses parting sorrow and endless lovesickness.
In the long-term feudal society, the vast number of people in the cruel exploitation and oppression of the feudal rule, the peasants do not have land, farming cattle, life can not go on, forced to leave their homes, foreign places to make a living; or forced to serve in the military, which set off an unusual wave in the life of love - waving tears of parting, and after parting with each other fondly remembered.
In order to seek spiritual support, to dispel the sadness of parting, to express the endless longing, they have produced a lot of sad, lingering and mournful ditty.
In the traditional folk songs of northern Shaanxi, these ditties are true to life, and they are the best way to move people's heartstrings.
4, showing women's strong resistance to the evil feudal marriage system.
The rituals of the feudal system, which maintained the rule of feudal resistance, enslaved women, stifled love, destroyed generations of young men and women, and caused all kinds of tragedies.
But the hearts of the wounded are still trembling in the boiling chest after all.
In the blood and tears of lust, not only is the lamentation of the lamentation, there are stubborn and angry cry, that is, when the love of young men and women are blocked, destroyed or bear the pain of feudal marriage, he (she) they dare to use the greatest vigor against the feudal society, all the persecution of love in the sinful forces and creed.
5. To show the new spirit and lofty ideology of the new women.
Because of the baptism of the land and labor revolution in Shaanxi, the proletarian ideology became more and more popular, and the ideological consciousness of young men and women was raised as never before. As a result, they integrated love into the revolutionary movement, and produced a lot of new love songs with new atmosphere, new content, and new style, which educated the masses and pushed forward the development of the revolutionary movement.
Some of the folk songs are also about women who are determined to get out of their families and make a revolution and break into the world as husband and wife.
In short, the love songs in the traditional folk songs of northern Shaanxi are extremely rich in content.
These beautiful and timeless traditional folk songs are yesterday, the day before yesterday, the children of the northern Shaanxi plateau with a heart of hot, dipped in honey and bitter juice made.
The strong anti-feudal oppression and the theme of freedom and emancipation that it expresses not only has a distinctive people's nature under the historical conditions of that time, but also has a realistic educational significance in today's world, where the remnants of the feudal ideology and the feudal marriage system have not yet been purged.
Many lovely legends and stories, showing a lot of brave, beautiful souls, and still widely circulated, cultivating the sentiment and style of the children of Shaanbeier women.
The genre of the folk songs of northern Shaanxi
The folk songs of northern Shaanxi, like the folk songs of other places, are of various genres and tunes.
The folk songs of northern Shaanxi are divided into three categories: Labor Horn, Xin Tian You, and Xiao Xiao.
The labor songs include tamping song, ramming song, quarrying song, cow yelling song, and playing field song.
Xin Tian You is divided into high and flat.
The ditties are divided into passable ditties (lyrical songs, narrative songs, witty songs); social fire songs (rice-planting songs, boat songs, lamp songs); customary songs (welcoming songs, wine songs, praying for rain, the God's official tunes); silk and string ditties (Yulin ditties, two-people Taiwan, Daoxiang, Bowls cavity); large-scale suites (Luochuan suites, the trial record),
These self-contained genres and characteristics of the folk songs are reflecting the social life in various ways and sing the songs of the people.
These self-contained and distinctive folk songs reflect the social life of the people of northern Shaanxi in various ways, singing the bitterness and joy of the people, and love and hate, and when the social system fundamentally changed, the content and form of the folk songs also changed.
This change is reflected in the content of the expression of new social life and new characters, but also make a variety of genres with a new meaning.
The following is a description of the classification of Shaanxi folk songs and the characteristics of various genres.
(I) Labor Horns
1. The Generation of Labor Horns
Labor Horns are folk songs sung by laborers along with labor rhythms.
The intense labor movement, heavy physical load, gives its singing the characteristics of labor calls - yells and shouts.
Therefore, the folk labor call is not called "drink", the north is called "yell horn", the south is called "shouting horn", Sichuan is called "whistle". ".
The labor trumpet is the first form of poetry in human society, and one of the sources of all later poetry.
(2) Xintianyou
Xintianyou belongs to the folk song of the mountain song, it is the song of the mountains, therefore, it is also called "mountain song" in the Shenfu area.
It is one of the most distinctive types of folk songs in northern Shaanxi.
The largest number, the most tunes, the most extensive content, the most popular with the masses.
Therefore, the folk have said, "The journey to the sky, without breaking the head, broken the head of the poor people can not solve the sadness".
First, the circulation of Xintianyou
Xintianyou is the most representative of Suide, Mibi area.
* Shanxi Hequ, Inner Mongolia Ikezhaomeng, Ningxia Yanchi and other neighboring areas of the Xintianyou, due to the influence of the mountain song, climbed the ground tone, as well as flowers, a unique flavor.
Meanwhile some songs are owned by several local ****s together.
The traditional Xin Tian You mostly expresses women's pain in marriage, love and family life, and their resistance to feudalism; it also expresses the bitterness of the long and lonely journey in which the footmen express their hard life and their longing for their relatives in their hometowns; and it also reflects the working people's yearning for a better life in the future.
In order to express these rich thoughts and feelings, the singers often touch the scene, the object to express their aspirations, improvisation, the export of poetry; so the beautiful and beautiful songs on the letter of the sky and travel throughout the mountains and villages, so the people called this form of "letter of the sky tour" or "Shun Tian You! "
With the revolution, the people were able to make their way through the countryside.
With the development of the revolutionary situation, Xin Tian You not only expresses the personal joys and sorrows of the laboring people, but it is also closely linked to the revolutionary struggle, resulting in countless songs of praise for the Party, the leader, the revolution, and the new life of Xin Tian You.
Today, Albatross has become an indispensable form of art for the people of northern Shaanxi Province, which is the most direct, simple and beautiful way of expressing their feelings.
Second, the characteristics of Albatross
① The lyrics of Albatross are characterized by the two-sentence structure of the upper and lower sentences.
Since its words are words by sound, subject to the strict limitations of musical phrases, a stable form of two sentences and one verse is formed.
It uses pi xing as a means of figurative thinking to select life and refine artistic images that harmonize content and form.
This is the "Sokoto" or "touching the scene".
These two traditional methods of expression in the long-term development of the albatross, has become its own fine tradition, it is generally the first sentence of the rise, make a comparison, the next sentence point.
The use of the ratio is natural, skillful, and appropriate.
The sentences are varied, the rhythm is distinctive, and the rhyme scheme is flexible and free.
It is catchy to read and pleasant to sing.
The length can be long or short, two lines can be used as an independent poem, multi-line organic combination of multiple paragraphs, can make the short chapter into a continuous long song, showing more rich and complete content.
② Xintianyou is a lyrical song, as mentioned above, because it is outdoor mountain song, the environment is open, and not subject to the limitations of the labor movement, so it is characterized by the tune is rough and unrestrained, melodious and high-pitched, fully embodies the Shaanbei people's bold character.
As Xin Tian You sang, "The empty kiln sings a song to show the sound".
Of course, Albatross also has a lingering, gentle, delicate, simple tunes, such as the tune of the women who miss their lovers.
③ Albatross singing, not subject to the limitations of the tune, according to the content of the lyrics and the singer's mood, the same song sung with different feelings, can be long or short, fast or slow, while each section of the lyrics can be sung with any tune, which means that the tune of Albatross is not fixed.
Third, the classification of Albatross is basically divided into two categories: high cadence and flat cadence.
The rhythm is free, the range is wide, the melody has a big ups and downs, and the feelings are unrestrained, such as:
(1) The river flows in the opposite ditch, and some guerrillas come down from the horizontal mountains.
(2) Your mother beat you, you tell your brother, why you drink foreign cigarettes.
(3) The blossoms on the cliffside are red, and the sufferers are looking forward to a good time.
(4) You are not a genius, why do you wear red shoes in the dewy ground?
To sing the first type, (examples 1 and 2) it is appropriate to use a high voice; to sing the second type, (examples 3 and 4) it is appropriate to use a flat voice.
Most of the high voice with falsetto, the so-called "sheep's voice back to the sound of the cattle" singing, due to the tune of the runaway, melodious high, coupled with a wide range, jumping big, free rhythm and rich in change, many tunes with unlimited extension of the tone and mixing of beats, and therefore sung with free stretching, emotional exuberance, the flat cavity structure is tight, the rhythm of the more neat, the melody is relatively smooth. The song is a free and varied one, with many tunes using infinite prolongation and mixed beats.
Xintianyou and Shanxi's "mountain song", Inner Mongolia's "climbing mountain song", all belong to the mountain brother song body, the three are not only in the style, technique and flexibility of tunes, singing style and other characteristics of basically the same outside, in the language approach is also very similar to the place.
These three songs are not only basically the same in terms of style and flexibility, but also in terms of language.
For example, in the song "The Journey of Faith" (信天游), "The Death of a Prisoner" (攮刀子公公公囚汉), "The Horn of Water" (水水角婆婆門上站).
"The song of the mountain climbers sings: "The ghost of the gun is a man on horseback, and the ghost of the hanged man is standing on the door of his mother-in-law.
"Another example of this is the song "The cow and the cow flower are red, the dewy couple is empty.
"The song of the mountain climbers sings: "The snowflakes hit the wall and the ice covers the room, the dewy couple will not be long.
"Mountain song is sung:" Ice Ling (this) cover room snow hit the wall, for the next big girl not ah long.
"And then the albatross sings, "The petunia cow blossom slowly red, do not plan the petunia cow blossom in the morning.
"These sentences are very similar to each other! In fact, this situation is folklore passed from mouth to mouth, the inevitable phenomenon of mutual influence between regions.
Although they have the same point in the form, or similarities, but from the content of the folk songs reflected in the careful analysis of the language, the use of tunes, etc., you can still identify the existence of significant differences between them.
In the case of the mountain-climbing song, although it has a wide range of subjects, it is not as rich and complete as the Albatross, especially the revolutionary folk songs.
In terms of expression of feelings, Albatross is delicate, with gentle and colorful lyrics, while Climbing Mountain Song is far-reaching in meaning and rough in style.
In the use of language also have their own regional mass area customary dialect colloquialisms.
For example, in the mountain climbing song, it is common to use the words "Lara Slip", "Drift Whistle", "Lone Whistle", "Hitching Stacks", "Trance", "Trance", "Trance", "Trance", "Trance", and "Trance".
Sometimes, in order to get to the top of the mountain, we have to go to the bottom of the mountain and go to the bottom of the mountain.
Sometimes in order to rhyme or express strong feelings, the end of the sentence using "le", "ah", "la" and other imaginary words.
These are not found in Xintianyou.
In addition, both of them use superimposed words, which are more often used in the song, and both of them have distinctive colors of their respective localities and rustic moods in their tunes, but the names of the tunes in the song are named after localities in the region, which is one of the significant differences between the song and the song of Xintiayou.
(C) Minor tunes
Minor tunes refer to various folk songs that are popular in the occasions of rest, recreation, and festivals of mass life.
If we say that the "Albatross" is "the song of the mountains", then the ditty is "the song of the alleys".
The so-called "songs of the mountains and fields" means that Albatross, which belongs to the mountain song genre, is a folk song genre that has been passed down and developed in the countryside.
The so-called "Songs of the Lane" means that the circulation and development of ditties are more connected with towns and cities, and most of the ditties are passed from towns to the countryside.
1. Characteristics of the ditties
① Rich in content, mixed and coarse.
Because of the extensive contact with different classes and strata in urban and rural areas, coupled with the dissemination of professional artists and the printing of singing books, the ditties were promoted to be more processed artistically, and at the same time, the complexity of their ideological content was also brought about.
The main manifestation is that it not only reflects the life of this class of peasants, but also reflects the small craftsmen and other laborers and merchants, the life and consciousness of the public, so the content of the ditties is varied, the essence of coarse and coarse, both pure and simple and healthy singing, but also with the public with the oily, vulgar tunes, the lack of like the Xin Tian You has the kind of strong local flavor and fresh quality of the mood.
But it expresses the content and feelings of tactful and delicate, and is good at narrating the method of lyricism.
② Various subjects, a wide range of life.
The life reflected in the ditty is very broad.
It expresses the history of revolutionary struggle and sings about real life; it also narrates historical events, legends or life stories; it reflects various major political and social events; it also reflects games and customs in daily life.
Especially in the revolutionary era, literary and art workers and the masses created many new revolutionary ditties, which played a fighting role in uniting the people, educating them, fighting the enemy and destroying them.
③ The lyrics are mostly in the form of sectionalization.
The sentences are diverse, ranging from five to seven lines.
There are four or six sentences in each section, and there are also three or five odd sentences.
Some of the lyrics are shorter than others, and some are as long as twenty or thirty paragraphs.
In general, the lyrics are more fixed and not characterized by improvisation.
The form of performance includes solo and duet singing, as well as singing in unison or singing in unison.
④ As the ditty and song and dance, music and opera influence each other, so in the art of getting more processing.
Generally speaking, the rhythm and beat of the minor key is more neat, and the melody is flowing and twisting, rich and varied and standardized, and the structure is clear and complete with independence, and it is widely used in the liner notes and cadences, and commonly accompanied by musical instruments, and it is accompanied by introductory notes, and sets of forms such as overdoors.
2. Classification of ditties
According to the ideological content of the ditties, singing and use, we divided it into five categories: pass ditties, social songs, custom songs, silk string ditties, and large-scale suites.
The passable ditties have narrative songs, lyrical songs, and witty songs.
The popular ditties
① Narrative
Narrative songs and narrative poems are the same, it is to write the main narrative.
There is a relatively complete story and distinctive characterization, but no specific nuanced portrayal.
The narrative of narrative songs is usually based on narration, which means that the singers sing about people and events in the third person.
Sometimes the narrative is combined with an endorsement, with the first person singing instead of the characters in the piece.
Comrade He Qifang once said in Talking about Writing Poetry, "Narrative poetry is not telling a story, but singing a story.
"The so-called singing a story means that in a narrative song it is not only narrative, but also lyrical.
But this "emotion" must be combined with characterization and the progression of the story.
In the narrative lyric, in the lyric of the narrative, so that the narrative and lyric are well combined.
Xie said: "Narrative is the mother of love, but love is the untamed son of the matter.
"This sentence has two meanings, one is that lyricism can not be generalized, and the second is that the narrative should be simple, and lyricism should be complex.
This means that the lyric must be on the basis of the narrative, the feelings expressed are dripping, refreshing, and their words come out of their mouths without any pretense of pretense to enhance the characteristics of the narrative.
Narrative songs are usually sung with a tune repeated many times to sing multiple lyrics, professional authors of narrative songs, most of the songs used in the form of through the spectrum, rarely used in the form of sectional songs.
② Lyric songs
Although there are many narrative songs in the minor key, but most of them are short lyric songs.
It is the poet-singer because of the objective things caused by a variety of feelings, such as love for the motherland, leaders, hometown, loved ones and all the beautiful things, the enemy and all kinds of ugly things hate, as well as love between men and women, love between friends and other joys, pain, sadness, nostalgia, expectations, and other feelings of the true expression, it is not like narrative poetry detailed account of the course of life events, not specific It is not like narrative poetry to describe the process of life events in detail, not specific description of characters, generally no plot, but a direct expression of the heart, or the scene of emotion.
③ Witty songs
Witty songs are songs that make people laugh with witty strokes.
Generally with vivid plot description, humor, lively and cheerful, can give people unlimited fun and taste.
It can praise the advanced and beautiful things, express the optimism of the working people's wit and humor, and also satirize and ridicule the ugly and corrupt things.
In addition, some of the works in the minor key, the subject matter, the content is basically the same, but there are different tunes or the same tune but there are a few different subject matter and content of the lyrics.
This variation is one of the important features of oral composition.
One of the reasons for this variation is that folk songs were passed down orally by the laboring masses, and there was no material form to fix it, or the singers changed it intentionally or unintentionally according to their own interests and hobbies, so that a song was often changed at different times and in different spaces.
The second reason for this phenomenon of variation is the interaction between regions.