The suona is a reed instrument with national characteristics in China. It is said that the suona was originally a folk musical instrument in ancient Persia and Arabia, and was introduced to China through the Silk Road about eight hundred years ago. Today's suona varies in size, the commonly used suona is smaller, with 8 holes, and is one of the main instruments in folk music and folk bands.
Among all the national musical instruments in China, the suona is particularly suitable for expressing the joy of weddings and the sadness of funerals, as well as for rendering the atmosphere and expressing lively scenes.
As a solo instrument, the suona has an exceptionally rich expressive power. The "Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix" is an excellent piece of music that fully demonstrates the charm of suona art.
The phoenix, also known as the phoenix, is the king of birds in the ancient mythology of China. The phoenix symbolizes good fortune and wealth. The suona solo piece "Hundred Birds Towards the Phoenix" is not a mythological story of the hundred birds worshiping the phoenix, but rather an expression of the vibrant nature and people's beautiful and joyful moods with the spirited and enthusiastic melody and the joyful scene of simulating the singing of the hundred birds with the suona. Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix" was originally popular in Shandong, Anhui, Henan, Hebei and other places. Its predecessor was "Hundred Birds Sound". The famous suona player Ren Tongxiang made this song go to China and the world music stage.
Ren Tongxiang was born in a suona family in the rural area of Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province. After following his predecessors around and learning from the best, Ren Tongxiang's suona playing became more and more refined and wonderful. 27-year-old Ren Tongxiang's "Birds of Prey" caused a sensation in Beijing when the first National Folk Music and Dance (Amateur) Concert was held in 1953. He also brought this piece into the Huai Ren Hall in Zhongnanhai to give a performance for Chairman Mao Zedong and other central leaders. In the same year, he was sent to Bucharest, Romania to participate in the Fourth World Youth Festival, where he was awarded a silver medal for his piece "Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix". During his visit to Myanmar, the "Kingdom of Suona", he won the admiration of "Suona fans" with his performance of "Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix".
When he visited Myanmar, the "Kingdom of Suona", he was honored with a gold medal for his performance of "Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix" by the Prime Minister of Myanmar at that time.
Ren Tongxiang's version of "Hundred Birds Praying to the Phoenix" consists of an extended slow movement, a slightly faster fast movement, bird calls (four sections), a colorful phrase and a fast coda.
At the beginning of the piece, the suona plays a stretching, beautiful and singable prelude, in which short phrases and long phrases are alternately answered as if they were antiphonal songs, forming amusing and witty music, which is very rich in life's interest:
After the prelude, the suona first plays a passionate and joyful melody, which renders a bustling atmosphere, and then plays the passage of the hundred birds' chirping to the accompaniment of the fixed tunes. The whole piece is based on the warm and cheerful melody and the two segments of the birds' calls, with cyclic changes and repeated reappearance, before and after the total **** repeated reappearance of six times. Birds chirping sometimes melodious, sometimes short, sometimes bright, sometimes dark, the cries of the birds portrayed in the fullest, exquisite, presenting a picture of a hundred birds in the spring and the nature of the flourishing scene of all the things competing for glory.
The suona is a wind instrument that consumes a lot of air, and in the colorful phrases of "Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix", the suona's rapid double spitting and amplitude cyclic air exchange in the treble clef pushed the piece to an exciting climax. The long tones that appear frequently in the colorful phrases are so rushing and turbulent that the listener can't hear the player's quiet breath change and thinks that it is an impermeable one-two punch. The climax is followed by a fast coda, which once again features the fervor of a hundred birds singing. The piece had a perfect ending with a high and swift performance.
Source:/music/article/2009-11/24/content_86871.htm