The Yi and Hani people who live in the Red River area of Yunnan Province like to smoke large caliber pipes made of dragon bamboo, and they also carry with them cigarette cases for holding tobacco. The earliest cigarette cases were sewn with leather and later changed to wood. Intelligent Yi family members, with the fingers flick the lid or bottom of the box, a loud musical sound, and then embellished, this was originally a living utensil of the smoke box, it became a folk dance "Smoke Box Dance" accompanied by musical instruments and dance tools.
In the Museum of Chinese Musical Instruments of the Music Research Institute of the China Academy of Art in Beijing, there is a cigarette box from Yunnan folk, meticulous workmanship, small and exquisite, the box edges inlaid with copper hoops, decorated with copper bells. It has been enshrined in the "Illustrated Guide to Chinese Musical Instruments".
Cigarette Box Dance
Playing the cigarette box combined with the dance, that is, for the "Cigarette Box Dance" accompaniment. The "Smoke Box Dance" is also known as "Jumping Strings", that is, the Yi four-stringed instrument is used as the accompaniment for the dance. The Smoke Box Dance can be performed by two men and two women simulating animal forms, or by dozens or tens of men and women dancing collectively, with the dancers forming a circle, moving in a counterclockwise direction, dancing slowly, and playing and dancing at the same time.
Skipping strings
Smokeboxes are also used in folk instrumental ensembles.
The Cigarette Box Dance, also known as "jumping strings", is accompanied by the four-stringed or Yi moon zither. It is often performed by two men and two women, and can also be performed by dozens of people in a group.
When playing, the dancer opens the cigarette box, holds the lid and the bottom of the box with the right and left hands, and strikes the box with the index finger and the big finger, and dances while playing, with a beautiful dance posture. The dancers usually turn their wrists and elbows when they strike the box, which can produce various rhythms, and the pronunciation is clear and pleasant to the ear, while vibrating the small brass bells on the side of the box in order to strengthen the rhythm and joyful atmosphere.
Yunnan Yi subfamily Nisupu settlements, like to smoke a large caliber water pipe made of bamboo. Cigarette cases are naturally a must-have vessel for tobacco. But I do not know when it began, people inadvertently found and their daily lives are inseparable from the cigarette box with a finger gently knocking play, can send out a croak of the pleasant sound, just step on the rhythm of the dance, the ability to sing and dance of the Yi people were y inspired by the cigarette box used for the dance occasions to play the cigarette box to control the rhythm of the hand on the one hand used to unify the rhythm on the one hand used to add to the dance of the warmth of the atmosphere, and so the cigarette box has become a The smoke box became a special musical instrument and has been handed down to the present day, and this corresponding dance is also customarily called the Smoke Box Dance, which has become a famous dance form of the Yi people.
The smoke box, as a kind of folk finger-playing musical instrument, is popular in the Yi settlement areas in the counties of Yueju, Kaiyuan, Mengzi, Jianshui, Shiping and Yuanjiang in Yunnan. Made of thin strips of donggua wood or bamboo, with a diameter of about 90 mm and a height of about 60 mm, the upper cover is tightly fitted to the bottom of the box, and the edges are decorated with colorful tassels, which makes the box look exquisite and chic. When dancing, the first open the lid, left and right hand, each holding a pair, jumping while knocking on the box surface with fingers, the sound is crisp and clear.
Smoke Box Dance is complex and varied, not only the upper part of the body dance, but also a large number of lower movements, often the head, hands, waist, legs, feet and other parts of the coordination, beyond the ethnic groups of the lower part of the dance mainly a number of other dances. Cigarette Box Dance is usually divided into two categories, namely, the Chord and the Miscellaneous Chord. Chord is a basic dance, more focused to show the style and characteristics: such as three-step chord, two-step chord, one-step chord, etc., only dance without singing; miscellaneous chord is generally sung and danced, the dance form and content of the richer, and randomness is strong.
The cigarette box dance is said to have more than a hundred sets of dance, mostly reflecting or simulating the habits of animal life, human production and labor and living conditions, each set of dance has a specific name, such as mute firewood, butterflies playing in the water, fairy wrestling, heron fishing, dragonflies pointing at the water, crab fights, phoenix head nodding, vigorously splitting the bamboo, monkeys breaking the bush, magpies nesting, flies treating the feet, etc., are fully demonstrated the magical art of the Yi people's imagination. imagination of the Yi people. Smoke Box Dance has more changes in dance steps, rows of circles, straight rows, horizontal rows, four through the flowers, six through the flowers, etc., both single dance, double dance, but also dozens of people dance, the action of flexibility, toughness, rigidity, brittle combination of each other, such as dragonflies pointing to the water, dancers from the upside down step jumping, while sucking the foot, the leg forward or to the side of the extension of the foot pointing to the touch of the hand correspondingly for the point of the water, and then sucking the leg back to the south of the original state. Phoenix nodding dance with one hand raised, one hand lifted flat, hands popping cigarette box when the finger palm down hook, highlighting the back of the wrist, raise the hand as if the phoenix in the nod; heron fishing is also more graphic, skillful, dance with hands apart to stand up straight, the upper body towards the front of the prone bowing, with the mouth to the fish on the ground (cigarette box) Chiao up; Doo Hoof Shells are two relative (or back) kicking, like donkeys and horses fighting with the hooves; in addition, monkeys breaking buds, crabs fighting and so on are also The monkey breaks the grain, the crab fights, etc. are also very realistic.
Today, the smoke box has become a famous musical instrument of the local Yi people, and the smoke box dance has become a popular form of Yi dance, which has been performed in various art festivals for many times and is highly praised.