China News Service, Changji, Xinjiang, September 24 (Reporters Cheng Xiaolu and Zhao Yamin) 16 years ago, Xinjiang Opera and Muzhu Opera were included in the national intangible cultural heritage protection list. They are a type of opera that became its own genre after being introduced to Xinjiang from the Shaanxi-Gansu area. They are also the cultural business card of Wujiaqu City, the Sixth Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. How can "old" operas that have been passed down for centuries attract new audiences? The answer given by the inheritor is: get closer to the younger generation.
Liu Shuzhen, the inheritor of Xinjiang Opera. Photographed by Cheng Xiaolu
, Liu Shuzhen, the fifth generation inheritor of Xinjiang Opera, who is over 70 years old, dances and sings with a silk scarf in her hand, her steps are light and her singing voice is clear.
It is understood that Xinjiang opera is based on Shaanxi Meihu, Lanzhou Guzi, Qinghai Pingxian, etc., and integrates multi-ethnic operas and folk songs, gradually forming a unique style of opera. Its tunes are rich, the performance is lively, and it vividly presents the daily life of working people. It is deeply loved by the local people.
Liu Shuzhen said that she often listened to her family singing opera when she was a child, and she started learning to sing opera after she retired. More than 20 years ago, she studied opera with Yang Peicai, the fourth generation inheritor of Xinjiang Opera. "There were no practice rooms or tape recorders at that time. I could only sing at your house today and sing at his house tomorrow. There are thirty-six major keys and seventy-two minor keys in the opera. Teacher Yang Peicai sings one line, and we sing one line, and we just sing 100 I have learned a variety of tunes.”
“Our ancestors passed down the opera to us, and we must pass it on,” said Liu Shuzhen, who now has more than 30 members in her own music class at Hongqi Farm. They often go to schools and kindergartens to perform for children. "We want to perform more and sing more to attract more young people to protect and inherit Xinjiang opera."
Di Guangzhao, the inheritor of confusion drama. Photographed by Cheng Xiaolu
Muddle Opera: Entering the campus and starting from the baby
Inheriting the excellent traditional culture must "start from the baby". Not only Liu Shuzhen agrees with this concept, but also the fifth generation inheritors of the Muddle Opera Di Guangzhao and Fang Gao Feiyuan, the leader of the Caohu Farm Drama Troupe. On September 21st, at the Fangcao Lake Farm New Era Civilization Practice Center, a group of children from Fangcao Lake Guandi Primary School performed the confused play "Everyone Likes" on the stage, with gray-haired instrumentalists accompanying them. More than 60 Di Guangming and Gao Feiyuan, who are 20 years old, watched from the audience, and the "inheritance" became concrete at this moment.
Muddle-headed opera was originally called Meihu. One theory is that it originated from Mei County and Hu County in Shaanxi Province (today’s Huyi District, Xi'an City), hence the name; another theory is that it originated from Huayin and Huaxian County in Shaanxi Province, because of its tune. It is named after its pleasant sound, "I feel confused when I listen to it". Di Guangzhao introduced that at the end of the 19th century, the ancestors of the Di family migrated from Gansu to Xinjiang. The confused opera they sang to relieve loneliness has been passed down from generation to generation in the Di family to this day. "The ancestors are gone, but the chimney still smokes; the ancestors are gone, the three-stringed string instrument is still played." Di Guangguang said that his 9-year-old granddaughter Sun Yatou also learned the confused opera from him.
Most of the young actors performing this time are children around 10 years old, such as Muhelisa Zaire and Sumaya Yassen, who are still in the fifth grade of primary school. Gao Feiyuan said that in recent years, the local area has carried out activities to bring confused drama to schools. Children participating in the study come from all ethnic groups, and many children have fallen in love with this traditional drama.
After the performance, the 11-year-old actor Kong Zixuan performed an "encore" solo version of "Everyone Likes" for reporters: "The women refused to obey their men. They crossed a ditch, turned a corner, walked forward step by step, and asked for their rice. "Send the son up the mountain..." This is a play that premiered in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region in 1944. The plot tells the story of a lazy man who changed his appearance with the help of the villagers and became a man who loves labor. Kong Zixuan said that this is the reason why she likes the Muddle Opera. "The Muddle Opera expresses the optimistic and uplifting spirit and embodies the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation."(End)
Source: China News Network
