At 8 pm on December 31, 2023, the professional suona group "Cao Jia Ban" from Peixian County, Xuzhou started broadcasting on the short video platform on time. The musicians cooperated with each other, showed their talents, took turns to sit in the C position, and presented classics to netizens Famous pieces, such as "Spring Festival Overture", "Facing the Emperor", "Horse Racing", "Hundred Birds Paying Attention to the Phoenix"...the familiar suona pieces were performed one after another, loud and high-pitched, directly touching the soul. As of 0:30 the next day, a total of 3.729 million people were watching the live broadcast of "2023 Light Boat has passed the Ten Thousand Mountains".
△Cao Jia Ban live broadcast
In 2023, while inheriting traditional repertoire, "Cao Jia Ban" continued to innovate, persisted in live broadcasting for more than 300 games, appeared on the CCTV stage 4 times, and gained more than 1.5 million fans. Live broadcasting not only allows the "Cao Family Ban" to solve their livelihood problems, but also becomes an important way for them to promote traditional folk music culture.
Six generations of the "Cao Jia Ban" family have been playing suona for more than 70 years
Xuzhou Pei County is known as the "Hometown of Suona", and the folk band "Cao Jia Ban" founded in the 1940s and 1950s is one of the best. They have made a living on the suona for generations, and for decades they have performed in various rural weddings and funerals.
△Xuzhou Pei County Caojia Ban
The leader of the "Cao Jiaban" class is named Cao Henan. He comes from a suona family. He is the provincial intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Pei County Suona and the president of the Pei County Suona Association. "Six generations of the family have been playing suona for more than 70 years." Cao Henan said that they have participated in countless parties and performances, and have won many awards in national, provincial, and municipal competitions. "Cao's Class" has also become a local The famous suona team.
Cao Henan’s son, Cao Ga, was born in 1986 and is the fifth generation descendant of the Cao family’s suona. He said that more than 20 years ago, the monthly income of suona artists could only exceed 1,000 yuan. At its peak, the monthly income of suona artists could exceed 10,000 yuan. For a long time, the suona skill allowed an artist to support his family with a single suona.
However, with the development of the times, daily celebrations, performances and other activities are all keen on new Western musical instruments. Many people are unable to make a living by playing suona and performing alone, so they have changed careers. In addition, it is difficult to learn suona, and many young people go out to work. Gradually Even though the country is the "hometown of suona", the current number of suona teams in Peixian County is less than half of its peak. "Cao Jiaban" is one of the few permanent teams that still rely on suona to make a living.
△Xuzhou Pei County Caojia Ban
participated in CCTV's "Blockbuster" column and was promoted, and the live video became a hit
"How about we also try live broadcasting?" For the "Cao Jiaban" whose main business is suona performances, Seeing relatives and brothers at home changing careers one after another, Cao Ga made such a proposal at the end of February 2022.
just do it. After half a month of preparations, on March 18, 2022, the "Pei County Caojia Ban Suona" live broadcast room was launched. "I thought it would be good to have one or twenty people come to see them, but hundreds of people came in one after another on the first day." To Cao Ga's surprise, the short video platform quickly gathered a lot of popularity, and many people visited the same city to see them. During the live broadcast, I came in specially to say hello. On the 11th day of the live broadcast, the number of fans exceeded 100,000, with an average increase of 10,000 fans a day.
△Participated in 11 CCTV "Blockbuster" columns and was promoted
"In fact, when we first tried the live broadcast, everyone just thought that the things of our ancestors should not be lost. We hoped that a few like-minded people would get together to make music and use digital means. and the Internet allow this skill to be passed down from generation to generation and attract more people to like suona." Cao Ga said that after more than a month of live broadcast, he did not expect so many viewers to like it. Every live broadcast, there are thousands of people in the live broadcast room Waiting inside, some people left messages praising them, some called specifically to invite them to perform, and some parents said they would send their children to them to learn suona...
On April 5, 2022, grandfather Cao Weibang, who was over eighty years old, came to In the live broadcast room, Cao Henan and Cao Ga performed "Striking the Golden Branch" and "Seventh Grade Sesame Official" together. This was the first time in the first half month since the broadcast started that three generations were on the same stage. When grandpa played, Cao Henan played drums and gongs, Cao Ga played the electronic keyboard, and Cao Ga's younger brother Cao Gan played instruments and accompanied grandpa. The three-hour live broadcast that day received more than 2 million likes from viewers.
took to the stage of the CCTV New Year's Eve party.
Because of its popularity in promoting folk music online, "Cao's Class" was also invited by CCTV. On December 31, 2022, Cao Ga led the "Cao Family Class" to the CCTV New Year's Eve Party and sounded the first sound to welcome the New Year. The
party revolved around the four chapters of "Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter", showing the harvest of China in the past year and conveying people's good wishes for the New Year. When the high-pitched and clear suona sounded, the "Autumn Harvest" episode kicked off. Actors from Pei County's "Cao Family Troupe", Nanchang Symphony Orchestra and Jiangxi Song and Dance Theater jointly presented a wonderful music performance "Autumn". Suona players dressed in red played cheerful melodies, and the joy of the harvest was conveyed to thousands of households through the screen. It is a great honor and an arduous task for
to be on the CCTV stage. Cao Ga said that at that time, they only had a week to prepare for the brand-new music score. Everyone worked overtime and practiced repeatedly. Through solid performance skills and years of performance experience, they not only quickly understood the music score, but also added their own Thoughts, the movements and positions were carefully choreographed to express the joy of harvest.
In less than a month after that, "Cao Family Class" participated in more than 10 large-scale offline performances. That period also became the busiest time for "Cao Family Class" in the past three years. During the 2023 Spring Festival holiday, "Cao's Class" will continue to broadcast live from the second day of the Lunar New Year, from 8pm to 12pm every day, and there will be one or two performances every week. "Offline performances have increased significantly." Cao. Ga said.
△Caojiaban performance site
Suona should be passed down from generation to generation
According to Cao Ga, there are currently more than 30 people in the "Caojiaban". In addition to family members, there are also many apprentices and students. The youngest is Cao Ga's youngest son, who is only 7 years old now. The eldest is grandfather Cao Wei Bang, who is over eighty years old. Cao Ga said that 90% of the "Cao Family Class" members are young people, with an average age of about 30 years old. Young actors have attracted young audiences. Among the 1.5 million fans who follow "Cao Family Ban" online, young and middle-aged fans account for 60%.
short video live broadcast has also changed the previous performance format of "Cao Family Class". "First of all, the performance time has been lengthened. In the past, it only took ten minutes to play a few tunes at an event, but in the live broadcast room, the live broadcast lasted for 3 hours." Cao Ga said that they perform at 8 p.m. every day The live broadcast was started in the middle of the night. It was originally scheduled to be broadcast for 3 hours, but often there were still many people entering the live broadcast room at 11 pm, making it impossible to download the broadcast. The longest delay was as late as 3 am. Although the current regular performers in the live broadcast room are around 30 years old and are "the most energetic generation", Cao Ga admitted that this kind of performance is much more intense than in the past. "Every day after the live broadcast, everyone just sat there and didn't want to move. It was so tiring!"
Cao Ga said that the relationship between watching and performing is also very different from before. In the past, Suona's audience was mainly middle-aged and elderly people, but now the 19-year-old in the live broadcast room -30-year-olds account for a large proportion. How to attract young people? Cao Ga worked hard on repertoire innovation. In addition to Suona classics, he also adapted popular songs such as "Xi Yang Yang" and "Compendium of Materia Medica", folk songs from all over the country such as "Yangge" and "Jasmine", and even the world famous song "Katyusha". The Suona version has won popularity among fans of different age groups.
In addition, Cao Ga and his team members will also make adjustments and improvements in clothing, musical instruments, etc. He recruited several erhu, flute, guzheng and other players in their 20s to accompany them in the live broadcast room to participate in the live broadcast. Their live broadcast is no longer entirely about suona, but also uses northern percussion instruments to form a folk orchestra.
Suona has been passed down through six generations to help develop folk music. Currently, "Cao Family Class" has three original works, namely "Joy of Harvest", "Happy New Village" and "Happy Family". Among them, "Happy Family" is based on Cao Ga's family. He wants to bring the young members of the Cao Family Class to more big stages so that the Cao Family Suona can be passed down from generation to generation.
Correspondent Zhang Jingliang Modern Express+ reporter Zhang Xiaopei
(photo provided by interviewee, proofread by Zhang Hongxia)
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