Teochew string music
Teochew string music or Chaozhou xianshi (simplified Chinese: 潮州弦诗; traditional Chinese: 潮州弦詩; lit. 'Chaozhou string-poem' also called "string-poem music") is classed as a type of sizhu music (chamber music for strings and woodwind, literally 'silk/bamboo') although it typically uses stringed instruments only. It is found in northeastern Guangdong and parts of Fujian and also in regions with overseas Teochew populations, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States. The Chaoshan region of Guangdong, bordering on Fujian and comprising the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang, forms its own cultural sphere. Teahouses often accompany with Chaozhou music.
History
Developed from a fusion of elements, popular song, arias of
Instruments
The instruments most commonly employed include several varieties of two-stringed bowed lutes; the zixian (字弦) .
Characteristics
The ten characteristic compositions of xianshi yue are
- Zhaojun Yuan (昭君怨, 'Grief of Wang Zhaojun')
- Xiaotaohong (小桃红)
- Hanya Xishui (寒鸦戲水, 'Jackdaws Play in the Water')
- Huangli Ci (黃鸝詞, 'The Oriole's Cry')
- Yue'er Gao (月儿高, 'High Moon')
- Dababan (大八板, 'Great Eight Beats')
- Pingsha Luoyan (平沙落雁, 'Flock of Geese on the Shore')
- Fengqiuhuang (鳳求凰, 'The Male Phoenix Seeks the Female')
- Wulianhuan ('Five Knots of the Chain')
- Jinshang Tianhua (錦上添花, 'Adding Flowers upon Brocade')
The form of each of these pieces resembles a
Four or five main
Apart from the major pentatonic scale two further tones, corresponding to a (sharp) perfect fourth and a (flat) major seventh, are employed. The "missing" steps of the scale in each mode may be used in ornament but are not part of main mode structure. The mode qingsan qingliu ("Light III Light VI") is the standard major pentatonic. But qingsan zhongliu ("Light III Heavy VI") calls for a heavy string-pressure upon the sixth degree, raising it to the seventh. Zhongsan zhongliu ("Heavy III Heavy VI"), similarly, applies this upward string-bend to the third degree as well, raising it to the fourth. The fourth common scale, called Huowu ("Live V"), resembles this last but avoids the plain third degree and instead uses a heavy vibrato on the second degree. This is said to be the most characteristic mode of the region.
Chaozhou drum music includes the big drum and gong, the small drum and gong, the dizi set drum and dong and su drum and gong ensembles. The current Chaozhou drum music is said to be similar to the form of the Drum and Wind Music of the Han and Tang Dynasties.
References
- Anon, Sizhu yue : musique poétique à cordes de Chaozhou, China.org, retrieved April 2009 [1]
- Prof. Mercedes M. Dujunco, The Birth of a New Mode? Modal Entities in the Chaozhou Xianshi String Ensemble Music Tradition of Guangdong, South China, in Ethnomusicology Online, Issue 8, 2003, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, retrieved April 2009 [2]