*Guangdong Han Music

15.*Guangdong Han Music

Nominating Unit: Dapu County, City of Meizhou

Guangdong Han Music, which used to be called Hakka Music, Waijiangxian, Ru Music or Handiao Music, was distributed in Meizhou, Shantou, Shaoguan and Huiyang with Dapu County, City of Meizhou as the representative place for it. According to archaeology, the Music, hailed as “the Ancient Music of the Central Plain”, was brought in by the ancient Han Minority from the Central Plain while they moved to the South and was circulated for at least 500 years in Dapu county. Guangdong Han Music has become one of the three most famous kinds of music in Guangdong Province with the preservation of the original features of the Central Plain music, merging with the local folk music (such as Dabayin and Zhongjunban Music) in Dapu County and assimilating some elements (such as the large gongs and drums) of Chaozhou Music.

In the light of its performance forms, its different uses and its long-time developed performing habits, Guangdong Han Music can be divided into five categories: Firstly, the most popular and prevalent performance, Sixianyue, commonly called “Hexiansuo”, is led by Touxian (commonly called “Diaoguizi”) or Tihu and accompanied by Yangqin, Sanxian, flute and Yehu. The second category is Qingyue, also called Ru Music, pursuing an elegant performance so that it is favored by writers and scholars. The music is played with only a few musical instruments, mainly Guzheng, Pipa, Yehu, Dongxiao, which is called the“Three Leading Pieces” of Zheng, Pa and Hu. The third one is Hanyue Daluogu, also called Bayin, mainly played in the Hakka traditional festivals like the Lantern Festival. It is led by Suona and accompanied by such percussion instruments as Dagu, Suluo, Dabo, Xiaobo, Wanluo, Tongjin, Xiaoluo and Maluo (used in Bayin). The fourth is Zhongjunban Music, which is played in history with folk musical associations as a kind of ritual music mainly on occasions like marriages or funerals. It is led by Suona and accompanied by percussion music and Sixianyue. The fifth category is Miaotang Yinyue (Temple Music), which is a Foshan Percussion Music with Chinese wind and percussion instruments played during religious rites, led by Suona and accompanied by percussion music and Sixianyue.(https://www.daowen.com)

Guangdong Han Music is rich in its set lists with 612 musical compositions in the published“Guangdong Han Music Set List Collection”, 430 of which are Sixianyue, 56 are Qingyue, 23 are Hanyue Daluogu, 62 are Zhongjunban Yinyue and 31 are Miaotang Yinyue. The representative compositions are three songs of Sixianyue: Dandianwei, Yushanpo, Sifu, three of Suona music: Fendie, Putianle, and Yufurong and two of Miaotang Yinyue: Yifengshu and Shuidiyu.

Guangdong Han Music was selected into the list of the first batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006.