Xiangshan Hualuogu Drum Performance is a kind of primitiveScene Music which is the most time-honored and it circulates in the Xiangshan area of DayingCounty in Sichuan Province. It began in the dynasties of Shang and Zhou,flourished in the dynasties of Qin and Han and was prosperous in the dynastiesof Tang and Song. It is regarded as the “living fossil” of folk music among theHan nationality in Sichuan Province.

The musical instrumentsare made up of a big gong, a bass drum,a cymbal and four horse gongs. Different instruments are used according todifferent names of the tunes to show different emotions.

The eight immortals drum, Penglai music are preserved well and areperformed until now because of its widely spread. However, XiangshanHualuogu Drums belong to Daying County Xiangshan town only and are closeto extinction. Recently, there are only 5 old men who can play a little withit. There are only 15 names of the tunes of Xiangshan Hualuogu Drumshanded down orally now. Even the music scorecollected are puzzling and can’t be performed.

In order to save this lively fossil which are close to extinction, theculture center of Daying County begins to send people to look for musicians andset up training courses on intangible cultural heritages such as XiangshanHualuogu Drums.

Nowadays, 92 original names of the tunes of Xiangshan Hualuogu Drumshave been found, 15 of which are performed all the year round. They have alsofounded the historic reform and related historic information about thetraditional Hualuogu Drums. They have also established a research team onHualuogu Drums be made up of five persons and a performance team toperform in the activities such as ceremonies, festival celebrations and temple fairsand they are popular among the ordinary people.

Time:2015.5.12

Source:ShanghaiIntangible Cultural Heritage Net