Development of Taigu Yangko

According to Kangxi's four-year edition of Qixian Annals, "Zhili Town set up a city to drink houses and receive people's wealth." "Counties, cities and strange streets are open from morning till night. On the fifteenth day, it is the Shangyuan Festival, where people worship heaven, set up turtle hill, hang lanterns, set off fireworks, and get together to sing string songs, which is a peaceful scene. " It can be seen that Taigu County's economy was prosperous at that time, folk literature and art were also very active, and there was an endless stream of artists coming and going from village to village. According to the decree of the Qing Dynasty's Regulations on Punishing Miscellaneous Officials (Volume 45): "There are first-class yangko girls among the people, and local officials will try their best to drive them home, whether they are local prostitutes or singers in Beijing or not ..." In the tenth year of Kangxi, yangko girls were banned: "All yangko girls and lazy women, as well as officials from five cities and four directions, were expelled home. This shows that the written records of Yangko are earlier.

In the forty-seventh year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, the first "stepping on words" in Kong's Pingyang Ci wrote: "Fengyang girl stepped on Chunyang and stepped on Pingyang to win her hometown. Don't forget to dance your sleeves and bow your waist, and the street west hooks people's intestines. " From the lyrics, we can see the scene of Fengyang girl performing Fengyang Flower Drum in Pingyang (now Linfen). Taigu Yangko song and dance program "Playing Flower Drum" also said: "Fengyang and Daofengyang are good places. Since Fengyang left Zhu Hongwu, there has been famine for ten years and nine years. (gongs and drums: choking) Large families sell mules and horses, while small families sell idleness. Couples have no choice but to bring flowers and drums, which Nanjing took away, Beijing took away, and South Beijing didn't bring them at all, and the two sides of the Yellow River spent the Spring and Autumn together. (beating gongs and drums: embarrassed! Choking to death! Choke! Choke! Choke! Choking to death! There are many references to Fengyang Flower Drum in Baiqiu. For example, there is a saying in "Lantern Festival": "Fengyang female, the flower drum knocks, and the gong player runs with it". It can be seen that Fengyang Flower Drum was popular in the southwest and middle of the mountain in the early Qing Dynasty.

From the second song of Pingyang Bamboo Skill Ci. "Step on Words" and "Don't use the ball on the cuju court, squint and kick your eyes gently, clearly learn the Qin Lou dance, and show the phoenix head with colorful skirts", which depict the scenes of two beautiful women performing a football match. Taigu Yangko kicks the ball, also known as kicking hydrangea, which is also a performance of two sisters. The lyrics are: "In February, the dragon looks up, the three sisters play cuju, the eldest sister plays with the dragon and wags her tail, and the second sister catches the ball. I walked three times, twisted once, and kicked a lion to roll an hydrangea. Alas, cough, cough, kicked our two sisters again, two manes and sweat dripping down, ho ho! " The comparison between the two shows that kicking shuttlecock was indeed handed down by Fengyang ancient painting artists, such as flower picking, lotus picking, bead curtain rolling, spend december, fig blossom, cowherd and other programs, which were also song and dance programs spread to Jinzhong area at that time.

The activities of Fengyang ancient painting artists are as follows: everywhere they go, they beat gongs and drums to attract the audience. First, they sing Fengyang Song, Cantonese Opera and Manjianghong. Then they performed a song and dance program, such as "Kicking and Tapping Songs", and sometimes they sang some yangko tunes popular in the north to cater to the local audience's preferences. This activity form was absorbed and melted by Jinzhong folk artists and gradually developed into a street yangko team.

The performance form of the street yangko team is two sons, one is handsome and the other is ugly, with a folding fan leading the way, and there are twenty or thirty female characters and male characters patting a small hairpin and knocking a small gong. They marched in two rows in the street and performed. As soon as they heard the gunshots, they went to the door of the welcome head of household, where the leader's son sang hymns, such as: "Men cultivate women's knitting and do housework in a friendly way. I hope there will be a good harvest this year, and their descendants will have a family photo." After the recitation, two or three actors entered the center of the venue, sang a ditty while dancing, and performed a musical. Then keep going until you have trodden all the streets. Performed programs, such as: writing a cross, ten fans, traveling clubs, watching pictures, four babies going to work, etc. Among them, there are first-person song and dance dramas and third-person horizontal song and dance programs. They sing stories, count allusions, write scenes and express the ancients. The stories are simple. When singing and dancing, there is no string accompaniment, just beating drums and gongs to master the rhythm. The dance movement is also relatively simple, but it is a combination of singing and dancing, which is a major breakthrough in the development of Taigu Yangko. The street yangko activity lasted for a long time, until the early years of the Republic of China. The 60-year-old book "The Continuation of Nishang" published by Qing Qianlong said: "[Yangge] Fengyang Drum, Fengyang Gong and Fengyang Sisters sing Yangko." There is also a saying in Taigu Yangko "Playing Flower Drum": "Both husband and wife leave home, and the sea travels all over the world to sing Yangko." When artists who sing Fengyang Flower Drum go to the north, they also sing Yangko with the customs of the north. Although the tunes of Fengyang Song and Yangge are different in mode, tonality and phonology, they absorb and blend with each other and gradually become an organic whole, collectively known as Yangge. The name of Fengyang Song has gradually disappeared in the north. In addition, it also absorbed the style of "Lotus Falling". According to the Golden Gate Miscellanies, "Those who sing" Lotus Falling "in the north are called" Luozi ",that is, like the southern flower drum opera." Another cloud: "Later, someone renamed Taiping Lyrics Cloud". "Falling lotus" is a kind of rap art, which beats with bamboo boards, and each paragraph is often lined with sentences or endings such as "falling lotus, falling lotus". When Taigu Yangko turns over the bowl, the clown learns to sing the word "Lotus Falls": "Play two melons and play two melons, and the ancient painter will figure it out before calling his wife and children." This is a aria in the form of "Lotus Falls" in "Playing the Flower Drum". Another example is the lyrics of "Little Cowherd": "What gong? Play a peaceful gong; What drum do you play? Play a Fengyang drum. " There is something in the chanting: "What I sing in my mouth is lotus falling cough." He also sang: "A spray of lotus will produce beautiful flowers." In "Playing Flower Drum", he sang, "Turn this stinking alley and let's sing Lotus Waterfall again." This shows that Fengyang ancient painting artists also sang "Lotus Fall" after going north. This greatly promoted the richness and development of Taigu Yangko. Since then, Taigu Yangko has added tunes, enriched the repertoire, and added many programs such as reading dialogue, talking after singing and singing after speaking. Local artists have also made up many plays, such as "Cutting Fields" and "Picking Vegetables", and there is another form. The clown first tells a miscellaneous story that has nothing to do with the plot, such as "Double Call Sisters" and "Mill Cake Noodles". After this trinity program appeared, it was a great development for Taigu Yangko, which gave birth to the embryo of drama.

During the Jiaqing and Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, Taigu, Pingyao and Qixian counties were prosperous in commerce, merchants were doing business everywhere, and foreign businessmen frequently came here to trade. The development of business has also promoted the extensive exchange and spread of culture. At that time, people were very interested in fashionable ditties and popular rare plays. Such as: Journey to the West, Jin Quan selling his wife, Xiao Shangfen (the story of Shui Xiu), flying kites and other plays were all spread from other places during this period. Under the influence of these repertoires, folk artists were inspired to create and sing oral repertoires reflecting local rural life, such as Cropland, Going Home, The Story of Pomelo Pipe, Dangban Lane and so on. This shows that the conditions in yangko opera have been met.

During the Daoguang period, many "self-music classes" were established in rural areas of Jinzhong Plain. According to Guo (deceased), an activist of Jinju Ticket Agency, when he was in han cun, Taigu, he saw a suitcase of Zileban in the village, which read "Nineteen Years of Daoguang". According to an old artist, Si Er Dan (deceased), "The organization of self-help classes began in the middle of Qing Dynasty at the latest, that is, when Taigu's business was developed." At that time, the rural areas usually engaged in yangko activities in the streets and then performed on stage. There is a table at the back of the stage with the slow scenes of Le Tong Classroom and Joy Club inserted on it. The programs include ditty, musical, gossip, yangko and so on. However, Yangko opera is the main form, with the cooperation of martial arts halls, such as Guo Ju burying children, sorcering gods, persuading women, sewing robes, Wang Po scolding chickens and selling tofu. Since then, the fetus of yangko opera was born, which is also an important symbol of the development of Taigu yangko, from gradual change to mutation. After performing on stage, yangko artists performed in their own villages, and then left the village and county. According to Comrade Liu Junli of Jinzhong Local Records Office, from Yaocheng Village, Qingxu County, the performance of Guangxu's twenty-two years was recorded on the stage wall: "On the seventh day of May, Taigu Desheng Society, the first day of" eating oil desert "and" picking tea ". In the afternoon, I changed bowls, begged my wife, and cried even more. Late in Cuiping Mountain, fire fortune-telling sells tofu. " Taigu Desheng Club is said to be a semi-professional club organized by two famous artists in Taigu County, "Old Shuanglong" and "Four Flags". The appearance of this class club shows that the development of Taigu Yangko has taken another step forward.

Around the year of the Republic of China 15, Taigu Yangko artists compiled and created a number of Yangko operas that exposed the dark life of the society at that time, and created some new tunes, which have been passed down to this day. Such as: call sister-in-law, make small shirts, ten cards, send cherries, work with sister-in-law, send lovers, etc. However, some plays have lewd, vulgar and obscene contents and performances. Such as "drilling hukou" and "taking off pants", which is a counter-current of the development of Taigu Yangko and also tarnishes its reputation.

During this period, some Jin opera artists cooperated with Yangko artists to adapt and create many excellent Yangko operas. The earliest founder of Taigu Yangko Troupe is Jiabaogao who has a special liking for Taigu Yangko. I often get together with people who love Taigu Yangko, and invited Ermandan, a famous actor of Shanxi Opera, to form Wu Yangko and perform "Killing Sister-in-law" in the old western style, which was very famous at that time. A large number of yangko lovers have emerged, their music and singing skills have also been greatly improved, and the charm of opera is also very strong, which is an excellent program in Taigu yangko. Now, except Bad Family, other programs are still popular. Jin Opera and Yangko, two sister artists, also organized a "wind stirring snow" team to perform Jin Opera and Yangko on the same stage.

Shanxi opera artists have a great influence on yangko in performance, makeup and costumes, and have played an important role in improving the art of yangko. Shanxi Opera and Yangko artists cooperated with each other to create a unique Taigu Yangko Opera, which soon spread to Jinzhong 10 counties and gained a higher reputation among the masses. During the Japanese invasion of China, most Taigu yangko artists in the occupied areas were killed [dead, dead, dead], and the performance activities were basically at a standstill. Even if a few artists are active, they are not managed. Many performances are old and some are ugly. However, in the Jin-Sui border region of the anti-Japanese base area, following the spirit of Chairman Mao's speech at the Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art, revolutionary literary and art groups such as the July Drama Club, the Popular Drama Club, the May 5 th Drama Club and the People's Drama Club performed Noisy Bar, Liu Qiaoer and Fighting Poison with Poison in the form of Taigu Yangko and vocal music art, which greatly aroused the revolutionary fighting spirit and production enthusiasm of the people in the base area.

At that time, there were two kinds of yangko tunes and repertoires circulating in the Jin-Sui border region, with different styles and confusing names. After the Shanxi-Suiyuan Federation of Literary and Art Circles convened a consultation among drama workers, it was decided that two names should be distinguished by region, namely "Northern Shaanxi Yangko" and "Jinzhong Yangko". Since then, the name of Jinzhong yangko opera has replaced the "yangko" collectively referred to in history. In the early days of the founding of New China, there were more than 100 amateur yangko operas in Taigu County [almost every village has a troupe] and 12000 artists. Yangko left over from the old society has both essence and dross. In the performance, there are both the artistic essence extracted from life and the ugly and obscene scum in life. On May 9th, 195 1, leaders and cultural workers at all levels made it clear that they should not only inherit, but also reform and innovate, oppose conservative ideas and arbitrary interference, and how to develop the artistic power of yangko. So I began to collect and sort out my works, educate and unite artists, improve my own quality and create conditions for reform and innovation.

In the same year, during the period of 1 1, Yuci set up a bureau of culture and education to organize famous old artists and literary and art workers in Taigu, Wenshui, Jiaocheng and Qixian, and did a lot of work in performance reform. Therefore, unhealthy things were eliminated, and a number of traditional Yangko operas such as New Flower Drum, Catching Straw Hat, Five Bald Sisters Escaping from Marriage, Going Down the Mountain, and Thirty Persuasions were edited and adapted, and modern dramas such as Picking a Son-in-law and Giving a Dowry were transplanted and staged, which enhanced the rhythm and music and enriched the gongs and drums. Some plays are accompanied by strings. Since then, Taigu Yangko has gradually moved towards a healthy development path.

The birth of Taigu Yangko Opera is another reform after Jinzhong Yangko. Around 20 years of the Republic of China, Yangko artists in Taigu County created repertoires and tunes, which caused a sensation and spread widely. Therefore, the birth of the name Taigu Yangko is in line with the above-mentioned actual situation. In addition, geographically, there are Taigu Yangko, Jiexiu Drought Yangko, Xiaofen Yangko, Jinyuan Yangko (the southern suburb of Taiyuan) and Qixian Wenquwu Yangko in Jinzhong. If Taigu Yangko is also called Jinzhong Yangko, it does not conform to the above actual situation. Therefore, it is a more appropriate and scientific title to reform Taigu Yangko. Thirdly, from the perspective of evolution, Taigu Yangko was renamed Jinzhong Yangko from the tenth year of Qing Emperor Kangxi to before the Anti-Japanese War, and it was renamed Taigu Yangko in 195 1 year after liberation, and it has been passed down to this day without other names.

From 65438 to 0955, Yuci County established its first professional troupe: "Yuci County Yangko Troupe". Many transplanted modern plays were staged. Such as Chaoyanggou, Li Shuangshuang, Li Er's wife remarried, three shoulder change, etc. Many traditional plays have also been adapted, such as Stealing Pumpkins, Dangban Box, Selling High Bottom, Selling Tofu, Embroidered Lantern and so on. All of them have been well received by the audience. The first generation of outstanding actresses, represented by Qiu, came onto the stage, which is a new development of Taigu Yangko, especially the appearance of men disguised as women and the beginning of the history of men disguised as women. At the same time, all the plays are accompanied by strings, which enriches and develops percussion gongs and drums; Change a play into a multi-song play. Great improvement has also been made in performance, directing and stage art. Since then, Taigu Yangko has embarked on a new type of drama road that is perfect without losing its earthy flavor and reforming without changing its characteristics, which is another leap in the development process.

1964 during the "four clean-ups" movement, under the influence of the "left" ideology, someone in the Wenshui Working Group wrote an article "Taigu Yangko must be thoroughly remoulded", the basic spirit of which is to completely deny it and make it useless. This has greatly affected the performance of Yangko in various counties. Some just perform transplanted modern plays and walk on one leg.

During the ten-year turmoil, Taigu Yangko was devastated and all of it was strangled. Yuci County Yangko scissors were dissolved; Rural amateur drama has also disappeared. It was not until 1978 that the CPC Central Committee proposed to set things right that Taigu Yangko Drama Club was established in Taigu County. Under the guidance of the famous actor Wang (played by Xiang Mandan), a group of young actors have been trained, and their performances include: Forced Marriage, The Romance of the West Chamber, Tiger King robbing his parents and so on. 1982 Young actors Liu and Ji Hongyu were awarded the title of outstanding actors in drama performance in Jinzhong area. Since then, Taigu Yangko has resumed its performance.

Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the rural system reform, farmers' economic income has increased year by year, and their lives are getting better and better. Farmers are eager to enrich their spiritual and cultural life while improving their material life, which provides favorable conditions for the development of Taigu Yangko. Taigu yangko artists, in order to adapt to this situation, make great efforts to carry out reforms. For example, in the system, they changed the government-run organization into voluntary groups, amateur classes and clubs 10, and they were responsible for their own profits and losses and performed performances. In training actors, the methods of self-management, self-education and guidance are adopted. Over the past few years, a group of rookies and top actors have been trained and are active on the stage. Many classes and clubs have good performances, with rich income and enthusiastic response from the audience.