"This is a drum in the Republic of China, the drum skin is pure cowhide, and the texture of the drum surface is mainly auspicious cloud pattern and bronze pattern...... "Chen Cunde, president of the Taiping Drum Association of the New District, stroked the cracked and mottled Taiping drum in front of him, and excitedly introduced his treasured "treasure" to reporters.
These "old antiques" from different ages and regions, Chen Cunde carefully treasured 20 pieces. "I'm not a collector, I just want to keep all the drums that have a sense of age, because the traditional craftsmanship of making these drums is very precious." Chen Cunde said.
The wood is selected and processed into strips, the last is closed, the inner wall is whitewashed, the primer is painted, the iron nails are made, and the cowhide is brewed...... The process of making the Taiping drum is quite complicated, and there are 19 steps to make a finished Taiping drum.
When making the Taiping Drum, Chen Cunde takes every production process seriously, and every detail is meticulously crafted. "The materials used to make the Taiping drum are very particular, and the drum skin is the key." Chen Cunde said, "I use cultivated cowhide in the selection of cowhide, and the leather is harder than buffalo leather; At the same time, in order to ensure the flatness and tightness of the drum surface, I usually put a bowl on the drum surface to ensure that the penetration and reverberation of the drum sound achieve the best effect. ”
The Taiping drums made by Chen Cunde solved the embarrassment of the local villagers who had no drums available, and the villagers carried these drums to happily perform the social fire and participate in the folk performances.
"I grew up in Duanjiachuan Village, Qinchuan Town, New District, and the Taiping Drum in our village is good at the "Red Fist Style" technique, which is one of the prototypes of the Lanzhou Taiping Drum and a model of the Lanzhou Taiping Drum. Talking about his hometown, Chen Cunde is full of pride.
The people of Duanjiachuan have lived in a rich folk culture atmosphere for generations, and Chen Cunde is no exception. "Since I was a child, I have loved watching my grandfather and father play the Taiping drums, and over the years, I have also fallen in love with playing the drums and hope to become a drummer." He recalled.
The "Red Fist Style" drum method is based on the movements and basic skills of the martial arts Red Fist, containing the essence of the martial arts Little Red Fist, with superb skills and complex movements, which can only be hit by those who have the foundation of martial arts.
In order to play the "red fist" drum method, Chen Cunde followed his father to learn martial arts movements at 6 o'clock every morning, just to play the "spirit" of the Taiping drum.
In 1990, Chen Cunde's Taiping Drum Team participated in the opening ceremony of the Asian Games for the first time, and they beat the drum beat to cheer for the Asian Games. After that, the Lanzhou Taiping drum became famous, and was once known as "the first drum in the world", becoming a Han inspiration and cultural business card with a strong northwest style. On May 20, 2006, Lanzhou Taiping Drum was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
However, with the development of the times, the folk cultural activity of Taiping Drum has only been performed during the Spring Festival for a long time, and is limited to major villages, and the performance techniques have also lacked exchange, and have gradually been submerged in many folk skills.
Chen Cunde was profoundly aware that it was necessary to take measures within a limited time to strengthen the excavation, protection, sorting, and improvement of the Lanzhou Taiping Drum.
In 2016, Chen Cunde learned that the establishment of the Taiping Drum Association could better protect and inherit the intangible cultural heritage of the Taiping Drum. After two years of preparation and review, in 2018, the Lanzhou New Area Taiping Drum Association was successfully established.
"Being the president of the Taiping Drum Association often makes me feel pressured, and I have a strong sense of urgency to inherit the Taiping drum culture." Chen Cunde said frankly that many of the early Taiping drum skills and formations were on the verge of being lost, in order to record these precious materials, he spent 3 years, traveled to dozens of villages with characteristic Taiping drum skills, collected and sorted out, and finally compiled as "Lanzhou Taiping Drum Original Qingyuan", which recorded in detail the skill types and formation characteristics of Taiping drums in different regions.
On the basis of inheriting and protecting the Taiping drum culture, Chen Cunde also actively innovated ideas, carried out "activation" inheritance, and promoted the Taiping drum culture to rejuvenate itself.
With the support and help of the Xiaoheng Road community in Qinchuan Town, New District, Chen Cunde's intangible cultural heritage workshop was established in the Xiaoheng Road Community Party and Mass Service Center.
Walking into his intangible cultural heritage workshop, the display cabinets, tables, and walls are full of Taiping drum handicrafts and costume props as far as the eye can see.
"These Taiping drums without any patterns on the drum surface are used to prepare tools for the children who come to study in Zhongchuan Qingyunyi - Shilakou Rural Tourism Area in Lanzhou New Area." Chen Cunde said with a small but delicate red-faced Taiping drum in his hand.
There are many handicrafts like this in the intangible cultural heritage workshop, and there are a variety of Taiping drum-style backpacks, ornaments, key pendants, etc.
"These handicrafts bring the Taiping drum culture to everyone's life in the form of cultural and creative products, and are known and loved by more people; At the same time, the production of handicrafts has also driven the residents of Xiaohenglu community to generate income to a certain extent. Li Quanfang, director of the Xiaohenglu community, told reporters.
In recent years, with the efforts of Chen Cunde, the Taiping Drum Association of the New District, together with 7 squadrons of the Armed Police stationed in the New District, the Second Middle School of the New District, the Second Primary School of the New District, the Modern Vocational College, and the Gansu Petrochemical Vocational College, have carried out the inheritance and protection activities of intangible cultural heritage projects in the barracks and campuses, and dispatched 10 Taiping Drum coaches and trained 800 team members, which not only inherits the Taiping Drum culture, but also enriches the cultural life of the military camp and campus.
"Looking back, from the age of 16 to the present, I have put all my energy on the Taiping Drum, and the culture left by my ancestors cannot be lost!" Chen Cunde sighed.
Source丨Lanzhou New District Daily reporter Li Yiqing (copyright belongs to the original author, if there is any infringement, please contact to delete)