Issue 138
Youyang Yang Opera——
The poetic dwelling of the children of the Tujia family
Location: Taopo Village, Xiaohe Town
"From the west of Sichuan, the law passed on by Liu Shu when he was the queen of the Lord, born Dan is pure and ugly, and the gag is called the upper Sichuan religion." ——Regarding the origin of Youyang Yang opera, there is such a record in the Tang book "Youyang Miscellaneous". After more than 3,000 years of oral transmission and baptism of the years, it has been integrated into the blood of the Tujia nation, and it deduces the rise and fall of a nation in the pure ugliness of Shengdan.
A long history and a unique one
Youyang Yang Opera, also known as Mask Yang Opera and Face Shell Opera, is a kind of folk drama with strong religious colors that integrates sacrificial rituals and dramatic arts.
Youyang Yang Opera originated from the "Wu Yi" in ancient times, which not only retains the essence of Wu Opera, but also integrates the characteristics of local local opera and lantern singing. Youyang Yang Opera began to be popular in the Youxi area, and there is no fixed script, and it is all taught by mouth. According to the introduction of yang opera artists, the yang opera passed down orally by the ancestors was formed in the Tang Dynasty, advocated by Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and was taught in the White Horse Hall to worship Emperor Guan Sheng.
Youyang Yang Opera is widely distributed in Xiaohe, Tonggu, Dingshi and other towns, and the Yang Opera in Taopo and other villages is the most typical. In 2021, Youyang Yang Opera was included in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
Chanting, chanting, doing, and playing are self-contained
The theatrical expression technique is a synthesis of singing, reading, doing, and playing (dancing), and Youyang Yang Opera is no exception, and has higher requirements for these four aspects. For thousands of years, the industrious and optimistic sons and daughters of the Tujia family have laughed at birth, old age, sickness and death, wealth and honor and disgrace in singing, singing, dancing, and poetically inhabiting this wonderful landscape.
According to reports, before the liberation, there were 20 people in the Yang Opera Troupe of Taopo Village, Xiaohe Town, all of whom had unique skills, which can be described as a prosperous drama. In their spare time, the actors work in the village's ceramics factory to solve their food and clothing worries. Every year from the first day of the first month to the third day of the first month, from the thirteenth to the fifteenth day of the first month, the troupe will bring the "guys" out of the nest and perform door-to-door, and the remote mountain village is boiling because of this.
Youyang Yang Opera has a fixed set of ritual procedures, and the repertoire involves mythology and history, loyalty, filial piety, honesty and righteousness. For example, the yang opera performed by the Yang Opera Troupe in Taopo Village is divided into 3 parts and 7 paragraphs. Before the start of the troupe, the first sentence of the ancestor worship was sung "On the White Horse Hall, the Tang Dynasty enlightened the religion", and the patriarch's tablet was also inscribed with the eight characters of "Tang Dynasty enlightenment, the drama officials of the past dynasties". Acting in the main drama is the main body of the mask yang opera, and the play is determined according to the theme of the actor's singing. Celebrate birthdays, marry daughters-in-law, sing "Great Filial Piety" and other plays, ask for rain to sing "Parrot Brother" and other plays, celebrate the son of "Du Lao Sends Son" and other plays, He goes out to triumph, Song the lord's military generals and soldiers sing "Expedition to the East" and "Expedition to the West" and other plays.
Hand and eye dexterity There are many masks
Yang opera singing cavity cards are divided into "nine boards and thirteen cavities" according to the role, mainly including the Huangsheng cavity, the prime minister's cavity, the marshal's cavity, the Xiaosheng cavity, the Xiaodan cavity, the old cavity, the king cavity, the scholar's cavity, etc. There are mainly "one word" and "second rate", "one word" is not limited by the beat when singing, under the premise of maintaining the overall style of singing, the actor can play a certain role, and change freely, while the "second rate" is limited by the beat of the board eye.
Yang opera pays special attention to the use of techniques and eye techniques. In addition to the commonly used orchid hands, sword fingers, tiger palms, and shaking fingers, there are also ginger paws, purse hands, sleeve hands, Buddha hands, hook hands, Yakou hands, stacked palms, etc. The eye rules include drums, obliques, tears, pairs, lai, etc., to express the joy, anger, sadness, happiness, surprise and other emotions of various characters.
The footwork in the yang opera performance is very distinctive, such as the clown's duck step, monkey step, broken step, shuttle step, small jump step, short step, Xiao Dan's step, broken step, stumbling step, cloud step, cross step, light step, small step, stacked step, up the mountain step, down the mountain step, ghost step, picking up snail step, etc., the psychological state of different characters is vividly expressed.
There are many kinds of props in Youyang Yang opera, including masks, costumes, handsome flags, guns, short knives, bows and arrows, hammers, brooms, folding fans, chaowats, handkerchiefs, etc., the most important of which is masks. The face mask of Youyang Yang Opera is concise in shape, with simple lines, characterized by prominent eyebrows and eyes, and upturned eyebrows. Fan Zheng drama male will have sword eyebrows and big eyes, wide mouth and wide nose, giving people a vigorous and spicy, resolute personality of the visual impact, Fan Zheng drama female will Dan Feng eyes, eyebrows, narrow nose and small mouth, quite soft and rigid women's style, different identities use different props in different plots, can play a role in promoting drama performance.
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Author: Yang Mingcong ▏Editor: Zhao Shuting Duty: Ren Guirong ▏Editor-in-Chief: Chen Jie Youyang Autonomous County Rong Media Center Production