The people of Qin are rough and heroic in nature, and their accent is like a roaring lion, with momentum like a rainbow. Perhaps it is the burden and oppression that have been shouldered for thousands of years. Only a roar can express the heaviness and vicissitudes of history. The taste of it may only be seen through the sweat and wrinkles of the people working in the fields, so Qin Opera has a broad mass base in rural areas. When playing the erhu in the countryside, whether literate or illiterate, they can casually play a piece of Qin opera for you, and the singing is still very skillful.
Every spring, when there is no work in the fields, every village plans to set up a stage and sing operas. The stage is the common cause of the whole village. I would rather eat less and wear less, but also raise funds and save money, buy good wood and stone, and hire skilled craftsmen to build it. Whether the village is rich or not depends on whether it is wider than this stage. As soon as the performance started, people started carrying stools to occupy their seats in the middle of the afternoon. Before the show started, there were people sitting and standing under the stage, and a group of children lying on the steps on both sides of the stage. The gongs and drums were tinkling and making noise, as if the whole world was about to be turned upside down. The gongs and drums were still beating, but the curtain was not drawn. The actors occasionally looked down from the edge of the curtain and shouted: The show is starting, the place is full! The curtain was lowered, and it was said that the stage was about to appear, but the sound kept clicking. Finally, the gongs and drums on the stage stopped, the curtain opened, and the characters appeared. But regardless of whether they were men or women, they would not face the audience when they came out, and they would hide their faces with their backs turned. The women would move back in small steps, as if they were floating on water, and the audience would shout: Look at that waist, those shoulders, what a show! If he was a man, he would shake his cap feathers, sometimes double-handedly, sometimes single-handedly, flying up and down while not moving at all, and the audience would shout: Absolutely amazing! Absolutely amazing! When the character suddenly turned around, raised his head high, and let out a loud scream, the sound was like thunder and roared over people's heads. The whole audience was trembling with chills, from head to toe, every finger tip, and every hair tip. My children were all numb. If it was playing "Saving Pei Sheng", then Hui Niang stood in the middle of the stage and squatted down. Slowly, slowly, Hui Niang squatted down, and the heads of everyone in the audience dropped half a foot, waiting for Hui Niang to stand up. , Slowly, slowly, Huiniang stood up, and the necks of everyone in the audience stretched. They don't like to watch raw plays, but most welcome familiar plays. They know every tune. If an actor sings well, he or she will just bob his head and sing along. If an actor goes out of tune, someone in the audience will correct him. To put it bluntly, watching Qin Opera is not for the sake of novelty, they just want to have fun. In such a place, such an environment, such an atmosphere, facing such an audience, Qin Opera is the most effective and enjoyable art. During the break between the morning show and the afternoon show, the actors also have to eat. At this time, it is also time for those watching the show in the audience to eat. Those who are close to home will go home to eat, and some who are far away from home will go home to eat. We went to the nearest relatives' houses, and those who didn't have any relatives bought some food under the stage. Various snacks were put on display, such as peanuts, melon seeds, candies, cigarettes, camellia oil, twists, roasted chicken, pancakes, cold skin, cold noodles, net cakes, etc. , shouting and shouting loudly, the elderly people always like to sit at the oil tea stall, make a bowl of oil tea, or have a pressed cake, and a few old men will talk about the opera and singing for a few days while drinking. How do you like it? Young people like to eat cold skin, which is red with spicy oil. It makes people sigh when they eat it, but it is enjoyable.
In rural areas, villagers sing on happy occasions as well as on white occasions. When there is a funeral in a rural home (an old man dies), several people are invited to sing. Musicians also measure the grandness of the day-to-day affairs. If the family is well-off, usually eight musicians will be invited to lead the opera. It is also called a self-music class. In the evening, after the three offerings (the ritual of worshiping the dead), they will sing a few verses, and the second After the heavenly being is buried, he sings a few more verses. As soon as the gongs and drums sound and the low and melodious erhu is played, men, women and children of all ages join in the opera. The opera singers sing so soul-stirringly that the onlookers are mesmerized. The sad cry of "Zhuge Liang's Sacrifice to the Lantern" was so heart-breaking that the passers-by also wanted to cry; during the performance of "Bao Gong's Apology", the ghusl shouted "Dynasty Mahan", the tone was like a thunder between heaven and earth , the excitement and high pitch can be heard clearly from two miles away.
To talk about how I fell in love with Qin Opera, I probably have to start from my childhood. I remember that when my father came back from Xinjiang, he brought a tape recorder. This thing was really a rarity in the rural areas of that era. Except for a 12-inch black and white TV set in another house in the village, the tape recorder in our house can be said to be the only one in the whole village.
Dad thought the external sound of the tape recorder was too small, so he installed a large speaker under the eaves, and the loud sound spread throughout the yard. Dad loves to listen to Qin opera. He comes back from working in the fields in the evening, brings his rice bowl and puts it on the stone plate in front of the door. He listens to the high-pitched and exciting tunes played by the tape recorder, with both subdued and high-pitched accents. It touches every pore. There is a sense of comfort in everything. In the end, the whole family, young and old, can hum a few verses of Liu Ruhui's "Ancang Recognizes Mother"
When people's lives get better and better, every family buys a TV , since then people have been able to watch Qin Opera on TV every week, which is a lot more convenient, and the only people watching are famous actors. Since my father wanted to watch the show, he controlled the TV, so I had no choice but to follow along. Although I didn’t understand the quality of the show, I loved reading the lyrics, and I found the lyrics of Qin Opera to be particularly catchy. , and the rhythm of the words is very elegant, the dialogue is very neat, and it has a lot of charm. I often feel disappointed when I encounter a aria with no lyrics displayed at the bottom of the screen. At this time, I like to ask random questions, but my father takes the trouble to tell me the ins and outs of the historical story of each opera. I just follow along and interrupt from time to time. After a few lines, over time, I gradually became familiar with Qinqiang opera, and I knew who sang the best in that paragraph, and what the historical story of that dynasty was told in that paragraph.
Regarding Qin Opera, the general feeling is that it is an ancient historical deposit, a heartfelt roar of the people at the bottom who have worked hard in the Yellow River Basin for thousands of years. In Qinchuan, there are not only the glory of the Qin, Han and Tang Dynasties, but also the helpless decline of modern times. Thousands of Qin people, carrying many great joys and sorrows, vented their inner emotions with the high-pitched and passionate tune of "Yelling". Qin Opera and their life, death and love, this is the real art. Its singing style uses a wide voice and a straight ups and downs, giving people a high-pitched and exciting, rough and simple feeling. In terms of tunes, there are "joyful sounds" and "bitter sounds"; in the form of the banquet, there are mainly five types: adagio, pointed board, rolling board, rocking board, and substitute board. The singing music is rich, colorful, beautiful, and moving; in terms of performance, , simple and enthusiastic, full of exaggeration, full of life, and has various stunts such as breathing fire, falling and throwing, and playing with beards. The performances of Qin Opera are simple, rough, delicate and profound, touching with emotion and full of exaggeration. The character professions are divided into four students, six Dan, two Jing and one Chou, totaling 13 gates, also known as the "Thirteen Heads Net". Most of the repertoires performed by Qin Opera are based on heroic legends or tragedies such as "Liuguo", "Three Kingdoms", "Yang Family General", "Shuo Yue", etc. There are also myths, folk stories and various public cases, such as singing about beautiful love. "Picking up Jade Bracelets" is lively and lively. Although there are not many lyrics, it mainly focuses on expressing the inner activities of the characters through their movements. The lyrics of Harlequin Opera are very popular, colloquial, humorous, coupled with the actors' antics and expressiveness. , loved by the masses. Among them, "Teaching" and "Rescue in the Wilderness" are classic plays. From an ideological point of view, they show the optimism of the poor even when they are in poverty and become beggars. Although they love money and are greedy for petty gains, they still He is still kind, and still helps others when he encounters people in difficulty. All his shortcomings make the character closer to life. These plays have always been watched by people, among which the representative famous ones are The harlequin performing artists include Qiao Gengong and others. In the Qin opera operas one after another, such as "Little Sister", "Zhu Chundeng's Dishes", "Zhou Ren Returns Home", "Mu Guiying Takes the Command", the villagers have accepted the values ??of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and morality since childhood. The influence of righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, and trustworthiness, regardless of illiteracy, are clearly understood in the dynasties of Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Reasoning and dissuading, criticizing and educating the younger generation, they have a lot of drama in their stomachs, and a piece of drama comes out when they open their mouths. They definitely prescribe the right medicine and can't get away from the topic. The understanding of Qin Opera is also the common people's perception and understanding of life.
Qin Opera is the artistic essence of people’s lives and a popular art. Life creates the history and development of Qin Opera. Qin Opera is the spiritual home of the people, and the ups and downs of life are all in it. Only then did I understand why so many people like Qin Opera. The beautiful singing tune with local color condenses the long-standing culture of Shaanxi. Listening carefully, it is like a cup of strong tea. The delicious taste makes people have endless aftertaste and make people miss the vicissitudes of life and the colorful life. Each tune condenses the Guanzhong people's colorful feelings about life. I am from Shaanxi, and the blood of Qin people flows in my bones, and the thousands of years of Guanzhong culture are also imprinted on me, including my feelings for Qin Opera. It has gone through hundreds of years of training and contains the Qin people's rich feelings and experiences about life. It makes people never tire of listening to it or getting tired of singing it for a long time.
Go listen to a piece of Qin Opera when you have nothing to do, and she will tell you what life is.