Folk pipa art in Shijiba villagers, Wen County, Longnan, Gansu. The reporter recently went to Longnan City, Gansu Province for an interview. In the yard of Fu Ruomei, a villager in Shijiba Village, Shijiba Township, Wen County, he saw a 16-member pipa playing and singing team performing the traditional song "Wang Xiang Lying on the Ice." The performers wore bright red embroidered performance clothes and were divided into two rows. The front row played the pipa and played the tune, while the latter held chopsticks to beat the rhythm. The performers sang the lyrics together. They cooperated tacitly and the tune was melodious and long.
Fu Ruomei told reporters that their pipa performance team is called the Shijiba "Golden Rice Sui" Pipa Singing Team. It was established in November last year and was completely spontaneous by local villagers. It was organized because Wen County has been rich in tribute rice since ancient times, so it was named "Golden Rice Sui". Pipa playing here has a long history, and most locals learn it from their families. 45-year-old Fu Ruomei learned pipa playing from her father when she was 12 years old. Now, their pipa team is able to maturely perform 30 repertoires.
The characteristic of Pipa here is that there are many tunes and the atmosphere of playing and singing is warm and cheerful. The plucked instruments and percussion instruments complement each other, making it beautiful and melodious. The strings and singing are closely linked, and the tune has typical Longnan characteristics. There are many pipa masters in the local area and the performances are rich and diverse. It is a veritable pipa art town.
The reporter saw that some of the pipa held by the villagers had not yet been painted, and some still exuded the fragrance of wood. Wang Shangxun, the 74-year-old artistic director of "Golden Rice Sui", told reporters that they select these pipas themselves from fine-grained basswood or chun wood, and set the scales on the pipa themselves. Every night, everyone spontaneously came to Fu Ruomei's house to rehearse and perform. And during the holidays, even more people participate.
Fu Ruomei told reporters: "Our biggest wish now is to be on "Avenue of Stars" so that people across the country can feel the charm of our Zhongzhai Pipa!"
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After the Wenchuan earthquake, the villagers were busy with production and self-rescue, and they had no time to play and sing the pipa. But last year, the reconstruction of the villagers was basically completed, and their lives were better than before. Everyone gathered together to form this pipa team, and the cheerful and enthusiastic pipa sound of the past was restored in the village. Now Wang Shangxun has begun the research of "old tunes and new lyrics" to praise earthquake relief and new life after the disaster. The actors performed their latest song "The Countryside Has a New Look", which they composed for the third anniversary of the May 12 earthquake. The tune was high-pitched and the lyrics were novel. When they sang about the new life after the disaster, the actors' faces naturally showed smiles. .
When talking about the future of the pipa team, Wang Shangxun said with some worry that what he is most worried about now is that local young people are unwilling to learn this ancient art. Now the youngest members of the performance team are in their forties or fifties. Therefore, he has been encouraging the team's choreographer Zhang Jianxin to boldly combine pipa with modern instruments and perform modern music to attract young people to pass on Zhongzhai pipa, an ancient art left by their ancestors.