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Arts & Communication Hybrid music and ethnicity in Quangang Beiguan

Puxian music. At that time, only a single string is played which follows a traditional singing method to display clear
although shuangqing has two strings. Beiai (small suona) is articulation and a mellow and full tune. This singing
blown continuously. So is Putian ai . The most prominent technique is most often adopted in Nanyin which is believed
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playing style of bowed string instruments is the one-note- to influence the vocal styles of Beiguan in the academia.
one-bow method, especially for tixian . Scholars believe Besides, examples include that #Fa is regarded as a
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that both the dunyin (staccato) playing style featuring one characteristic sound in Nanyin, a sound often used in
bow with one note and the boyin (mordent) playing style Beiguan. Furthermore, string instruments and plucked
draw on Puxian music. In addition, there are also practices instruments often convert Qing Jue 清角 (Clean Jue) into
such as impromptu adding mordents and appoggiaturas as Bian Zhi 变徴 (Altered Zhi) of Minnan music, Fa into #Fa.
well as singing or playing an octave leap, all of which are How Beiguan uses runqiang also resembles that of Nanyin,
influenced by Puxian music. for instance adding #Fa between Re and Mi for
Interestingly, “almost all Quangang Beiguan ensembles embellishment. Furthermore, appoggiaturas are often added
sing and play Beiguan with some Puxian flavor which improvisationally during performances. They are well placed
depends on the geographical location of a certain group. The in a cadential progression with tonic notes, which is also a
rule of thumb is that bands up north exhibit a much stronger common practice of Nanyin. While playing shuangqing, the
Puxian flavor than those down south .” Gu Chuan suggests method of “nian捻” is important. Nian refers to quickly
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that the Puxian flavor in Quangang Beiguan contributes to rolling back and forth using the same note on the soundboard.
the vocal styles and rimes of the “beipai” Beiguan, but the In Nanyin, “Nian” is also an essential method for playing pipa
problem is that the performances of some ensembles are and sanxian. The method is widely utilized in the preludes
too “Puxianized” to tell whether their renditions belong to and transitions. Moreover, in Beiguan, pieces with lyrics are
Beiguan or Puxian music. Gu also compared recordings of called qu while instrumental music is called pu, which is the
Beiguan performances two decades ago with those now and same case in Nanyin.
found that there is a marked difference: Now, the Puxian In the Hokkien-speaking region, “as people are
flavor of Beiguan is stronger. Consequently, he is calling for immersed in Nanyin, when Beiguan spread to this area it
the protection of the uniqueness of Beiguan . will be affected by nanqiang (the vocal styles of Nanyin)
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Furthermore, many previous studies believe that the under the circumstances .” However, there is only one
singing of Beiguan music is influenced by that of Nanyin. In “nanpai” Beiguan music group left. It is in Wangchuan
the southern area of Quangang District, Hui’an County, Town, Hui’an County and the others are all “beipai” groups.
Wangchuan Town, and other areas where Nanyin is In addition, although Lian Yubi, an artist from Fengshan
circulated, a Nanyin flavor is integrated into Beiguan Village, Quangang District, belongs to the northern school,
performances, thus enabling “nanpai (“southern school”)” his rendition of Beiguan shows a strong Nanyin flavor. This
vocal styles and rimes, for example, the articulation of words is because he learned Nanyin in the Nanyin Team when he
and sounds using “proper interval” between the initials and was a child. Although he made a crossover from Nanyin to
finals. Comparing Xianhua from Beiguan with “Molihua” Beiguan when he grew up, his solid foundation in Nanyin
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from Jiangsu, Gu points out that despite similar tunes, there has always influenced his Beiguan singing .
are many differences in the two songs. What’s interesting is As a result, research on the stylistic particularities of
that singers of “Molihua” articulate words and sounds Beiguan should focus on at least two aspects: One is the
directly, while practitioners of Xianhua properly distances general style of Beiguan, which is different from other
the initials from finals in terms of articulation . Such a music genres; the other is the styles of different schools
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practice divides a word into its prefix, root word, and suffix, within Beiguan, which are distinct from each other.
Beiguan originates from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces
34. See “Quangang Beiguan Ensembles, Instruments and
Techniques” by Gu Chuan. Quangang Beiguan Music. but it has become a musical genre in southern Fujian. The
Chinese Literature and History Press, 2002, pp. 44-46. main reasons for this change include changes in musical
35. See “The Artistic Features of Quangang Beiguan” by Gu instruments, singing language and articulation, and
Chuan. Quangang Beiguan Music. Chinese Literature and performances, in addition to some changes in notations.
History Press, 2002, pp. 49-62. Therefore, I believe that musical scores are still a field to
36. From An Overview of the Art of Quanzhou Beiguan by Gu Chuan, be investigated, and at the same time, vocal media and
2010, Hong Kong Timar Publication Company Limited, p. 69.
37. Ibid., p. 70. 39. From An Overview of the Art of Quanzhou Beiguan by Gu
38. See “The Artistic Features of Quangang Beiguan” by Gu Chuan, 2010, Hong Kong Timar Publication Company
Chuan. Quangang Beiguan Music. Chinese Literature and Limited, p. 79.
History Press, 2002, pp. 49-62. 40. Ibid., pp. 70-71

Volume 1 Issue 1 (2023) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/ac.419