Lei opera, formerly known as Da Ge Ban, is a Han folk opera art in Guangdong Province, China. Lei opera is one of the branches of southern drama, mainly using Leizhou dialect as the language of opera. Lei opera is one of the local cultural symbols of Leizhou, originated from Leizhou song, through the four development stages of girl song, persuasion song, daban song and thunder opera, to the formation of the drama type lasted more than 300 years. In recent years, after the continuous exploration and reform of Lei opera workers, Lei opera has more than 80 kinds of tones. In the eyes of the locals, it is not at all inferior to Peking Opera, and it is even more popular. In 2009, Lei Opera became the third batch of intangible cultural heritage list in Guangdong Province. In 2010, it was included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding List.
In the past, there was no TV computer or cinema, and young people met to see open-air thunder drama performances, so various love stories began, and many grandparents met during thunder drama performances.
When I was a child, there was no car, in order to watch a thunder drama, I often accompanied my grandparents in the early morning, carrying a large bag and a small bag at the intersection waiting for the shabby and simple three-legged cat, all the way to the countryside... Sitting in the car, you can still smell the strong smell of gasoline coming from the back of the car.
Thunder drama is an indispensable part for Leizhou people. I would like to tell you that in fact, Lei opera will not be outdated at all, but will slowly precipitate over the years and form a culture in Leizhou. If you also want to taste it, taste Leizhou, then taste Lei Opera.
Lei opera characters are similar to brother dramas, and the performances are in the stylization of opera, with a strong breath of life, and the vocal cavity has a distinct folk song style.
The singing cavity has the characteristics of both the plate cavity and the song card body, and is divided into three major systems: thunder, high platform and mixed body, and there are five kinds of plates such as loose plate, slow plate, middle plate, allegro, and double plate. The accompaniment instruments mainly include thunder, flute, sacracker, gong, cymbal, drum and so on.
In recent years, after the continuous exploration and reform of Lei opera workers, Lei opera has more than 80 kinds of tones, and it is readily available, which is not lost to Peking Opera at all in the eyes of the locals, and even more popular.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > the historical origin of thunder dramas</h1>
Lei opera originated from Leizhou song, through the four development stages of girl song, persuasion song, daban song and thunder opera, and the formation of the drama type lasted more than 300 years. In the old days, Leizhou songs sang themselves in the Leizhou dialect, self-lyrical folk songs.
Source: Deng Bin
According to legend, in the twelfth year of Qing Yongzheng (1734 AD) Dragon Boat Festival, Haikang Nandu River Racing Dragon Boat Shipwrecked dead, the following year, Mafu Village Township Elder changed to "Sai Ge Tai" to carry out song racing activities. Since then, Leizhou Song has taken the stage (known as the stepping floor in the township).
Later, it was freely combined by folk singers, and gradually formed a thunder song class, which was called "girl song" because of the participation of women. In those days, the girl's song was generally erected side by side with two stone mills (commonly known as stone cattle), and a ox cart board was placed in the middle to form a stage. The lyrics for singing are oral literature, astronomical geography, customs and customs, and everything, and the questions and answers are answered, and the competition song is talented.
The girl's song is like a stream, close to life, the local atmosphere is strong, and some girl songs and song texts, the content is roughly "persuade the world to quit smoking", "persuade people to be loyal" and other persuasion songs. Some girl songs even have characters and storylines, which are well received by the masses.
Source: Lei Fu Culture
For example, the oldest Leizhou song "The Broken Machine Godson" was written by Chen Changqi, a Jinshi Haikang man during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Soon, the exhortation song of the girl song was further developed into the Ban Ben Song (歌Ban Zai).
In the last year of Qing Jiaqing, the first Lei Ge class yi yi bei and Lei Ge class were established. Since then, the native Lei Ge class has been active in the land of Leizhou.
Source: Xinjiang XVIII of the United States
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > the development of thunder dramas</h1>
The transition from the girls' song class to the Leizhou song class is an important step in the development process of Leizhou song.
Leizhou song class to perform in various places, gradually have a fixed performance venue, there has been a long-term song class, the production of professional artists, script, performance and music have been developed.
However, leizhou song class was slow in the development of the old society. Even after the establishment of the first professional theater troupe, Beihe Lei Geban, the script, performance, costumes, props, faces, etc., were not much different from the Cantonese opera of that year.
In terms of singing, there is no fixed plate cavity, and every time the singing part is reached, the gong and drum stop, which is very monotonous. Until liberation, the Leizhou song class was still a traditional small drama that did not attract people's attention.
After liberation, Ban BenGe was renamed Leizhou Opera. From the 1950s to the mid-1960s, zhanjiang set up an institution to reform Leizhou opera and train newcomers to Leizhou opera, and renamed Leizhou opera to Lei opera.
Since then, Lei opera workers have carried out profound reforms to Leizhou opera, focusing on solving the problem of singing voice and carrying out comprehensive innovations in stage art and music. After more than 20 years of unremitting cultivation, the various singing voices and singing methods of the original "Girl Song Class", "Leizhou Song Class" and the masses ' oral songs" have been fully mastered.
Image source: Long Chunhe's blog
Lei opera workers grasp the characteristics of the middle, sort out and sublimate, and a complete set of sound cavities and plates are generated. They also collected a wide range of folk music from the Leizhou Peninsula and sorted them out as inter-venue atmosphere music.
Source: Xinjiang XVIII of Beauty
In terms of gongs and drums, it is also necessary to innovate so that Leizhou Opera can become a local artistic essence with a complete music system and distinctive local characteristics.
Source: Southern Net
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > the spread of thunder dramas</h1>
In the Leizhou Peninsula, the Lei opera market presents an unprecedented prosperity scene, compared with the dismal domestic theater market, which is in stark contrast.
According to incomplete statistics, Zhanjiang City and its counties of Leizhou, Xuwen, Suixi and other counties have 5 professional lei opera troupes, and amateur troupes are all over the Leizhou Peninsula, and there are more than 130 urban and rural areas in Leizhou alone, and there are more than 5,000 lei opera actors.
The average number of performances per year for these troupes is 100. In this way, there are 30,000 thunder operas in the city every year on the large and small stages of the vast rural areas.
The locals love thunder opera very deeply, and every year during the birthday of the gods, there will be thunder opera to help them, and the thunder opera troupe will be invited to perform in the village during the agricultural leisure period. The money is apportioned by the villagers according to the population, and the cost per person is generally 10-20 yuan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > honor for thunder dramas</h1>
Zhanjiang Experimental Lei Opera Troupe once performed in Jinjing in 1992, and Lu Lingri's "Grasping the Castration Village Chief" was well received by the Audience in Beijing and won the "Five One Project" award of the Central Propaganda Department. Thus the thunder drama thundered on the ground in the Beijing theater scene.
Capture the castration of the village chief
In 2001, the troupe performed the costume lei drama "Liang Hongyu Hanging Commander" for the second time after a gap of 10 years, and the main actor Lin Fen won the "Plum Blossom Award", the highest award of Chinese drama.
Plum Blossom Award
At the closing ceremony of the 2007 Lei Opera Arts Festival, the Leizhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government commended the award-winning units and individuals of the 2006 Leizhou Lei Opera Arts Festival. Among them, leizhou lei opera troupe won the special prize, and the winning troupe also had 2 gold awards, 5 silver awards and 7 excellent awards.
Lei opera four into Beijing
1992: The modern thunder drama "Catching the Village Chief" was performed in Beijing for the first time, and won the "Five One Project Award" of the Central Propaganda Department;
2002: Lei opera entered Beijing for the second time, and Lin Fen, the star of "Liang Hongyu Hanging Commander", won the 19th Drama Plum Blossom Award.
2015: Lei Opera entered Beijing for the third time, and "Our Lady of Lingnan" won the Outstanding Repertoire Award.
2019: Lei opera entered Beijing for the fourth time, and "Chen Yao of Zhixian County, Taiwan" was invited to perform in Beijing Chang'an Grand Theatre.
Lei opera comes from life, and like a mirror to reflect life, the real stories in history, legendary figures on the stage, the life of the hundreds of ways to present to the audience in a dramatic way, with the simplest story, to meet people's deepest psychological expectations, Thunder opera is the jewel of Zhanjiang local culture, after years of washing, in the development of continuous precipitation and accumulation, blooming on the stage the most beautiful brilliance.
When you have time, go home and watch a long-lost thunder drama with the old man, which is also a kind of happiness and living. I sincerely wish that the thunder drama will be immortal and passed on from generation to generation.