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Big drum of the West River between the rivers
In the Cangzhou Folk Culture Exhibition Hall of The Cangzhou Museum, there is a small drum with a diameter of about 30 centimeters, which is playful and solemn, which is the Big Drum of the West River.
Hejian has a long history and outstanding people, and is the birthplace of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage "West River Drum". The Xihe big drum is a more exemplary drum book and drum song form in northern China, which is generally popular in Hebei Province and spread to Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Henan, Inner Mongolia and other places. The Xihe Drum was developed from the wooden plank drum, as early as the Qing kang, Yong and Qian periods, there were many rap arts popular in the Jizhong area, such as string books, fishing drums and Taoist feelings, etc. The West River drum was conceived in such an environment.
There are many rap artists in the Hejian area, they sing a new tune according to the local minor tunes and folk songs, and beat with plough pieces, which is the prototype of the West River Drum, so it is called "Plough Piece", later called "River Drum". Later, the artist Ma Sanfeng innovated this singing form, making this song perfect day by day, and many artists followed suit, with various genres.
The Xihe Drum originally did not have a unified name, in view of the fact that most of the artists who sang the Xihe Drum at that time came from the Ziya River and the Daqing River Basin, and the Tianjin people collectively called the Two Rivers the West River, and people also called it "West River Tune". In 1929, the Tianjin "Four Seas Shengping" Theater was named "Xihe Big Drum".
The performance form of the West River Drum is a one-person self-percussion copper plate and book drum rap, and a special person plays three strings to accompany it. Its singing cavity belongs to the plate cavity, commonly used plate types include head plate, second plate, three plate, etc., supplemented by "one horse and three streams" and "grasshoppers on the mountain" and other flower cavities, simple and vigorous, the style is like rap singing, and the charm is very unique. Traditional programs have long, medium and short stories, and have been well-known for more than 150 medium and long stories, and more than 370 book caps and small paragraphs.
Since its birth, the Xihe drum has been loved by the masses, and has appeared famous artists such as Ma Ruihe, Zhu Hualin (Zhu Daguan), Mao Ben (Wang Zhenyuan), Wang Zaitang (King of the Blink of the Eye), and has formed classic songs such as "Xiangma Zhuan", "Hu Jia General", "Xue Jia Jiang", "Liu Gong Case", "Shi Gong Case", etc., most of which are historical conquest stories and historical popular interpretations. Among them, many of them are oral literature rich in people's nature, or depict the magnificent history of the founding of the country in successive dynasties, or narrate the family affairs of children who are sad and happy, with twists and turns in storylines and vivid language, which is an important part of China's colorful literary and artistic heritage.
The long history of 2700 years has bred the splendid river culture and the birth of the "West River Drum". As a local dialect of Hejian, it is engraved with the imprint of the times and carries emotions and memories. Nowadays, the ancient intangible cultural heritage skills have been given more connotations of the new era and will be sung forever...
Author Li Lijuan