Remembering Shao Dan, the drum king of Lizhou

Shao Dan, the drum king of Lizhou, was gone, only 54 years old, and his untimely death caused great shock and repercussions in the Hunan qu art circles and around Xiang'e. As a member of the Chinese Qu Artists Association and the chairman of the Linli County Qu Artists Association, he has made indelible contributions to the promotion and development of the lizhou drum art, and because of his character, he has touched the eight townships in ten miles.

Shao Dan is a native of Hekou Township, Linli County, born in 1964, four brothers in the family, he is the third oldest, nicknamed "Fang Bar".

He has spent his childhood in hardship, and has eaten for many years without eating. His mother often led him, accompanied by a smiling face, and carried an enamel washbasin to the village to borrow rice, but in order to survive, in order to raise her children to adulthood, this great mother suffered too many blank eyes and endured unbearable pain for ordinary people, and suffering is the most precious wealth of life, and it has always been.

Shao Dan's "Borrowing Rice" won the silver medal of the 10th Changde City and the 2nd National Drum Book Tournament. I searched for his works on Baidu, "Borrowing Rice" I read no less than ten times, the more I watched the more sad, the more I wanted to see, because what he said in the book about the experience of borrowing rice, our family has also experienced, and it is also the embarrassment and helplessness that many families have had. At the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, when the rural co-production contract responsibility system had just been implemented, the rural population was large, the per capita field was small, and the agricultural technology was backward, the grain output was low, and it was necessary to hand over to the state for retention and purchase, and there was not much grain left. Whenever the green and yellow do not pick up, many families will borrow rice from the villagers. Borrowing rice is to be repaid, which is not the same as begging, but borrowing rice will make people look down on it, and the humiliation suffered is more than begging.

Shao Dan graduated from high school and was not admitted to college, his family was poor, unlike many families now with savings and buildings to give to their sons, he took over his father's craft in desperation and became a drummer. Many years later, based on his artistic experience, he created "Inheritance", which won the gold medal in the "Stars Cup" music category of the 10th China Arts Festival in 2013.

Drummers, in the countryside many years ago, were low-status entertainers, who held funerals in their homes, they would invite them to play three or two nights of books, and relatives and friends accompanied the "deceased" on their last journey to the sound of gongs and drums.

Shao Dan, as a cultured drum artist, he loves to study and learn, and he integrates his love for Lizhou drum into every cell of his life. He refined and sublimated the Lizhou drum many times, changed the singing voice, formed a unique genre, and trained hundreds of apprentices. His excellent works such as "Inheritance", "Borrowing Rice", "Incense", "Passing the Pass", "River Chief" and so on have won various awards in the qu art competitions held by the state, Hunan Province and Changde City.

Lizhou, located on the border of Xiang'e, is named because the lishui runs through the whole territory, and is a famous fish and rice town in the country. Only Chu is talented, Yu Si is sheng, and Lizhou has been a brilliant spirit since ancient times. The art of the big drum in Lizhou began here, carrying forward the ancient and modern and Shenzhou.

It is said that during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Su Jinfu, the first xiucai of Lizhou, repeatedly failed to succeed in the jianghu, met many folk artists, and thus fell in love with the art of "funeral drum", he reformed the funeral drum with his full talent, sorted out and standardized the singing voice, and formed the four major schools of "East Cavity, South Plate, West Tune, and North Road" with "Lixian Official Dialect" as the system.

On September 16, 2021, Shao Dan went out to book and returned home, because of the myocardial infarction, he left the Lizhou drum art that he regarded as life forever, and left the relatives and friends who loved him forever, and the loyal audience and fans never saw his dignity again, and the only way to miss him was to watch his excellent works on his mobile phone and talk about his stories after tea and dinner.

"With one mouth, singing and laughing, and sending joy to the hearts of others is equivalent to your life shining, even if you encounter setbacks and sorrows, you cannot lose hope...".

Si ren has passed away, the sound is still there, Teacher Shao Dan, I wish you all the best! I hope that in another world, you can continue to carry forward the Lizhou drum.