Children holding innovatively made masks of southern puppetry perform "Pretty Girls and Noisy Spring" in the Baer Lake Scenic Area infographic
Students at Jianxing Township Primary School in Southern County learn to draw Southern Puppet Masks Infographic
● Nanchong Daily all-media reporter Luo Hong intern Ren Jiarong/Wen Interviewee/Courtesy photo
In the southern county, Mawang shadow puppets, shop flower lanterns, dragon paper-cutting, and Twin Peaks puppet plays are known as the "four golden flowers" of southern folk art. Among them, as an ancient and mysterious art, puppet opera is not only a "living fossil of Chinese opera", but also one of the oldest cultures in China. As early as 2009, the southern opera was selected into the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list in Sichuan Province.
On April 25, the reporter interviewed Lu Haiping, a representative inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage of southern Wu opera. "In 2021, through the combing and investigation of people who have a foundation for intangible cultural inheritance, inheritance emotions or inheritance potential throughout the county, Wang Keyong and Lai Bin were established as the new generation of inheritance objects of 'Southern Puppet Opera', and they respectively carried out in-depth excavation and inheritance of masks and music production of Puppet Opera." Lu Haiping said that although the road to inheritance is long, they are already on the road.
A restoration mask art teacher became the object of inheritance
"Speaking of puppet opera, we also have puppet opera in the south, which is a unique folk art, especially the mask of southern puppet opera, which is even more distinctive, a kind of 'chinless' puppet mask..." A few days ago, in the art class of the first primary school in southern county, wang Keyong, an art teacher, is popularizing the relevant knowledge of southern puppet opera to students.
In fact, as early as 2016, the First Primary School of the Southern County set up many interest groups, including the puppet mask production team. More than 30 students who were interested in making puppet masks joined the group and spent one school year learning about puppet culture, mask making techniques, etc., and using PVC boards to make puppet masks. Later, the school considered the use of scissors, blades and other unsafe factors in making masks, and abolished the mask making team. Today, in the school's art room, several masks made by students are still preserved.
Wang Keyong, in addition to being an art teacher, is also a new generation of inheritance objects of southern puppet opera. "I first came into contact with southern puppet opera in 2005, when I had a preliminary understanding of southern puppet opera." Wang Keyong said that until 2015, when the Southern County Cultural Center organized and choreographed the Southern Folk Opera program, he was found when it needed to repair some broken masks. That was his first contact with the mask of puppetry, and it was also after that that he had a more in-depth study and study of southern puppetry.
Since becoming a new generation of heirlooms of southern puppetry, Wang Keyong felt that the burden on his shoulders was heavier. "Now we are still in the stage of collecting and sorting out the masks of southern puppet opera, as well as the precipitation of cultural resources of puppet opera. At the moment, I mainly repair some broken masks, as well as make molds for some of the time-honored masks for easy reproduction and preservation. Wang Keyong said that because he usually has to go to class, he can only use his spare time to repair the mask, and it generally takes three days to repair a mask. Traditional masks need to be repaired using a lining, at least three layers or more, after the interlining, you also need to fill the recesses of the mask, and then repeatedly color, and finally coated with brightener, so that the mask has a stronger sense of light, suitable for stage performance.
Wang Keyong said that the mask images collected so far are very complete, and the innovative creation of masks will be made according to the theme and requirements of the puppet works.
B Heritage Innovative Drama Choreography incorporates fashion elements
As a freelance music producer, Lai Bin never imagined that he would become a new generation of southern puppet opera. In the 1980s, Lai Bin entered the military's cultural and industrial corps and became a literary and artistic soldier. In 1993, after returning from a career change, he joined a Southern County art troupe, composing music and participating in performances on a daily basis. After returning from the army, he met Lu Haiping and often got together to discuss the music production of puppet opera.
"At present, puppet opera still uses traditional music, mostly solemn and solemn, with mysterious overtones but not much storyline." Lai Bin said that due to the limitation of the theme, the music creation of the puppet opera is more limited. Therefore, at present, they are extensively collecting traditional puppet music and precipitating it on this basis.
"We have two directions in music production, one direction is to produce original puppet music, so that the audience can see the most original and pure puppet performance. Another direction is to integrate with other local cultures to create sitcoms and stage plays with elements of puppet music. Lai Bin said that in 2021, they cooperated with the Nanfang County Cultural Center to carry out the "Southern Wu Opera" intangible cultural heritage publicity and performance display activities, adapted and recreated the southern Wu opera music, created the music score of "Ancient Puppet Soul", and organized some entertainers to rehearse the song and dance program.
In recent years, the Southern County Cultural Center has begun to develop puppet opera, invited experts from the Provincial Musicians Association and the Dancers Association to guide, produced some new puppet opera music, and choreographed the refreshing dances such as "Pray for the Year of Prosperity" and "Prayer for Harmony", which not only inherited the style of traditional puppet opera music and dance, but also added fashion elements, which is very suitable for the fast-paced life of modern people, and the content is mostly in the form of storytelling, which integrates a lot of modern atmosphere. The new music production and dance performances make the Southern Dance show the vitality of youth and the beauty of fashion.
Genre archives
Southern puppet opera, introduced in the Qing Dynasty, has a history of more than 300 years, is a kind of drama popular in the southern Chong region of northern Sichuan, its performance is relatively simple, primitive, the music is mostly accompanied by gongs and drums, vocal help and harmony, the people of northern Sichuan therefore call it "Shigong face shell play", "jumping gong" "jumping duangong" "and hexiang" and "hanging gong". In the southern county countryside, puppet opera performances were once very prosperous.
Expert interviews
Develop new ways of inheritance with modern aesthetics
From January 1 this year, the Regulations on the Protection of Traditional Local Dramas in Nanchong City (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations) came into effect, which includes traditional local dramas such as southern puppet opera in the scope of protection. Recently, the reporter interviewed Lu Haiping, a representative inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage and the eighth generation of southern puppet opera, on the promulgation of the "Regulations" and the inheritance and protection of the southern puppet opera.
Reporter: After the implementation of the "Regulations", what kind of positive significance does it have for the inheritance and protection of southern puppet opera?
Lu Haiping: As a literary and art worker, I am really very happy that the "Regulations" for the protection of local dramas have been introduced. The legislation fully considers the actual situation of local theater troupes, and the "Regulations" regulate the protection and inheritance of local dramas, talent training, innovative development and safeguard measures, and promote the revitalization and development of local dramas through laws and regulations, which is undoubtedly good news for local dramas, including southern dramas.
Reporter: Southern puppet opera is an ancient art, how can more people know and like it now?
Lu Haiping: On the one hand, we use modern aesthetic vision to excavate the elements of puppetry, create new programs, and develop new ways of inheritance. In recent years, we have combined the elements of puppetry to choreograph and create programs such as "Prayer for Harmony", "Praying for Water", and "Pretty Girls in Spring", which have won the love of the audience. On the other hand, we actively participate in activities such as intangible cultural heritage into campuses, scenic spots, units, military camps, and communities, and carry out public welfare inheritance experience activities for the public. At the same time, we have also carried out the development of the "Southern Wu Opera" curriculum, and developed the local cultural inheritance textbook "Chuanbei Ancient Opera", so that students can have a more systematic understanding of the historical origin, artistic characteristics, innovative inheritance and other aspects of the "Southern Wu Opera", and construct a systematic inheritance text of "Southern Wu Opera".
Nanchong Daily all-media reporter Luo Hong