"Tea picking" is a folk song and dance genre in tea picking areas in southern my country.

It is popular in tea-producing areas in southern China, such as Han areas in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan, Guizhou and other provinces. Also known as "tea song", "tea picking song", "singing tea picking", "lantern song", "tea picking lantern", "tea basket lantern", etc.

Origin

It was first seen in "Qu Lv" (first edition in 1624) by Ji De, king of the Ming Dynasty. ", "Daozhao"; from the south, they became Wu's "Folk Song", Yue's "Picking Tea" and other ditties, which are nothing more than Zheng Sheng, but each has its own characteristics. "In the Qing Dynasty, the development of tea-picking became more and more popular. whole. Li Tiaoyuan of the Qing Dynasty recorded in "Notes on Eastern Guangdong": "It is a custom in Guangdong that in the first month of the year, children are decorated as colored girls. There are twelve people in each team, each holding a flower basket, with a treasure lamp burning in the basket and covered with silk gauze. Ming? It’s a big circle, and people are singing about tea picking in December.” This shows that tea picking was already popular in the southern provinces as early as the 17th century. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, this art form loved by farmers became more widely spread in rural areas, processed and put on the stage, such as "Tea Picking Lamp" in Longyan, Fujian, and "Tea Picking Lamp" in Yunnan. "Ten Big Sisters" and so on.

Performance form

Usually one man and one woman, or one man and two women, and later developed into a group singing and dancing of several to ten people. The performers wear colorful clothes with colorful ribbons tied around their waists. The men hold money rulers (whips) to use as poles, hoes, boat poles and other props, while the women hold flower fans to use as bamboo baskets, umbrellas or tea utensils. Or various lamps made of paper, singing and dancing. The content of the performance is the entire process of growing tea. For example, "Guinan Tea Picking" includes "Gongrong and worship" to wish for a good harvest of tea; "Tea picking in December", "Tea picking", "Fried tea", "Selling tea" "Tea", etc., showing the process from growing tea to picking and processing. "Zhejiang tea picking" also includes "flower picking tea", "shun picking tea", "upside picking tea", "rub tea", "plate tea", "selling tea", etc. In some areas, minor tunes unrelated to tea are sung during the performance. The tunes and number of tunes sung depend on the time and content of the tea-picking performance, usually 2 to 4 tunes; some folklore stories are also added.

Music

The historical development of music can be roughly divided into three stages:

① Simple "tea songs", which are songs sung by tea farmers while working. The genres of tea songs include folk songs, labor chants, folk tunes, etc. The musical structure is relatively simple, mostly consisting of two phrases or four phrases.

②Singing and dancing "tea lanterns", that is, tea farmers slightly process their labor movements, accompany them with tea songs, and sing and dance at the same time. The music of each southern province has its own characteristics, but the skeleton sounds are basically the same, mostly in the four-tone feather mode of mi, re, do, and la. Tea picking in various places is combined with popular local folk songs, songs and dances to form the unique style of each province. For example, Yunnan tea-picking blends lantern tunes, which are smooth and full of singing; Hunan tea-picking absorbs the musical characteristics of the seven-degree jump in the local flower drum opera, and the tunes are lively and jumping; Fujian tea-picking lanterns take the strengths of various places and develop them. It combines lyricism with cheerful singing and dancing, and uses mode and key conversion techniques to make the music rich in contrast. Tea songs can be divided into "positive tea picking" and "reverse picking tea". In addition to the reverse change from January to December in the lyrics, the two often form contrast and development in music. Generally speaking, the upright picking tea is more lyrical, stable, and more singing; the backward picking tea tune is cheerful and jumping, and the extensive use of lining words and lyrics makes the music break the normal balanced structure and appear more life-like. In addition, there are many minor tunes inserted into the tea-picking songs and dances. Commonly used ones include "Jiangjianhua", "Jade Beauty", "Wuguang Tune", "Darcissus", "Red Embroidered Shoes", "Ten Cups of Wine", "Selling Groceries" ", "Pomegranate Flower" and dozens of other songs. Therefore, tea-picking music is greatly influenced by minor keys, and some tunes are even replaced by minor keys.

③A short drama with a simple plot. For example, the tea-picking opera in southern Jiangxi is a banqiang style music developed on the basis of tea-picking songs and dances. It is mainly based on the "tea tune" and "lantern tune" that are rich in tea songs. It retains a large number of tea-picking folk songs and tea lantern tunes, and absorbs tunes from Hunan Huagu Opera and Guangxi Cai Diao to form a local opera with a strong local flavor. .

The accompaniment of tea picking includes erhu, flute, suona, gong, cymbal, etc. Suona is the main music for transitions or transitions.

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