It is one of the local operas in Guangdong Province and a very influential opera in southern my country. Because it originated in Guangdong, it is called Cantonese opera. It first emerged in Guangzhou and Foshan, and is now mainly popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and other places. Since many overseas Chinese are descendants of Cantonese, Cantonese opera performances are often performed in areas where overseas Chinese live together. Cantonese opera mainly focuses on the singing of Bangzi and Erhuang. It also retains Kunshan, Geyang and Guangzhou tunes and absorbs folk music and tunes from the Pearl River Delta. The singing and chanting are all in Guangzhou dialect, so it is also called "Guangdong Banghuang" and "Guangdong". "Big Opera" and "Guangfu Opera".
Artistic characteristics
The artistic characteristics of early Cantonese opera are similar to those of Han opera, Peking opera, Qi opera, etc. Later, a unique artistic style gradually formed during the development process.
The basic tune of Cantonese opera is "banghuang", and it retains some tunes of Yiyang tune and Kunqu tune, as well as tunes of Guangdong folk rap such as Nanyin, Yuegu, Muyu, Longzhou and Banyan, as well as folk songs, music and eras. Songs, minor tunes and other folk songs. The "banghuang" of Cantonese opera is sung in dialect and absorbs and integrates local folk songs and ditties. It is different from the general skinhuang opera and has a strong local flavor.
The singing music of Cantonese opera is mainly Banqiang style, supplemented by Qupai style. There are two types of banqiang: bangzi and erhuang. Bangzi has the first board, adagio, middle board, hibiscus, sigh board and shaban. Erhuang has the first board, adagio, second flow and rolling board. In addition, there are Xipi (equivalent to the "Siping tune" of Peking Opera), Liantan, Nanyin, Banyan, Muyu, Cantonese and other tunes. Although the lyrics structure of Nanyin, Muyu and Banyan are different from Bangzi and Erhuang, the method of singing melody is the same; Xipi and Liantan write lyrics according to the music, but their lyrics and sentence pattern are similar to Bangzi and Erhuang. There are two types of Qupai: Paipai and Xiaoqu. Most of the tunes are drawn from Kun Opera and Yiyang tunes, and a few are Guangdong folk ceremonial tunes; the ditties include opera transition music, Jiangnan silk and bamboo, and Cantonese music, such as "Liu Qingniang", "Dressing Table", "Selling Groceries", "Jade Beauty" ) as well as the new songs created, such as "Looking for Needles", "Urge to Return", "Hate Fills the Chest", "Playing with Da Ji", etc. In addition to the new songs created in these two categories, most of them are instrumental music with relatively fixed melodies.
The accompaniment instruments of Cantonese opera are divided into two parts: orchestral music and percussion music. The former uses gaohu, erxian, dulcimer and throat as the main leading instruments. It is divided into two different combinations: "hard bow" and "soft bow". The instruments used in "hard bow" include two-stringed instruments, short-throated pipes, long-throated pipes, bamboo fiddles, small three-stringed instruments, yueqin, coconut cocoons, horizontal flutes, etc., which are matched with percussion instruments and high-side gongs. The sound and timbre are loud and hard, and are mostly used to accompany scenes and more intense scenes in traditional dramas. The musical instruments used in "soft bow" include Erhu (Nanhu), Zhonghu, Gaohu, Yehu, Dahu, Yangqin, Pipa, Xiaosanxian, Zhongsanxian, Zhongruan, Daruan, long throat pipe, Dongxiao, etc. In addition to national musical instruments, Cantonese opera music also boldly uses Western musical instruments, such as violin, cello, saxophone and other mid-bass instruments. In conjunction with the percussion instrument Wenluogu (or Su gong and drum, mid-bass Jingluogu), the sound and timbre are slender and soft, and are used to accompany lyrical arias and detail the inner feelings of the characters. Percussion instruments include boyu (board), test board, sand drum, double skin drum, large cymbal, Wen gong, high-sided gong, Su cymbal, Su gong, single (treble small gong), war drum, large drum, etc. It also has a relatively complete set of gongs and drums with various types of rhythms.
The martial arts performance art of Cantonese opera maintains the rough and simple characteristics of the early "mountain troupe". Many famous actors have unique tricks such as one-leg, somersault, zipline, step on, eye movement, hair flip, beard and so on. The martial arts is based on "Southern martial arts", including powerful target, hand bridge, Shaolin boxing, and difficult chair skills and high platform skills. After the characters appear on the stage, the men often "jump a little" and the women often "bend their waists" in their performances, which is also quite rare. The repertoire of Cantonese opera is mostly Shengdan opera, with heavy singing and light acting, and more literary operas than martial arts. It refines and creates some new performance routines from real life, and borrows and absorbs performance techniques from movies and dramas to form a free and flexible style. Popular yet delicate, with a realistic performance style.