Tianmen folk songs have a glorious history. Looking at their origins, Huangmei, Yingshan and other counties in eastern Hubei are close to Anhui, with a little Anhui accent. Enshi and Yichang in the west are close to Sichuan, with some Sichuan flavor; Xiangyang and Yunyang in the north are adjacent to Henan and have some Henan accents. In the south, Shishou, Jianli and other places are bordered by Hunan, which is more or less contaminated with Hunan flavor; The purest and most authentic Hubei folk songs, which are popular in Tianmen, Qianjiang and mian yang in Jianghan Plain in the hinterland of Hubei, have very similar musical styles. Insiders often regard this as the essence of pure Hubei folk songs, so Tianmen folk songs occupy an important position in Hubei folk songs.

Tianmen is connected to Jingshan and Jingmen in the north, Hanshui in the south, and is separated from Xiantao and Qianjiang by water. It has a long history, splendid culture, convenient transportation and rich materials of Han folk music. After liberation, groups of musicians who loved folk music collected and published Tianmen folk songs, which had a great influence. In addition, a group of singers headed by Jiang and many folk singers performed and recommended Tianmen folk songs, which made Tianmen folk songs occupy an important position in Hubei. Teacher Jiang took Tianmen folk songs to Beijing three times and sang for the party and the country in Zhongnanhai. After listening to Ode to Joy, Chairman Mao repeatedly praised Jiang: "Good! All right! Not worse than Hunan ancient paintings! " Since then, Tianmen folk songs have gone to the whole country. The influence of the classic opera "Red Guards of Honghu Lake" makes the position of Tianmen folk songs reach the extreme. Interestingly, the theme song "Hong Hushui, Wave after Wave" of Honghu Red Guards is not a Honghu folk song, nor a Xiangfan folk song, but an out-and-out Tianmen folk song. How similar is "Hong Hushui, Wave after Wave" to "Xianghe Ballad" written by musician Wu Qun in the early 1950s? The melody of "Hong Hushui, Waves Beat Waves" is just a variation of flowers based on "Xianghe Ballad", which is inextricably linked with Tianmen traditional folk song "Looking at the Moon". In fact, Hubei Opera Troupe went to Tianmen Ancient Painting Troupe to study ancient painting and opera music and Tianmen folk songs at the beginning of the establishment of Honghu Red Guards, and collected music materials once.

Tianmen City, located in Jianghan Plain, is known as the "hometown of culture", and Han folk songs and dances are very popular. As early as 1000 years ago in the Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu, who was born in Tianmen Jingling, was famous for his immortal monograph Tea Classic. Lu Yu used to be an artist. He directed some songs, dances and plays. Now some Han folk music in Tianmen City has the charm of court music, which I think has a lot to do with Lu Yu. Of course, whether it is really Lu Yu's biography remains to be verified. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Jingling School, headed by Zhong Xing and Tan, was unique in the literary world. The splendid Tianmen culture has a long history, and countless Tianmen folk songs have been born in this land with rich cultural accumulation. For example, Ode to Joy, Hong Hushui is getting higher and higher, and Tianmen congratulates the boss. I have been singing for a long time.