Guangdong music (genre)

Guangdong music, also known as Cantonese music (广东音乐 Guǎngdōng yīnyuè) is a style of traditional Chinese instrumental music from Guangzhou and surrounding areas in Guangdong Province on the southern coast of China. The name of the music is not an accurate description because Guangdong music is not the only music of the whole Guangdong area. In Guangdong, there are numerous traditional genres of music such as Chaozhou music and Hakka music (Hakka Hanyue and sixian). The name of the music originated in the 1920 and 1930s when the music was popular in Shanghai ballrooms in the form of "Spiritual Music" (精神音樂, Jīnshěn Yīnyuè; more properly translated as "spirited music"). As the performers were almost entirely from Guangdong, Shanghai people generalized the form of music as Guangdong music. Musically, compositions are based on tunes derived from Yueju (Cantonese opera), together with new compositions from the 1920s onwards. Some pieces have influences from jazz and Western music, using syncopation and triple time, and incorporating instruments such as the saxophone, violin, guitar, piano, drum set, or xylophone.

Instrumentation

The gaohu is the most common lead instrument used in performing Cantonese music. It was invented by Lü Wencheng (吕文成, 1898-1981) in the 1920s. Prior to this, the erxian was the most common lead bowed string instrument in the Cantonese ensemble. Ensembles led by the erxian and also featuring the tiqin are called yinggong (硬弓, literally "hard bow") ensembles, while those led by the gaohu are called ruangong (软弓, literally "soft bow"), owing to the fact that the erxian and tiqin have thick hardwood bows, while the gaohu has a thinner, flexible bow.

Guangdong music gradually evolved into a string ensemble format by the 1960s, led by the gaohu with ruan, qinqin, yangqin, sanxian, yehu, tiqin and various woodwind (including houguan) and percussion instruments. Compositions by Lü Wencheng and Yan Laolie (严老烈) remain particularly popular.

Compositions

• Baihua Ting Nao Jiu (百花亭闹酒)
• Bu Bu Gao (步步高, by Lü Wencheng)
• E Ma Yao Ling (饿马摇铃)
• Han Tian Lei (旱天雷, by Yan Laolie)
• Jiao Shi Ming Qin (蕉石鸣琴)
• Ping Hu Qiu Yue (平湖秋月, by Lü Wencheng)
• Qing Mei Zhu Ma (青梅竹马, by Lü Wencheng)
• Sailong Duojin (赛龙夺锦, by He Liutang)
• Xiao Tao Hong (小桃红)
• Yu Da Ba Jiao (雨打芭蕉)
• Yu Le Sheng Ping (娱乐升平, by Qiu Hechou)

External links

• Guangdong music page (Chinese)