Nanguan (music) - Styles and Instruments

Styles and Instruments

Nanguan repertory falls into three overlapping styles, called zui, po and khiok (zhi, pu and qu in Mandarin), differentiated by the contexts in which they occur, by their function, the value accorded them by musicians and by their formal and timbral natures. The Zui (指) is perceived as the most "serious" repertoire: it is a purely instrumental suite normally more than thirty minutes in length, of two to five sections usually, each section being known as a cu or dei ("piece"). Each is associated with a lyric that alludes to a story but, although this may denote origins in song or opera, today zui is an important and respected instrumental repertory. However, the song text significantly eases the memorising of the piece.

Khiok (曲) is a vocal repertory: two thousand pieces exist in manuscript. It is lighter and less conservative in repertory and performance than zui. Most popular pieces today are in a fast common metre and last around five minutes. Po (譜) literally means "notation" - these are pieces that have no associated texts and thus must be written down in gongchepu notation. It is an instrumental style that uses a wider range than zui and that emphasises technical display.

A nanguan ensemble usually consists of five instruments. The pie (muban (木板) or wooden clapper) is usually played by the singer. The other four, known as the dinxiguan or four higher instruments, are the four-stringed lute (gibei, pipa (琵琶) in Mandarin), a three-stringed, fretless, snakeskin-headed long-necked lute that is the ancestor of the Japanese shamisen, called the samhen, (sanxian (三線) in Mandarin), the vertical flute, (xiao (簫), also called dongxiao), and a two-stringed "hard-bowed" instrument called the lihen, slightly differing from the Cantonese erxian. Each of the four differs somewhat from the most usual modern form and so may be called the "nanguan pipa" etc. Each instrument has a fixed role. The gibei provides a steady rhythmic skeleton, supported by the samhen. The xiao, meanwhile, supplemented by the lihen, puts "meat on the bones" with colourful counterpoints.

These instruments are essential to the genre, while the eixiguan or four lower instruments are not used in every piece. These are percussion instruments, the chime (hiangzua), a combined chime and wood block called the giaolo, a pair of small bells (xiangjin) and a four-bar xylophone, the xidei. The transverse flute called the pin xiao (dizi in Mandarin) and the oboe-like aiya or xiao suona are sometimes added in outdoor or ceremonial performances. When all six combine with the basic four, the whole ensemble is called a zayim or "ten sounds".