Mengzi is an important city of military defense in past dynasties. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the continuous combination of soldiers stationed in the border areas and indigenous peoples has gradually opened up the wilderness of the Central Plains culture. With the implementation of the reform and the deepening of the power of the central dynasty, Mengzi's social economy changed rapidly from Tusi slave to feudal landlord system. The prosperous imperial examination system has also brought up a group of indigenous intellectuals, thus promoting all-round cultural exchanges between the frontier and the mainland. It is in this historical and cultural background that the lanterns of the Yi nationality in Mengzi are produced.
Mengzi Yi Lantern originated in Xinyikong Village, Yi Township, near the seaside of Changqiao, that is, Yongning Village, a town after a storm. As early as the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a lantern-singing activity in Confucius Village of Xinyi, and with the advocacy and participation of Yang Hongyi, a scholar in the village, he took local folk materials to play the script, mocked and lashed the power, revealed the sufferings of the people, and conveyed the feelings of the bottom poor in the lantern dance. He left more than 10 tracks such as koi fish Sea, Flower Drum Gong, Fishing and Shepherd, and more than 10 tracks such as Gold and Silver Point, Guess Flower Tune, Dress-up Tune and New Year Tune.
The lanterns of the Yi people in Mengzi are a collection of songs, dances and plays, all in Chinese. Students, poets, clowns and dramas perform together, with lively plot, humorous language, beautiful dance and cheerful music. Instrumental music is mainly pipa, Sanxian, Dianhu and Huqin, with no percussion instruments. Props are only towels, fans and flower whips. Health, beauty, ugliness and beauty all have certain costumes, and the facial makeup is naturally light.
With the participation of intellectuals, Mengzi Yi Lantern has experienced the tempering of artists from generation to generation. With its unique performance style, strong local flavor and beautiful folk charm, it is deeply rooted in the Yi people on the south bank of the Red River and lasts for a long time.
The lanterns of the Yi nationality in Mengzi exist and develop in the form of guilds. The early folk lantern festival organizations had a set of established rules and etiquette, that is, turning on the lights in the New Year, offering sacrifices to the "Tang Lantern Sanctuary", parading the streets with brand lights, going door to door to pay New Year greetings to members, giving performances, and turning off the lights after the fifteenth day of the first month.
Members must be actors and pay a certain membership fee every year. During the Lantern Festival, performances are invited at weddings and funerals, and a certain performance fee is charged for subsidizing activities and purchasing clothes, props and musical instruments.
The lanterns of the Yi nationality in Mengzi pay attention to the principle of realistic creation, and advocate that "acting should be conducive to weathering, not just for entertainment", and pursue "singing with charm and dancing with strings" in art.
The lanterns of the Yi nationality in Mengzi have been handed down from generation to generation, dictated by heart, studied under a teacher, and performed their acting skills in spring and autumn. The Yi folk lanterns, which spread in Jianshui, Kaiyuan, Gejiu and Mengzi counties, were all passed down by Li Zhan, the second generation lantern artist in Yongning Village. Today, Jinhui Yang, the fifth generation lantern artist in Yongning Village, and his disciples are still active in the traditional lantern stage of Yi people, and actively serve the traditional customs and the construction of socialist national culture in the process of inheritance and innovation.
Yi people's lantern is a kind of local folk drama which integrates song, dance and drama. With strong local flavor and unique national style, it has a history of 100 years. The main traditional dances are pulling flowers, whipping flowers, kingfisher and mussel dance, bench dragon, playing flower drums and so on. Most of them serve weddings and funerals, emphasizing entertainment.
After a long period of tempering, Yi Lantern Dance has formed its own unique performance style according to the aesthetic taste of the Yi people, that is, "being smart and generous". "Flower-pulling" is a group dance among Yi lanterns, which plays the role of opening and calming the light. When pulling flowers, men and women dance in harmony.
The handed down "La Hua" has evolved into a multi-person group dance with changeable arrangement, novel dance, beauty and charm, which makes the opening atmosphere more warm. This kind of dance belongs to a basic combination dance, which can generally reflect the performance skills and style characteristics of Yi people's lantern dance.
Beating the flower whip, also called beating the Wang Ba whip, is a skillful dance among the Yi people's lantern dances, which runs through the four ministers. You can also jump alone. You can also entertain yourself. Music guessing and dressing are more beautiful and cheerful. Up to now, as long as the Yi people live in concentrated areas, they are widely distributed in both mountainous areas and dam areas.
Kingfisher and Clam Dance is a kind of performance custom dance with dramatic plot, almost a street drama. In the mid-1930s, it began to spread among the Yi and Han nationalities in Mengzi, and weddings, funerals and festive festivals could be performed.
Legend has it that Jiang Ziya lived in seclusion in Shan Ye. Before paving the way for Zhou Wuwang, he often used a straight hook to fish in the river. One day, he saw a kingfisher chasing and pecking at a clam. He lured the kingfisher with his own fish, thus protecting the clam. It turned out that this clam was a fairy in the heavenly palace. Because the Jade Emperor found out that he was going to run to earth, he was punished as a clam essence and lived in the water. One day, he was ordered to become a kingfisher and watch the sea. When he saw the clam emerge from the water, he pecked it to death at once.
The Kingfisher and the Clam Dance shows this fairy tale. At first, there were only three actors: Jiang Ziya, mussel essence and kingfisher. Later, it developed into a large-scale square dance for festive festivals.
"Bench Dragon" is an entertainment and fitness dance with a long bench as a prop and rolling like a dragon. Introduced to Mengzi in the early 20th century, it spread widely in Yi areas and gradually became a lively program of the folk Lantern Festival. This kind of dance is not only performed in festive festivals, but also used as a dance performance for offering sacrifices and entertaining gods whenever the village asks for rain, good weather and good harvests during the Dragon Boat Festival.
"Playing Flower Drum" is a traditional lantern show of Yi people, which integrates song, dance and drama. It reflects what a pair of Anhui Fengyang Huagu artists saw and heard when they went to Yunnan. Lyrics can be improvised according to the characteristics of the performance area and danced cheerfully and smartly.
There are also lanterns in ethnic minority areas. Besides the Yi people in Mengzi, Yao 'an in the early Wei Dynasty also had lanterns. The lanterns in this area have no specific inheritance and creation, and they are passed down from generation to generation by the words and deeds of their parents and young people.
Lantern Festival is usually held during the Spring Festival, and farmers organize lantern performance teams to perform in various villages and families. Yao 'an Lantern has profound connotation, rich customs, unique features, wide spread and extensive participation of the masses. Their performances are usually held during the Spring Festival. Farmers' artists organize lantern performance groups to perform in various villages and families. Some of them are given special performances by a family, and the host family prepares tea and rice for dinner.
The performance of Yao 'an Lantern Festival is mostly because people are interrupted to sing greetings first, then pull flowers, and then perform the opera. In the performance, there are gongs, drums, cymbals, small gongs, flutes, erhu, Qin Yue, sanxian and other musical instruments, and dragons or lions are played on the way. Yao 'an's lanterns mainly include Lahua, Luo and Ba.
Xiao Yi Lahua is a relatively complete song and dance program in Yao 'an Lantern Festival. In the past, it was often used as the opening sub-show, which basically formed a circle and played a role in expanding the venue when performing in the square, so it was called dustpan lamp and troupe.
In the dance, the guy who interrupts is the center, and there are four or five male dancers and five female dancers. The guy who interrupted used a plaster umbrella, and the dancer used towels and colored fans as props. It also takes pingqiang, making money, guessing tune, picking flowers in December and running music as melody and dance music. Generally, the tune is interrupted, the bird's name is the fifth watch, the dealer is the fifth watch, and the embroidered sachet is embroidered.
During the performance, the interruptor took the stage first, sang funny exclamations with several fragments, and led the male and female dancers to appear. The main formation is turning around, singing and dancing at the same time, sometimes accompanied by one or several interjections, until the interruptor leads the running spectrum of jubilation and jumping.
In the circus dance, there are fish playing in the water, twisting twists, wearing flowers, old cows rubbing their backs, magpies climbing branches, flies rubbing their legs and so on. There are eagle wings drying, sea fishing day, small fish grabbing water, two people facing each other, lions ringing bells, independent branches and so on.
There are also waist twisting steps, which run through men, women and children, as well as body and waist twisting steps. However, according to the different occupations of the characters in the play, the different personalities of the characters are "twisted", including one-word twisting step, T-shaped twisting step, cross twisting step, jumping step, lifting step, generous step and small square step.
The dance action of Lantern Opera is characterized by "twisting", so singing lanterns is also called "twisting lanterns", and the main props are fans and curtains. "The more you twist the lantern, the more you like it, and the handkerchief turns." This is a true portrayal of the lantern dance.
The whole flower-pulling dance not only uses the unique tunes such as Pingqiang, but also uses more dance movements in Yao lanterns. These dance movements also follow the music name, but each has its own changes, thus forming a relatively existing routine and forming the unique style of Yao Lantern.
The lotus of Yao 'an Lantern was introduced into Yunnan from other places. As a group of beggars settled in Yao 'an, this art form has also been handed down here. Singers are mostly poor peasants who have lost their land, and most of them are women. Forced by the helplessness of life, they sang "Lotus Waterfall" and wandered around the country, earning a meager salary by singing. It was called begging tune in ancient times.
Lotus waterfall sings, mostly by one person, with many people helping to sing, or by many people singing and one person dialing. There are a variety of auxiliary voices and various lining words, which sound full of life and unique charm.
In the 1940 s and 1950 s, only three or four songs such as "Looking at Girls" and "Counting Flowers" were sung. Later, due to the expansion of the activity area, artists constantly absorbed minor tunes, lantern tunes, folk songs and so on. It has spread all over Yunnan, enriching the tunes and tracks of Lotus Waterfall, with more than 30 songs and 100 songs.
The singing content of Lianhualuo covers a wide range and is very rich. There are also traditional stories handed down from generation to generation, such as cutting the liver to save the mother, Cao An killing the child, Zhu Yingtai and Hong Chu beating the horse. There are also singers who sing about love, marriage and family, such as watching Lang, kidnapping sisters, embroidering lotus flowers and watching sisters. Things related to the world, such as counting Yaozhou, counting place names, picking up girls, mountain tune, big horse driving, etc. Most of these songs are written and sung by themselves, which truly and simply reflect many aspects of real life, people's feelings and customs.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), artists were highly respected by the people, and their production and living conditions were improved. They no longer make a living by singing. The drama "Lotus Fall" with local flavor and rich flavor of life has also been preserved and improved, becoming a wonderful flower of national literature and art.
The dam cavity of Yaoandeng is divided into upper dam cavity and lower dam cavity. Shangbazi has a slightly heavier voice, a low and elegant rhythm and a feeling of continuous affection. Xia bazi's singing is high-pitched, passionate and loud, which makes people feel light and comfortable. It is the most exquisite singer's voice and eloquence.
The singing method of bazi cavity is in the form of duet between men and women, and the lyrics are divided into two parts: subject and adverb. In the whole aria, its melody is inseparable and interdependent, which makes Yao 'an bazi tune unique.
In order to carry forward and inherit the unique Yao 'an Lantern Festival, 1956 established the Yao 'an Lantern Festival Troupe, and 1983 established the farmers' drama creation group, namely the farmers' drama association, which has long insisted on creating performances and coaching amateur performance teams.
In recent years, the village committees and neighborhood committees of towns and villages in Yao 'an Eighth District can call a lantern performance team of twenty or thirty people at any time. Yao 'an Lantern Festival is an important part of Yunnan Lantern Festival, which is popular in urban and rural areas and can be sung by men, women and children.