China News Agency, Liuzhou, April 24th: Guangxi craftsmen "resurrection" of lost Dong musical instruments
Author Liu Juncong
A cheerful chirping of birds was flowing in the mountains of Liuzhou City, Guangxi.
Following the sound, Liang Zhirong, a Guangxi craftsman, was playing with the traditional Dong family instrument "Shanwu".
"Shanwu" was once a Dong musical instrument that was lost for a hundred years. Liang Zhirong integrated the advantages of Western musical instruments into it.
Liang Zhirong, 55, is a Dong man from Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, Liuzhou City. He has been making Dong musical instruments for more than 40 years.
His father is a famous folk musician. From the age of 7, Liang Zhirong followed his father to learn how to play and make musical instruments of the Dong nationality.
In the early years, when transportation was inconvenient, in order to find a piece of wood suitable for making musical instruments, the father and son often carried heavy wood to and from Guizhou and Guizhou.
When he was in high school, Liang Zhirong joined the Guangxi Sanjiang County Ethnic Art Troupe, and often accompanied the group to perform in Guilin's Lijiang Scenic Spot where foreign tourists gathered.
Liang Zhirong found in the performance that foreign tourists are very interested in Dong musical instruments, and their performances often win warm applause.
However, Liang Zhirong learned from his father that many ancient Dong musical instruments have been lost, and some have been lost for hundreds of years.
"At that time, I was determined to remake the lost national musical instruments. These interesting musical instruments cannot be lost." Liang Zhirong said.
The traditional musical instruments of the Dong nationality mainly include Lusheng, Dong flute, Dong pipa and Dong corbel, which are all hand-made natural musical instruments drawn from nature.
However, because the production process only relies on word of mouth, many Dong musical instruments have been lost, and the road to "resurrection" is not easy.
To this end, Liang Zhirong visited various Dong villages in Guangxi for many years, asked the old people in the villages about the production details of the lost musical instruments, and then tried to restore and produce the musical instruments according to the oral memories of the old people.
Liang Zhirong said that "reviving" a lost musical instrument often requires a lot of effort, constantly correcting the shape and adjusting the tone, and making it repeatedly can be successful.
Since 2011, Liang Zhirong has "revived" dozens of lost national musical instruments, including the jiaojiqin, which has been lost for more than 200 years, and the pola, which has been lost for more than 100 years.
In the process of "reviving" ethnic musical instruments, Liang Zhirong incorporated the timbre advantages of Western musical instruments into his production, "Western musical instruments and Chinese folk musical instruments have their own strengths and weaknesses, so I took the best of the two and redesigned the appearance of Dong musical instruments to make them look brand new. ."
In Liang Zhirong's view, the innovation of national musical instruments needs to follow traditional techniques, but ultimately it is for better inheritance.
"Chinese national musical instruments that incorporate the advantages of Western musical instruments not only have a unique appearance, brighter timbre, and wider range, and can play more difficult repertoires. It is hoped that through these improvements, the public's 'old-fashioned' perception of national musical instruments will be broken. It will attract more young Chinese to join in the inheritance of traditional national musical instruments.”
In recent years, the "combination of Chinese and Western" of traditional Chinese national musical instruments has been expanding, involving vocal music, ensemble, teaching and other fields.
Western musical instruments and national musical instruments complement each other, and the combination of the two can often collide with wonderful "sparks".
The cross-border integration of Chinese and Western musical instruments has not eliminated the characteristics of traditional national musical instruments, but has inspired more innovative inspirations and brought new vitality to national musical instruments.
Today, Liang Zhirong's improved musical instruments have been exhibited in Japan, and their timbre and expressiveness are welcomed by foreign friends.
"China's musical instrument culture has always been inclusive. Only by constantly learning from and innovating can Chinese national musical instruments keep up with the times and develop better." Liang Zhirong said.
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