▲A 7th-century wooden relic box unearthed from the site of Kuqa Subashi Buddhist Temple in Xinjiang. (Image source: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum)

▲Mural painting in Cave 38 of the Kizil Grottoes in Xinjiang - Jile Tu (partial). (Photo by Shang Changping)

Painted "Su Mu Cover" on the relic box

"The blue sky, the yellow leaf land, the autumn colors are waves, and the waves are cold and smokey. The mountains reflect the slanting sun and the sky catches the water, the grass is ruthless, and it is even more outside the slanting sun..."

The song "Su Muzhao" by Fan Zhongyan, a great writer of the Northern Song Dynasty, has been around for centuries, but few people know how the name "Su Muzhao" came from.

▲Relic box unfold pattern. (Image source: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum)

In 1903, Japan's Mitsui Otani expedition stole a 7th-century wooden relic box from the ruins of the Subashi Buddhist Temple in Kuqa, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang. It was thought that there was nothing special about this ordinary relic, so it was placed for half a century.

It wasn't until 1957 that people stumbled upon traces of painting in the color layer of the relic box. Stripped of the surface paint, a beautiful picture of the Kamezi dance is revealed on the box. On the painting of the relic box, the "music and dance team" of 21 people is lively, including dancers, musical instrument players, stick dancers, and children dancing together. People danced and dressed in different costumes, notably six dancers and two stick-wielding dancers wearing masks on their faces. Through research, experts determined that this is the famous song and dance opera in the ancient Guzi area, that is, "Su Muzhao".

Hui Lin, a monk of the Shule State of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in "All the Scriptures and Meanings": "Su Muzhao, Xirong Hu Yu ... This play was written in the country of West Turtle, and this song is still in existence today. Yu Pingbo, a modern scholar and essayist, has verified that "Su Muzhao" is a transliteration of Persian, which originally means a headscarf draped over the shoulders.

In ancient Guzi, whenever there were major folk celebrations, sacrifices and performances, there must be a masked "Su Mu Cha" (also known as Borneo Cha) song and dance, "or as a beast face, or like a ghost and god, pretending to be all kinds of mask shapes", the purpose is to drive away ghosts, so that the activity is rich in content, solemn in form and warm in atmosphere.

"Su Muzhao" is a collection of music and dance forms in the Guzi region, and is extremely famous. The relic box painting unearthed at the site of Subashi Buddhist Temple is the first time that people can truly glimpse the real picture of "Su Muzhao". It can be seen that the "Su Muzhao" performance not only has dancers wearing masks, but also 6 kinds of musical instrument combinations: flute, big drum, pan flute, horn, mole drum (i.e. rattle) and chicken lou drum. Leading the way is the drum, carried by two children, and a drummer beating the drums with a cane, clearly in the position of orchestra conductor.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the music and dance of the Western Regions represented by the Guzi Music and Dance entered the Central Plains in large quantities. By the time of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, "Su Muzhao" had developed from opera song and dance to the name of the sect. At that time, it was originally a seven-word absolute sentence form, and it was later derived into long and short sentences.

See the musical and cultural exchange from the Guzi Cave paintings

In addition to "Su Muzhao", since Zhang Qian chiseled the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, Hu Le from the Western Regions has continuously entered the Central Plains. The melodious and gentle horizontal flute, as well as the flute of "melting cold light in front of twelve doors, twenty-three silks moving the purple emperor", have become common musical instruments in the Central Plains, which is called "Luoyang family learning Hule".

If you have the opportunity to visit Caves 23, 28 and 38 of the Kizil Caves, Cave 58 of the Kumtula Caves and the Kizilgaha Caves, you can see many musical instruments depicted in the murals: 箜篌, Ruan Xian, 筚篥 and curved neck pipa.

▲Kamezi musical instruments on the mural. (Image source: Xinjiang Guizi Research Institute)

Oh choke

In the Han Dynasty Lefu poem "Peacock Flying Southeast", it is written that the heroine Liu Lanzhi "fifteen bullets". The jiao is one of the oldest plucked musical instruments in the world, and the music and ritual records of historical books such as the Book of Sui, the New Book of Tang, the Tongdian, and the Six Classics of Tang all list it as the first of the Guzi music.

It was introduced to China after Emperor Wudi of Han opened the Silk Road. When it was first transmitted to China, it was held vertically in the arms and played with his hands, so the Tang Dynasty called playing this kind of 箜篌 "qingqiao".

Later, artists combined the playing methods of ancient Chinese musical instruments such as qin, ser, zither and zhu to form a unique playing method of lying flute in the Central Plains, creating the "woji gong".

During the High Tang Dynasty, the art of playing the flute reached a fairly high level. It was also during this period that it was successively introduced to Japan, the Korean Peninsula and other places. In the temple of Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan, there are still two remnants of Tang dynasty swords.

In the late 14th century, the penitentiary faded from the stage. It can often only be seen on frescoes and reliefs.

In recent years, a certain number of physical objects have been unearthed in Xinjiang. For example, 3 wooden hoops were unearthed from the tomb of Zarolluk in Mo County, and wooden hoops were also unearthed in the Yanghai Cemetery in Shanshan, Turpan. Archaeological experts have concluded that the early rituals were mainly used for primitive religious sacrifices. For example, the wooden hoops unearthed in the Yanghai cemetery should be the magic tools used by shamans in early shamanic beliefs. It has fewer strings and can pop up more monotonously.

Ruan Xian, Xiao Yi

Ruan Ham, abbreviated as Nguyen, is a musical instrument originating from the Central Plains. According to legend, Ruan Ham-shan, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest of Wei Jin, played this instrument, hence the name.

Ruan four-string has pillars, held vertically and played by hand, resembling a moon qin, which began in the Tang Dynasty and was widely circulated among the people in the Yuan Dynasty, becoming a favorite plucked instrument, with a broad vocal range and rich expressiveness.

Ruan Ham was introduced to Guzi from the Central Plains, and together with musical instruments from the West, it became an indispensable part of Guzi music, greatly enriching Guzi music.

筚篥 is also known as sorrow, pipe, head tube, pipe, pipe, its name is transliterated from the ancient turtle. Legend has it that the basket is a musical instrument of the Kamezi herdsman, which, like the beard, horn and flute, has gone through the process of using animal bones such as sheep bones, sheep horns, ox horns, and bird bones as raw materials, and later made from bamboo. However, compared to the flute and flute, the structure of the pen is more complicated.

It was popular in the court music of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and it is found in the nine parts of music of the Sui Dynasty and the ten parts of the Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi wrote in "Little Tong Xue Yang Tao Blowing Songs": "Cut the dry reed and insert cold bamboo, and the nine holes leak the body and the five-tone foot." "In the scene of the joyful singing and dancing of the Tiangong Trick music in the Guzi Grottoes, its image and performance are consistent with historical records.

pipa

Bai Juyi's "Pipa Xing" vividly describes the performance of the pipa and its acoustics: "The big string is noisy like a rapid rain, and the small string is cut like a whisper." Noisy cut miscellaneous bullets, large beads and small beads fall on the jade plate. ”

However, when people come to the Guzi Grotto, they will find that the pipa on the mural seems to be a little different from what they usually see. Because of the pipa figure that appears in many places in the painting, the prototype is mainly the curved neck pipa (also known as the curved neck pipa) and the five-string pipa.

The curved neck pipa is a typical turtle instrument, recorded in historical books as "Hu pipa". Judging from the existing cave paintings, the curved neck pipa is a four-pillar and four-stringed figure. One of the most typical is the flying map of Jile in Cave 30 of the Kyzyrkaha Caves - Jile holds a turtle curved neck lute, that is, four strings and four pillars.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the pipa used by the Guizi musician Su Yuanpo to play the seven tones of the pipa was the four-stringed, four-pillar curved neck pipa. Chen Yang, a music theorist of the Northern Song Dynasty, recorded in the Book of Music that although the five-string pipa was popular in the Sui and Tang dynasties, it was difficult to find it in the Song Dynasty, but the curved-necked pipa was popular in the teaching workshop. Today, the five-stringed lute has become a relic of history, and the curved-necked lute can be seen everywhere, which is enough to show its enduring charm.

When the Kamezi pipa was first transmitted to the Central Plains, it was taught by the Kamezi Rakuto. It is played by holding a pluck, that is, holding the lute horizontally in your arms and playing it with a plucked board. After hundreds of years of development, the way of playing the pipa has changed from the original "body in the arms" to "standing in the arms", and the way of playing the pipa has also changed from playing with the picks to playing with the fingers.

The Tang Dynasty was the peak of the development of pipa, and a large number of pipa players and music emerged. For example, Cao Bao, who lived in Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty, his son Cao Shancai, and his grandson Cao Gang were all famous pipa players. Cao Gang's performance, the right hand is strong and powerful, like a storm. Pei Xingnu, who is the same name, has a delicate left hand and is good at twisting. Therefore, at that time, the music scene had the reputation of "Cao Gang has a right hand, and Xingnu has a left hand".

The famous five-string hand Pei Shen Rune from Shule was one of Tang Taizong's most valued court musicians, and he pioneered the pipa finger playing method. Kang Kunlun is known as the first hand of pipa, and Duan Shanben is a famous Buddhist temple musician, and after competing with Kang Kunlun pipa, he entered the court to become a royal musician.

The Kamezi people, who are positive and optimistic about life, have created rich musical instruments and colorful songs and dances in the process of cultural exchanges from east to west. Guizi music dance was introduced to the Central Plains in the Han Dynasty, and in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Guzi music became the court music at that time, and spread to the people, exerting a profound impact on ancient Chinese music culture.

Executive Producer | Yang Xinhua Xiao Jingfang

Co-ordination | Kang Kunquan Liu Jia

Responsible Editor | Liu Xian

Audit | Liang Li

Edit | Yu Ling

Production | Hu Qi