Where is the spread of Allegro (⊙o⊙)?

The origin of Allegro

The name "Allegro" appeared relatively late. In the early years, it was called "Shu Laibao", also known as "Jingle", "Liukou Zhe" and "Lianzi" "Zui" evolved from the song "Lotus Falling" sung by poor people in the Song Dynasty. Like "Lotus Falling", it was originally sung by beggars when they were begging on the street. As a singing activity during begging, it has a long history; as an art performance form, it is relatively new. As mentioned before, artists in the old days always wanted to find a historical celebrity and regard them as the originator in order to add glory. Artists who "counted treasures" were certainly no exception. So Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was found among the beggars in history and was regarded as the ancestor. Yun Youyou's "Jianghu Congtan" said:

I once discussed with others why they worship Zhu Hongwu? According to what they said, Zhu Hongwu was born in Zhongli County, Haozhou, Anhui Province during the Wenzong period of the Yuan Dynasty. His father's name is Zhu Shizhen and his mother is Guo. They have four sons and one daughter. The three sons were separated due to chaos and the daughter was married. The fourth son is Emperor Hongwu, who has been different from ordinary people since he was a child. It is said that this baby is not an ordinary person, and he will definitely be outstanding in the future... Zhu Hongwu's name is Zhu Yuanzhang, and his courtesy name is Guorui. When he can speak, he tells his father to die and his mother to die, leaving him alone to live with his Wang Ganniang. When he grew up, he was sent to Huangjue Temple to become a monk. The elder named him Monk Yuanlong. The elders treated him well, but the monks in the temple treated him poorly. After the elder passed away, the monks expelled Zhu Yuanzhang from the temple, and his godmother Wang sent him to Majiazhuang to let the horsemen herd cattle. The place where he grazes cattle is a rocky mountain, but his luck is unlucky. The cattle often die of illness, are buried in the mountains, or eat their meat, and are driven away by the horsemen. Wang Ganma died of illness again, so Zhu Hongwu had to go door to door to beg for money. Because of his great destiny, whoever he called his father would get sick, and whoever he called his mother would also get sick. Later, the people of Zhongli County did not allow him to call him mother in front of his door. Zhu Hongwu was saddened by himself in the place where he was grazing cattle. The fate of teenagers was miserable. People from whomever they went to ask for help would get sick. How can you beg if you are not allowed to shout in front of the door? Suddenly he saw two cow bones on the ground. He was so anxious that he wanted to use the bones to beat them and ask for them from house to house. So he would beat the cow bones with them every day and go begging from door to door. People in Zhongli County were afraid that he would call his grandparents. Whenever they heard the sound of cow bones coming to their door, they would bring leftover food to the door and give it to Zhu Hongwu. It has been passed down to this day that beggars from poor families do not call anyone "father" or "mother". This is an inheritance.

People in society call cow bones cow bones, while people from poor families call cow bones "taipinggu". There are thirteen small copper bells on it, also left by Zhu Hongwu. According to legend, one copper bell can eat one province, and thirteen bells can eat thirteen provinces.

This type of statement by the "Shu Lai Bao" artist often has the color of inferring the present and the past, so I can only give a brief explanation. "Shu Laibao" appeared in written records quite late. "Guide to Peiping" says:

"Several Treasures", formerly known as "Good People Know", are all in torn and torn clothes, worshiping Zhu Hongwu, holding bamboo boards, and some holding cow bones. Adopt disciples and ask for money according to household demands. Recently, there are many flyovers and other places, and some people use this as an art and set up performances.

"Shu Laibao" has changed from a singing activity while begging to a "laying on the ground" performance. The anonymous "Dumen Zhuzhi Ci" said: Recently, people are always curious, and the news comes out to explain Renyi. A group of people gathered like a swarm, shouting wildly around him. The development of "Shu Laibao" has gone through three stages: first, begging and singing along the street, second, "laying down on the ground" performing, and third, stage performance.

In the old days, there was a "Shu Laibao" place on the overpass in Beijing, but it was not fixed. This is because "Shu Lai Bao" does not make much money, speaks vulgarly, and is not easy to attract audiences. Venue owners are unwilling to rent to "Shu Lai Bao" artists. Wherever they saw an open space, they started talking, and over time, they gained a place. Among the famous Tianqiao "Shu Lai Bao" artists are Xiao Hai and Cao Mazi. Yunyou's "Jianghu Congtan" records: "Xiaohai has been occupying the overpass for a long time. He has gone as far as Longfu Temple, Huguo Temple, and Tutu Temple to attend temple fairs, and never left Peiping. Cao Mazi specializes in visiting the outer acupoints. Otherwise, he would go to Peking. To make money, I go to the fairs and temple fairs in various villages and towns. Although there are some people in Tianqiao who talk about counting treasures, their art is not as good as that of Xiaohai and Cao Mazi, and no one pays attention to it."

The performance form of Allegro

In the past, when artists performed on the street, they often improvised lyrics orally when they saw the scenery. They say whatever they see and are good at making up and singing along to promote their own opinions and express their feelings. From editing, performing, to singing, it is faster than any other form. For example, a libretto compiled by Cao Dekui, a Shu Lai Bao artist in the late Qing Dynasty (at that time, cow bones were used to beat the beat): The sound of the bones is continuous, and does not indicate anything else. In the era of autocracy, people suffered and everyone was reduced to skeletons due to hunger. Since the Gengzi reign of Guangxu, there has been a Boxer Rebellion in Beijing.

The soldiers outside were in panic, and black smoke was rising everywhere in the city. Seeing the Qing Dynasty being overthrown, all the people agreed. It vividly reflects the aspirations of the people. In the War of Liberation, Shulaibao's combat role was further played in the people's army. The soldiers performed a large number of allegro works to boost their morale. Comrade Bi Gefei, known as the "King of Allegro", praised Allegro and said: "Singing heroes sing victory, and criticism is specific and practical." It’s fun to use it for entertainment, and the guidance work is meaningful. There are two main forms of Allegro performances: one person singing and two people singing in sync. Counterpart also retains the original name of "Shu Laibao", and some also call it "Diekou Allegro". In factories and the army, there have also been "Group Allegro" performed by three or four people and "Group Allegro" performed by more than a dozen people. In some areas, Allegro is sung in local dialects, such as Tianjin Allegro, Shaanxi Allegro, etc., which have played a good role in education and entertainment. There are many forms of Allegro, such as "Shu Lai Bao", Allegro book, Xiao Allegro, Tianjin Allegro, etc. "Shu Laibao" is performed by two people; Allegro is performed by one person; Allegro is mainly a form of mass cultural activities except for the encore; Tianjin Allegro is sung in Tianjin dialect.

Allegro art is flexible, diverse and colorful. From the perspective of expression, there are allegro shu spoken by one person, "shu laibao" spoken by two people, and "allegro group" (also called "qunkou allegro") spoken by more than three people.

In terms of length, there are small allegro with only a few sentences, short paragraphs that can be spoken for more than ten minutes, and "manzi live" like storytelling that can be spoken continuously for many days.

Judging from the dialect, there is Allegro in Mandarin. "Shu Laibao" and Tianjin Allegro are also sung in Tianjin dialect. In addition, some places also use local dialects to sing rap art forms similar to Allegro, such as Shaanxi Allegro, Sichuan Qianban, Shaoxing Lianhualuo, etc.

From the content point of view, there are some that are based on storylines, some that have a clue running through several short stories, so-called "multi-paragraph narratives", and some that have no story at all.

From the perspective of rhymes, there are both Allegro and Allegro scripts that have one rhyme to the end, as well as "Shu Lai Bao" which often changes rhymes.

The artistic methods of Allegro

"Baggage", "exaggeration" and "exhibition" are commonly used artistic methods of Allegro, but they are not "unique" to Allegro and are used in other arts. There is "absolutely nothing" in the form. These artistic methods have an important influence on the formation of the artistic characteristics of Allegro.

(1) Baofeng Allegro, especially "Shu Laibao", has a humorous artistic style. Like the art of cross talk, "Baofeng" is an important means of structuring plots and characterizing characters. "Baggage" is the lifeline of the art of cross talk. Without "baggage", it would not be a cross talk. Although "baggage" is often used in Allegro, sometimes the plot and characters are the focus, and "baggage" takes a secondary position.

(2) Hyperbole in Allegro is not only used to organize "baggage", but also to add color to the description and make it vivid and vivid. Sometimes it has both functions. As Li Bai's poem said: "The white hair is three thousand feet long, and the fate is as long as the sorrow." In fact, there will never be three thousand feet of white hair. But people admit that it does not exist in life, but understand its existence in art appreciation. This is the beauty of exaggeration. As mentioned before, as an art of language, exaggeration cannot be made without saying anything, but it must also be expanded. Therefore, the big things are often reasonable, and the small parts cannot be censored. For example, Du Fu's "Military Chariots":

We believe that it is evil to have a boy, but it is good to have a girl; if you have a girl, you have to marry a neighbor, but if you have a boy, you will be buried with all kinds of grass! If understood from the perspective of exaggerated language, it is undoubtedly an outpouring of grief and anger, and a blood and tearful accusation against the darkness of the society at that time. On the contrary, if we take it literally, "the boys will be buried under the grass" and all the boys will die, then how can it be done if the girls are "married next door"? It sounds like a joke, but in fact it is often encountered in the creation and appreciation of folk art.

(3) Exposition Allegro writing is mainly narrative, with many descriptive elements. Exposition techniques are often used for rendering, making the abstract content concrete, clear and vivid.

Kuaishu and Kuaishu belong to the rhyme-singing style of Chinese folk art, which is a performance form that resembles speaking and singing. But Kuaishu and Kuaishu are different. They are two subcategories within the same category.

Although both Kuaishu and Kuaibao are performed in the form of number singing or chanting with a strong sense of rhythm, the lyrics of the songs are all rhymes with relatively regular sentence patterns.

But there are also differences. In addition to the different forms of songs in rap performances, that is, the use of different dialects, which make the rap melody or the rhythm of the recitation different, the lyrics are also different: Kuaishu or Allegro developed on the basis of Allegro usually performs medium- and long-form programs that have strong storytelling and create typical characters. The rhyme of the music and lyrics usually rhymes to the end of each chapter; while Allegro generally only performs short programs with strong reasoning or lyricism. Moreover, the rhyme method of the lyrics is relatively free, which is called "Hua Zhe", and the rhyme can be freely changed within a piece of music and lyrics. Whether it is fast writing or fast writing, the basic sentence structure of music lyrics is a seven-character sentence-based upper and lower sentence structure. However, in actual application, as long as it does not conflict with the rhythm and tune of rap, words are often embedded, added or subtracted. Sentence structure is free and flexible.

There are many different types of music in the express genre, depending on the region of circulation, dialect usage and rap style. For example, the Renqiu bamboo blackboard calligraphy popular in Shandong Province, the gong and drum calligraphy popular in the suburbs of Shanghai, and the Kueban calligraphy formed and popular in Tianjin. The most famous and influential one is Shandong Kuaishu, which spreads across the country.

The Allegro type also varies according to the region of circulation, dialect and rap style, and there are such types as Shulaibao, Shuoguzi, Shaanxi Allegro and so on.

Both Kuaishu and Kuaibao are very simple in performance form. Generally, the actors stand and hold small percussion instruments that beat the rhythm, and they accompaniment and rapping by themselves. There is a "solo" form performed by one person, a "counterpart" form performed by two people, and a "group mouth" form performed by three or more people. The instruments used to accompany the instant beats also vary according to the specific type of music. For example, Shandong Kuaishu uses two crescent-shaped, square-inch copper pieces, which are called "Yuanyang Ban" with one hand when performing. Laibao or Allegro uses two sets of bamboo percussion instruments, one large and one small. The large board has two pieces and the small board has five pieces. The big board is larger and the five bamboo pieces of the small board are smaller. They are tied together with ropes. When performing, the actor holds a big board and a small board with his left and right hands respectively and sings. The beats are often played between sections to produce various percussive effects to entertain the audience.

Kaishu and Kuaiban are rhyme-based oral rap art types that attach great importance to the creation and artistic charm of the lyrics and language itself. It not only has the usual techniques of "fu, comparison, and xing" used in traditional Chinese poetry creation, but also relies heavily on the rich and colorful rhetorical techniques of the Chinese language such as parallelism, antithesis, double tone, overlapping rhyme, homophony, pun, metaphor, etc. In terms of aesthetic style, they also advocate comedy colors and entertainment effects, pay attention to fun and humor, and also pay attention to the creation of "gimmicks" or "baggage" that make people laugh, and pursue the aesthetic realm of entertaining and educating.