General situation of northern Shaanxi plateau

Folk Songs in Northern Shaanxi —— A Folk Picture of Loess Plateau

In northern Shaanxi, people's feelings of joy, anger, sadness and joy can be expressed in the form of folk songs. Whether you are standing on the top of the mountain, walking on the winding mountain road or marching on the road of Ma Pingchuan, you can hear melodious songs floating in the wind. This is a folk song in northern Shaanxi.

"Women cry sadly and men sing sadly." In fact, men, women and children in northern Shaanxi like folk songs. On the Loess Plateau, there are the deep and graceful songs of aunts and uncles, and the singing of "Stop the sheep from singing and return to the cows" echoed by the younger generation. Northern Shaanxi is a world of folk songs and a sea of folk songs.

There are many kinds of folk songs in northern Shaanxi, including Four Seasons Songs, Wugeng Tune, Langong Tune, Jiuge, Yangko, Labor Song, Dance Music, Yulin Xiaoqu, Shaanxi Suite, Errentai, Folk Songs, Religious Songs, Home Exploration Tune, etc. , mainly in minor and belief in heaven.

Secondary, mainly narrative, generally there are scenes, characters, storylines and details. For example, harming a doll, Sister Yu, seeing off a lover, four guarantees and working in Liulin are all long narrative folk songs.

Xinda Tour (called Shuntian Tour in the border area between Shenmu Fugu, Inner Mongolia and Qu Shan) is a folk song widely circulated in northern Shaanxi. It is the product of improvisation and can be sung freely according to different situations. If the villagers work in the fields, go up the mountain to herd sheep, go into the Woods to cut wood, drive donkeys and pull coal, and feel what they are doing, they will sing loudly. Its language is simple, its rhythm is obvious and its rhyme is changeable. Generally, it is a two-sentence structure, the upper and lower sentences rhyme, and there is no other sentence. Based on 7 sentences or 10 sentences, the first sentence is mainly about scenery, while the second sentence is mostly about meaning, which is a combination of reality and fiction. The melody is melodious, the rhythm is distinct, the rhyme is harmonious and the lyrical color is strong. It fully embodies the uninhibited character of northern Shaanxi people. It has two sentences and one paragraph, which can be divided and combined, or it can be composed into a song independently, similar to "Sanqu".

Dance music mainly refers to various forms of singing in Yangko activities, such as boat songs, lantern music, New Year's picture tune (also known as stilts) and so on. Most of these works are improvisation, and some forms have formed relatively fixed programs in long-term singing activities. When singing, you only need to temporarily add what you want to sing, and the singing is mainly based on one leader and many people.

Yulin ditty is a kind of folk song circulating in Yulin city. It can be divided into two categories: one is similar to minor, but the score is different; The other is mainly about the content that reflects city life, the feeling that has been in my heart, and the sadness of Xianglou. The street is full of flavor and elegant language. In the form of singing, sitting and chorus are generally used, with music interspersed, leading and chorus, clear paragraphs and great emotional ups and downs.

Errentai is a folk song form that spreads in Shenmu and Fugu. As the name implies, it is a role-based singing form. The role is limited to two people, a man and a woman, who usually play monogamy. The role is to dress up in yangko and sing in yangko activities. Similar to the popular two-person platform in northwest Shanxi and Neirong Valley. It is a combination of folk songs, folk dances and folk operas.

The social life of anti-seedling folk songs in northern Shaanxi is very rich. Most popular folk songs in northern Shaanxi originated from the end of 19 to the 1940s. They not only reflect social changes, but also "long-term labor songs", reflecting the struggle of the people in northern Shaanxi against the oppression and exploitation of the feudal ruling class, especially the revolutionary historical folk songs, which are a group of precious revolutionary historical materials. Like the famous "When Brothers of the Red Army Come Back",

"Shandandan Flowers Bloom Red" and so on are very valuable. But among more than 8,000 folk songs in northern Shaanxi, such works are few after all. Most of the works reflect ordinary people and ordinary things. For example, kannika nimtragol is homesick, older girls are looking forward to getting married, younger girls are divining, drummers are greeting relatives, people who are away from home miss their hometown, young people love each other, and couples quarrel for fun. Also, masons decorate the monotonous sound of stone hammers with songs; Farmers use songs to drive away loneliness and sadness; People who drive away the spirit of sacrifice spread melodious songs all over the rugged narrow path; The sentimental kannika nimtragol poured out her sadness with a song. These are basically expressions of feelings. In addition, people in northern Shaanxi also use folk songs to serve their daily lives: vendors use songs to peddle, farmers use songs to pray for rain, celebrate and entertain during festivals, men and women hold ceremonies with songs, guess fists with wine songs when drinking, tell historical stories with songs, socialize with songs, tell important historical events with songs, and young men and women talk about love and tell new things with songs. Strange people and strange things, praise them.

Among the 8000 folk songs in northern Shaanxi, 80% of all folk songs reflect love life and marriage problems or are related to this content. "Journey to Heaven" is regarded as the masterpiece of working people, which embodies almost all the contents in this respect, so some people say it is "the ocean of love".

The folk songs that people in northern Shaanxi usually like to sing are love songs. In the old society, young men and women could not love and marry independently, so they had to use songs to express their dissatisfaction with feudal marriage and their pursuit of love. Due to natural conditions and other reasons, in the past, the economy in northern Shaanxi was backward and farmers lived a hard life. The man sent gangs to other provinces to grab jobs for others, that is, before the husband left, his wife tried to persuade him in many ways, and his expression was beautiful, affectionate and lyrical. Please look at the well-known "westward advance":

Go, you take the road,

Don't take the path.

There are many people on the road, and living is also a relief.

Living is to alleviate sadness.

Stay in a hotel, stay in a big shop,

Don't live in a small shop.

There are many thieves and beggars in the shop.

Worried about stealing you.

Sleep, you sleep in the middle,

Don't sleep on both sides

Worried about the wall digger,

Control is yours.

Drink water, you drink running water,

Do not drink spring water.

Snakes wag their tails in spring,

Worried about drinking you bad.

When you eat cigarettes, you light your own fire,

Don't fight with others.

In the forest, the green forest is ringing,

Worried about sweating.

People who "go to the west" have gone for several years and never come back. When the wife thinks of her husband, they either spin the spinning wheel, shake and sing, or stand in front of the door and sing softly to express their attachment to their distant relatives:

Peas bloom a little red,

I miss my brother with needle and thread.

I miss my brother, but I can't see him.

Rock sugar is like bitter coptis in your mouth.

Without water, rivers can't raise fish,

Sister can't live without brother you.

A pair of larks are flying in the sky,

I hope to see you in the future.

Folk songs in northern Shaanxi, which reflect local marriage customs, have different characteristics in different historical periods. For example, the three songs "Lanhuahua", "Big Women Want Korea" and "I'll find you a good husband's family" all describe the ways of getting married, but the ways of getting married are different because of different times. "Lanhuahua" is an ancient traditional way of marriage. When buying and selling marriage, the new wife has to take a sedan chair when entering the door, and "three teams blow two teams to fight". In the era of "the eldest daughter treats Han", anti-feudal thoughts and emotions have formed a trend. The "eldest daughter" dares to say and do, dare to ask her parents to get married, and the wedding is simplified. Ride a horse instead of a sedan chair. In the song "Find a good husband's family for you", the heroine is already "making her own decisions", and the way to get married is not to wear embroidered shoes with her head covered, but to "ride a horse and wear flowers" and "enter the husband's family with the groom".

Folk songs in northern Shaanxi are close to life, reflect the truth of life and have strong feelings, especially love songs. The protagonist in Miss You Really Miss You is an unmarried girl, and there is a passage that expresses her feelings like this:

Miss you, miss you, miss you,

I miss you all over;

My hair misses you,

Red wool rope is hard to earn;

Pippi misses you;

Yulin is difficult to comb;

Eyelashes miss you,

It is difficult to close day and night;

My eyes are kind, I miss you,

Tears are hard to collect;

My tongue is very sharp, I miss you.

Bitterness and bitterness are hard to taste;

……

If it's just the expression of the characters' inner thoughts and feelings, then this "Hand in Hand" is a description of the characters' actions:

You must hold my hand,

I want to kiss your mouth,

Hand in hand, mouth to mouth,

Let's go for a walk in the park.

The four sentences in the grid are easy to understand. Although the hero and heroine are careless, their movements are natural and their emotions are relaxed, which can be described as the swan song of northern Shaanxi.

Due to historical and natural conditions, northern Shaanxi is backward in economy, underdeveloped in culture, sparsely populated and scattered in residence. Therefore, the rule of feudal consciousness here is relatively weak. In some remote mountainous areas, there used to be a folk song of "Three Monsters": "Sand hits the wall, but it won't fall. Aunt is not annoyed to marry Han Han, and prostitutes jump over the wall and dogs don't bite. " This shows the ideology of northern Shaanxi.

Before the 1970s, in some places in northern Shaanxi, because no one could write, people had to dip the bottom of the bowl in ink and clasp it on red paper instead of couplets. The locals called it "clasping couplets". In some rural areas, even if someone can write, no one knows. What are the advantages of writing it out? Before liberation, in the eyes of farmers in northern Shaanxi, there was no difference between black circles and black characters. For a long time, farmers have no cultural and recreational life. Even if you watch a little play occasionally, it's not called watching a play, it's called "watching the fire" (lively). They have to rely on their own voices to recite things and express their thoughts and feelings. So northern Shaanxi folk songs came into being. This is a form of literary entertainment that is easy to master and spread. Over time, folk songs have gradually formed different relatively stable genres and forms, such as the above minor, belief in heaven, rain-praying tune, wine song, labor chant, divine official tune and so on.

Of course, with the development of the times and the change of life, every genre and form is also developing and changing. For example, the famous song Dongfanghong has developed from a pure love song to an ode to the party leader. The original lyrics of the earliest traditional folk song "No one can sell conscience" are:

Kerosene lamp, bright and bright,

Red bean horn cramp.

Red bean horn cramp cough,

No one can betray his conscience.

This is a love song, on the basis of which a new one has been changed, and it has become riding a white horse:

Keywords buckwheat flower, red light,

What are we friends for?

Third brother became the Eighth Route Army,

Go all out to resist Japan.

……

Riding a white horse with a foreign gun,

Third brother ate the grain of the Eighth Route Army,

I want to go home and see that girl,

I can't take care of Japan.

Fill in the new lyrics on the tune of "Riding a White Horse" and it becomes "Immigration Song";

Beautiful mountains and rivers, flat heaven and earth,

Chairman Mao leads Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia.

Welcome immigrants to open the top of the forest to cough,

Border area arachis duranensis.

……

1943, the folk singer Li Youyuan wrote the first paragraph of "Immigration Song":

The sun rises,

Dongfanghong,

China has a Mao Zedong,

He makes a living for the people,

……

Soon, on the way to Yan 'an, the Jiaxian immigration team, Li Zengzheng, the vice captain of the immigration team (Li Youyuan's nephew) sang this song, and then the immigrants got together sentence by sentence, and finally created this "Immigration Song". Later, on the basis of "Immigration Song", it was changed to "Dongfanghong".

Folk songs in northern Shaanxi are widely circulated in northern Shaanxi. Generally, people in northern Shaanxi can sing a few songs more or less. When working and walking in the fields, they can hear songs. In their spare time, people often get together and take turns singing. In addition to this natural mass communication in daily life, there are two modes of communication: one is the communication of folk singers and artists; The second is the collective or individual communication in some customs activities. For example, you have to sing activities such as "doing things", welcoming relatives, paying homage, praying and yangko. Another example is Wedding Song, which includes Landing Song, Popular Felt, Worshiping Heaven and Earth, Spreading the Account, Going to the Head Song, and Sending Children Songs. Oil residue cake

Refined from soft rice and jujube, fried by plants, it is delicate, sweet and delicious.

Qian Qian rice

This is a kind of famine for people who lack food in northern Shaanxi. People often use rice bran and Fu Cha to satisfy their hunger. Now it has become a flavor diet made of coarse grains. Its practice is to soak black beans in water to swell, and then put them on a stone mill and grind them into pieces, which are shaped like copper coins, so they are called "Qian Qian rice". When cooking, mix the bean money 20% to 80%, and then put it into the pot one by one. When the bean money is half cooked, add the millet. When the bean money floats on the porridge surface, it can be eaten. Qian Qian rice is sticky, refreshing, fragrant and delicious, especially in the cold winter. It's pleasant to drink a bowl of Qian Qian rice to keep warm. It is said that the story of Diusim, who often eats Qian Qian rice, makes her beautiful.

Bean powder jelly

It is made of natural plant mung bean or buckwheat, fresh and delicious, sour, spicy and fragrant, and has the effects of clearing away heat and toxic materials, relieving summer heat and quenching thirst.

Pancakes made of flour

Processed from refined buckwheat bran, it can be used with dried bean curd, hot tofu and all kinds of stir-fried dishes. It has various eating methods, cool and delicious taste, comfortable taste, fat-reducing and anticancer effects, and is the best food to eat all year round.

Buckwheat noodles

Made of refined buckwheat vermicelli, it tastes delicious and has the effect of reducing fat and lowering blood pressure.

Haggis

It is made from sheep's head, hoof, blood, liver, heart, intestine, abdomen and lungs, and has a good nourishing effect.

Fruit stuffing

Add oil to the flour, stir well, roll it into long slices, roll it up and press it into the nest, wrap the prepared stuffing, and bake it in the oven repeatedly until it is cooked. Its characteristics are crisp, fragrant and sweet. According to the content of stuffing, it can be divided into jujube stuffing, candy stuffing and bean paste stuffing.

Minjie

Minjie is pronounced as "Minjieer" in northern Shaanxi dialect, and its tone is changed, so it is also written as "Minjian". Dough used for bonding is all kinds of flour made from peas and wheat. Put the mixed dough on a special joint bed with dense sieve holes and press it down with the palm of your hand to form an inch-long section in a spiral shape. Minjie is nutritious, light and delicious, and easy to digest and absorb. When eating, put Minjie in a pot and pour vegetarian soup on it. There are diced tofu, diced potatoes and diced beans in the soup, supplemented by leeks, sesame seeds, hot sauce and coriander. Light and delicious, with bean flavor. This is the best pasta in northern Shaanxi, and people who eat it must order it.

Youmomo

Round, ring-shaped, fried and as golden as copper coins are symbols of wealth and good fortune in Yan 'an folklore. Grinding yellow rice into flour and fine reeds, cooking with soft rice into rolled rice soup and hot noodles, and fermenting on a hot kang. After the dough is made, spread it into a small round cake with a hole in the middle and fry it in the oil pan until it is reddish brown.

Potato brush

Take some potatoes, rub them into an inch-long thin slices with a scraper, and add pepper, shredded onion, ginger powder, salt and so on. Stir well with flour and steam in a pot. When eating, put it in a large bowl, add garlic paste, spicy noodles, sauce, vinegar and scallion oil. Crispy and delicious, it won't get tired after eating for a long time.

Pumpkin with thick juice

Select high-quality octagonal pumpkin from northern Shaanxi, peel and remove seeds, cut it in half, cut it into several small petals along the natural melon ditch, put it back together, steam it in a pot, and pour it with sugar juice. Soft and sweet taste. Pumpkin is rich in vitamins A, C, cobalt, zinc and other nutrients, which has a unique effect on diabetes and obesity.

Wanto

The method is to soak buckwheat kernels with water and crush them, gradually add water, make them into paste, filter and remove residues, and the consistency is suitable for hanging spoons. Then put the paste into a cage, steam it over high fire, let it cool, and take it out of the bowl, hence the name bowl.

Shanbei rice wine

This kind of wine made of soft yellow rice is sweet and sour, and it is a good food to accompany in winter. He Jingzhi once praised in the poem "Back to Yan 'an": "A mouthful of rice wine pushes the waves behind the Yangtze River. "This shows the attraction of rice wine.