Lately I've been in the mood to listen to traditional music as the weather gets colder in this tiny country town. I'm interested in folk music from all over the world, but my favorite styles are the string and vocal music of northern Europe and the British Isles, and that, of course, of East Asia, viz. China and Japan. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of folk music from the Wu-speaking area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, specifically Suzhou pingtan (苏州评弹). The clangy plucking of the strings and the impassioned twang of the vocals reminds me of everything I've always loved about bluegrass music, but set to a slower, deliberate pacing of traditional East Asian music. Too lazy to write my own report, the following is a slightly doctored cutting and pasting of the first half dozen or so hits from a Google search on the subject.
Pingtang is a type of Chinese musical storytelling known as shuochang (说唱, literally "spoken singing"). Shuochang is most often performed by a solo male or female singer, although it may also be performed by two singers. The singers may provide their own accompaniment with hand-held percussion such as clappers (called ban; 板) or a small drum, or there may also be a small ensemble of one or two musicians. The stories usually relate a historical romance, court case, martial arts story or heroic epic. The Tanci (弹词， the sung portion of the words of the story), which is also called Xiaoshu, is mainly performed by two people, relating the stories of daily life and love. The instruments used include the Sanxian 三线 and lute (琵琶 pipa). (For a pretty awesome, but distinctly different style with an erhu 二胡, see this video.) This art originally appeared in the Qing Dynasty and was favored by successive monarchs and locals. Its distinctive performing skill consists of storytelling, loud laughter, music-playing and singing.
Pingtan is also called 'Suzhou Pingtan', because it first originated in the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu province and is performed in the Suzhou dialect, which is closely related to the variety of Chinese spoken in Shanghai--termed a "dialect" of Chinese, but considered distinct languages by linguists. According to Zhou Zhenhua, vice chief of the 'Shanghai Pingtan Troupe', "Suzhou Pingtan...originated from the folk ballad, folk songs and fables which appeared over 5,000 years ago. Pinghua [评话, storytelling without music] was developed from a speaking art called Bianwen in the Tang dynasty more than 1,300 years ago and Huaben in the Song dynasty. And Suzhou Pingtan emerged later in the Ming and early Qing dynasties when performers started to use the Suzhou dialect while performing. It has a history stretching back around 400 years."
Zhou goes on to explain, "Pingtan usually performs long stories, which are divided into many parts. One part is performed over the course of a day and the whole story telling may last for weeks. There are also some stories of medium length and shorter ones. Traditional tales often follow a historical theme with heroic and epic stories." There are some 120 traditional stories left to us by the ancient performers and 'Pingtan' artists are continuously writing new ones that are closer to contemporary life.
Suzhou Pingtan reached its peak during the middle of the Qing dynasty. After the 1970s, this art gradually declined but has been rejuvenated in recent years. As most of the audiences enjoying Pingtan are mainly elderly and middle aged people, organizations which promote Pingtan are striving to attract more young people to this brilliant traditional art.
Over the course of its history, Pingtan has absorbed various popular folk tunes. For instance, shu tone came from other quyi forms and is the basis of other styles. Due to different performance styles, shu tone is divided into the Chen Yuquan, Ma Rufei and Yu Xiushan schools. Over its long development, new styles were formed that inherited the legacy of the three schools. Liu Tianyun and Yang Zhenxiong inherited the Chen school, while Xia Hesheng and Zhu Huizhen inherited the Yu School.
The Ma school exerted the greatest impact on posterity, with successors who formed schools of their own such as Xue Xiaoqing diao (调，tone), Shen Jianan diao and Qin diao (developed by Zhu Xueqin on the basis of Xue diao). Zhou Yuquan developed into a school on the basis of Ma diao, while Jiang Yuequan developed into a school on the basis of Zhou diao. Due to this development, Suzhou pingtan has a great diversity of styles in singing and storytelling.
Pingtan is traditionally performed in teahouses or special storytelling houses in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region, where patrons sip tea and relax under the atmosphere. One of the most famous pintang players is 吴静 (Wu Jing).
On a personal note, the greatest trip I've taken in my life so far was to the area of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang where this music originated. So it already holds a special place in my heart. While my trip to Suzhou itself was rather ruined by problems registering at the hotel, the nearby towns of Tongli and Xitang will always be remembered with a sharp pang of nostalgia for strolling around those old, stony avenues beside the waterways, listening to the speech of the local Wu languages, and eating zongzi in the cold. Every now and then there would be a pingtan performance inside one of the area's many garden attractions. Ah, memories.
Take a listen to the crazy spoken breakdown in the last minute of this performance:
A few more for your listening pleasure are below. You can also find hour-long videos on Youtube via Tudou if you are in for a real performance.
