Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted orally, music with unknown composers, music that is played on traditional instruments, music about cultural or national identity, music that changes between generations, music associated with a people's folklore, or music performed by custom over a long period of time. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. The term originated in the 19th century, but folk music extends beyond that.
Gansu is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The music of China consists of many distinct traditions, often specifically originating with one of the country's various ethnic groups. It is produced within and without the country, involving either people of Chinese origin, the use of traditional Chinese instruments, Chinese music theory, or the languages of China. It includes traditional classical forms and indigenous folk music, as well as recorded popular music and forms inspired by Western culture.
Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of the Chinese province of Gansu, located in the northwest of the country. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. Historically, it has been a major link on the Northern Silk Road and it stands to become a major hub on the New Eurasian Land Bridge. The city is also a center for heavy industry and petrochemical industry.
Chinese Opera is a form of theatre in China that combines singing, acting, and elaborate costumes. Topics are based on Chinese history, mythology, and literature. Over its historical evolution, it has incorporated various art forms such as music, song and dance, martial arts, acrobatics, costume and make-up art, and literature. It has highly formalized roles, performed by professional actors each trained for specific roles. Exaggerated features and colors make the roles easily identifiable.
Traditional Vietnamese music encompasses a large umbrella of Vietnamese music from antiquity to present times, and can also encompass multiple groups, such as those from Vietnam's ethnic minority tribes.
Xining, alternatively known as Sining, is the capital of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau.
The dizi, is a Chinese transverse flute. It is also sometimes known as the di or héngdi, and has varieties including Qudi, Bangdi, and Xindi. It is a major Chinese musical instrument that is widely used in many genres of Chinese folk music, Chinese opera, as well as the modern Chinese orchestra. The dizi is also a popular instrument among the Chinese people as it is simple to make and easy to carry.
Suona, also called dida, laba or haidi, is a traditional double-reeded Chinese musical instrument. The Suona's basic design originated in ancient Iran, then called "Sorna". Suona appeared in China around the 3rd century. It had a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound, and was used frequently in Chinese traditional music ensembles, particularly in those that perform outdoors. It was an important instrument in the folk music of northern China, particularly in provinces of Shandong and Henan, where it has long been used for festival and military purposes. It is still being used, in combination with sheng mouth organs, gongs, drums, and sometimes other instruments in weddings and funeral processions. Such wind and percussion ensembles are called chuida or guchui. Stephen Jones has written extensively on its use in ritual music of Shanxi. It was also common in the ritual music of Southeast China. In Taiwan, it was an essential element of ritual music that accompanied Daoist performances of both auspicious and inauspicious rites, i.e., those for both the living and the dead. One of the most famous pieces that uses suona as the leading instrument is called "Bai Niao Chao Feng", or "Hundred Birds Worship the Phoenix". The movie Song of the Phoenix casts the rise and fall of the popularity of suona in modern Chinese musical history.
Music of Northeast China is tied closely to the region's history. Musical traditions of the Bang Zi Theatre and folk instruments such as the Dizi, Xiao and Baijiao Gu originate in the region. Folk songs from the north east are noted for their contributions toward nationalistic music the popular communist-era song “The East is Red” based upon a traditional Northern Shaanxi melody. The popularity of western musical traditions in the Harbin province are internationally recognised with the northern city being named a ‘music city’ in 2010 by the United Nations. Contemporary folk as well as modern pop music continue to contribute to the diverse musical traditions of the region. Prominent performers from the Northeast include the mid-20th-century film composer Lei Zhenbang and pop stars Xiao Ke and Na Ying.
The term Chinese orchestra is most commonly used to refer to the modern Chinese orchestra that is found in China and various overseas Chinese communities. This modern Chinese orchestra first developed out of Jiangnan sizhu ensemble in the 1920s into a form that is based on the structure and principles of a Western symphony orchestra but using Chinese instruments. The orchestra is divided into four sections – wind, plucked strings, bowed strings, and percussion, and usually performs modernized traditional music called guoyue. The orchestra may be referred to as Minzu Yuetuan or Minyuetuan in mainland China, Chung Ngok Tuen in Hong Kong, Huayuetuan in Southeast Asia, or Guoyuetuan in Taiwan.
The guan is a Chinese double reed wind instrument. The northern Chinese version is called guanzi or bili and the Cantonese version is called houguan. It is classified as a bamboo instrument in the Ba Yin system. Unlike other instruments in the double-reed family of woodwinds which mostly have conical bores, such as the Chinese suona or the Western oboe, the guan has a cylindrical bore, giving its distinctive mellow, yet piercing buzz-like timbre.
Longnan is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Gansu province in China. It borders Sichuan on its south and Shaanxi on its east. As of the 2020 Chinese census, the population of the prefecture-level city was 2,855,555.
Qingyang is a prefecture-level city in eastern Gansu province, China.
Shaanbei or Northern Shaanxi is the portion of China's Shaanxi province north of the Huanglong Mountain and the Meridian Ridge, and is both a geographic as well as a cultural area. It makes up the southeastern portion of the Ordos Basin and forms the northern part of the Loess Plateau. The region includes two prefecture-level cities: Yulin, which is known for the Ming Great Wall traversing through its northern part; and Yan'an, which is known as the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Revolution.
Lintao County simplified Chinese: 临洮县; traditional Chinese: 臨洮縣; pinyin: Líntáo Xiàn) is administratively under the control of Dingxi, Gansu province. In ancient times, Lintao was centered on present day Min County.
Anning District is one of 5 districts of the prefecture-level city of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, Northwest China. It forms part of the urban core of Lanzhou. The district was established in 1953 and is named after a former Ming dynasty fort. It is known for having numerous peach orchards, since the Ming dynasty it has thus been nicknamed the '10-li peach county' (十里桃乡).
Low Wormwood is a band from Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu Province. Their music style is folk, blending with rock and experimental elements. Low Wormwood observe and investigate the world using their music from the unique perspective of Northwesterners of China, mixed with strong feelings to their hometown, Lanzhou, a valley city with Yellow River crossing between two mountain ridges erected both sides of north and south. In July 2012, the band won the Best Chinese Band award at the 2012 Chinese Media Music Awards in Macau.
Wang Jianzhong (1933–2016) was a Chinese composer, pianist, and educator. His works, many of them composed during the Cultural Revolution, bridge Chinese folk music and Western classical piano tradition and have made him a household name in his own country. His A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix is considered one of the six representative twentieth-century Chinese piano masterpieces.
The Taipinggu is a dance variety with hand-held drum; it is also known as Dangu and "Drums of Great Peace". It is popular in North China and commonly performed by the Manchu ethnic group for shamanist priests. As the years passed by, it became a way for people to express the joyfulness and happiness.
