Photo provided by the author shows Huaguxi performance
By Chen Yicheng
A Hunan Huaguxi drama, Peach Blossom and Misty Rain made its successful debut lately in Changsha city, capital of central Hunan province.
Artistically created by the Hunan Huaguxi Protection and Inheritance Center, the drama takes poverty alleviation as its subject and gives full expression to the significance of people’s livelihood.
To make the performance fantastic and reflective, the production team has visited Xiangxi-- west of Hunan to absorb folk elements, give this audio-visual feast full Xiangxi ethnic flavors and freshen up modern Hunan Huaguxi.
Hunan Huaguxi is literally known as Hunan Flower Drum Opera.
According to local records, history of Hunan Huaguxi can be traced 200 years back to the reign of Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing dynasty(1644-1911). At that time, Hunan Huaguxi was popular among people in the countryside and its performance got much inspiration from farming activities. A set of scenes such as paddling, carrying a load and manual soybean-grinding are common. All these have vividly demonstrated its rural characteristics.
Based on its musical style and way of performance, Hunan Huaguxi can be divided into four different genres. The striking contrast among these genres makes Hunan Huaguxi even more attractive.
The audience is also impressed by its musical instruments.. All the musical instruments together produce a kind of special symphony and the melodies are extremely lively and dynamic, which endows Hunan Huaguxi with strong sense of rhythm.
Definitely, the highlights of Huaguxi shall be its performers. The performers are called singers and each of them will sing his or her aria.
