Musical Instruments

Flower-drum opera

The flower-drum opera or Huaguxi (Chinese: 花鼓戏; pinyin: Huāgǔxì) is a form of Chinese opera originating in Hunan province. Some other provinces, such as Hubei, Anhui, Henan, Shanxi, also have Huaguxi. It is known in China for its earthy quality, and is often referred to as the "spicy" form of Chinese opera. Most Huaguxi plays were originally xiao xi, short plays lasting an hour or less. These plays often dealt with everyday rural life. With the rise of professional Huaguxi performers and performances in the capital city of Changsha, longer plays, daxi, began to be performed. These plays dealt with grander themes of social satire and class struggle. Like other forms of Chinese opera, Huaguxi is staged with very few props. Music accompanying Huaguxi reflects the Changsha dialect spoken in Hunan. It is played with instruments like the datong (fiddle), yueqin (moon lute), dizi (bamboo flute), and suona (oboe). Percussion instruments provide the basic tempo for the performance.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸La tempesta di mare (flute concerto)
• ▸Camera
• ▸Bassoon

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.