Arts

Gaojia Opera

2019-03-20 15:28

 

 

Gaojia Opera (including both Xiamen and Quanzhou origins) emerged sometime between the late Ming and early Qing dynasties (17th century).

 

Dominated by Quanzhou-style chord, its melody absorbs the best of many other music forms and techniques in South Fujian, including band music, wind and percussion music, and adapterization. Its music is a fusion of the highbrow Nanyin (Southern Music) and the more coarse popular tunes, being clear and sweet while strong and robust at the same time.

 

 

The lyrics are sung in the Hokkien dialect and the roles are divided into Sheng characters (males), Dan characters (females), Jing characters (males with painted faces), and Chou characters (clowns).

 

Gaojia Opera is especially famous for its Chou performance. With more than 600 plays well preserved, it represents one of the five major operas in Fujian Province, holding significant influence over the Quanzhou-origin operas both at home and abroad.

 

 

[ Web editor:Wu Jianhan, Robin Wang    Source:BRICS official website ]