Xi'an Wind and Percussion Ensemble

Introduction

Xi'an's wind-and-drum music of the temple fairs, handed down in old manuscript notation

Xi'an drum music is a large wind-and-percussion ensemble tradition of Xi'an and its surroundings, in which wind instruments play with several kinds of drums, gongs and cymbals under the lead of the drummer. It has a seated form, played around a table, and a walking form played in procession. The pieces are handed down in manuscripts written in an old vernacular notation; the earliest known copy, kept by the Xicang society, dates from 1689, and the notation of a Qianlong-era copy closely matches the signs in Jiang Kui's Song-dynasty songs, on which the societies base their claim to Tang and Song roots. Societies such as those of the City God Temple, Hejiaying and Nanjixian still play at temple fairs, and UNESCO inscribed the tradition in 2009.

Timeline

1. 1689OriginA manuscript score kept by the Xicang society was copied in 1689, the earliest known surviving score of Xi'an drum music.
2. 1763EvolutionA treasured manuscript of 1763 uses notation signs closely matching those of Jiang Kui's seventeen self-composed songs, placing it in the vernacular notation lost elsewhere since the Ming and Qing; the claim of Tang-Song lineage rests on this.
3. 1955EvolutionFrom the 1950s scholars surveyed the societies, Yang Yinliu compared the music with Jiang Kui's song notation, and about a hundred surviving manuscript volumes were documented.
4. 2009ImpactListed in the first national batch in 2006 (II-61) and inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List in 2009.

Heritage Listings

1. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · II-61 Xi'an drum music · no. 92 · nominated by Shaanxi · safeguarding body Shaanxi Academy of Art Research
2. 2009UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity4.COM · decision 4.COM 13.26 · Xi'an wind and percussion ensemble