Fengyang Flower Drum

Fengyang Flower Drum (simplified Chinese: 凤阳花鼓; traditional Chinese: 鳳陽花鼓; pinyin: Fèng yáng huāgǔ) is a traditional Chinese folk song, a form of Quyi, from Fengyang County, Anhui Province that was first developed during the late Ming Dynasty. Originally, it was performed by two seated female singers (usually sisters-in-law). It was typically performed in public for gratuities, as Fengyang County was prone to flooding from the Yellow River.

History

The Fengyang Flower Drum song was associated with beggars from Fengyang County which experienced a disastrous series of flood and drought during the late Ming Dynasty, forcing residents to sing for money.[1] It is classed as one of the speech-song (说唱; Shuōchàng) folk arts of Quyi.[2]

The form was popularized by its appearance in The Good Earth, the 1937 film adaptation of a novel by Pearl S. Buck.[3] Chou Wen-Chung, an American emigrant from China, incorporated it into his 1949 composition Landscapes.[4]

References
  1. "Traditional Quyi Art -- Fengyang Huagu". Chinese Culture. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  2. Cooper, Gene (2013). The Market and Temple Fairs of Rural China: Red fire. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-203-10460-6. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  3. Chang, Peter M. (2006). Chou Wen-Chung: The Life and Work of a Contemporary Chinese-Born American Composer. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-8108-5296-9. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  4. Lai, Eric Chiu Kong (2009). The Music of Chou Wen-Chung. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-7546-6500-7. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
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