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The Cantonese Opera Music Community in Guangzhou

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The Cantonese Opera Music Community in Guangzhou View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by CUHK Digital Repository Dissonance in Harmony: The Cantonese Opera Music Community in Guangzhou CHEUNG, Ah Li A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Anthropology The Chinese University of Hong Kong August 2012 Abstract of thesis entitle: Dissonance in Harmony: The Cantonese Opera Music Community in Guangzhou Submitted by Cheung Ah Li For the degree of Master of Philosophy in Anthropology At The Chinese University of Hong Kong in August 2012. ABSTRACT Since Cantonese Opera was declared an intangible cultural heritage representation by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2009, the Chinese government has carried out different policies to “develop” Cantonese Opera. This study looks at the recent “development” of Cantonese Opera in Guangzhou from the perspective of musicians. In Guangzhou, different forms of performing groups are present, from privately organized interest groups to state-managed national troupes. This study divides the music community in Guangzhou into three sub-communities: amateurs, professionals and national musicians and investigates the changing lifestyle and way of interaction of musicians within the music community due to the changes that have occurred in Guangzhou with the listing of Cantonese Opera as an intangible cultural heritage. This research focuses on the musicians in the Cantonese Opera music community in Guangzhou. Based on a three-month intensive fieldwork and two pilot studies conducted in 2011 using participant observation and indepth interview, this thesis aims to explore the following questions: in what ways are the musicians’ social life and mode of living altered? Has the whole music community become more strengthened and united owing to the social changes? Or is the music community becoming more stratified? Is the music community harmonious or full of dissonance? i 摘要 粵劇﹐亦被譽為「南國紅豆」﹐已有三百多年歷史﹐是中國傳統戲曲之 一。粵劇流傳於南中國﹑香港﹑以及海外華人的社會﹐其中以廣州佛山一帶最 為著名。然而﹐在近年外來文化的影響下﹐粵劇逐漸被忽視。自二零零九年 起﹐粵劇正式被列為聯合國教科文組織人類非物質文化遺產。隨著國家政府對 粵劇的重視﹐地方傳統曲藝在廣州的發展亦產生了變化。本論文以廣州粵劇的 音樂社區為中心﹐著眼於樂師﹐把樂師分為業餘者﹑職業樂師及國家級演奏員 三類。本論文亦論述粵劇樂師在粵劇國家化的過程中所面對的改變及所扮演的 角色﹐並探討粵劇由一種地方性的民間傳統藝術演變為一項代表國家的非物質 文化遺產對當地音樂社區造成的衝擊。 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My Mphil thesis indicates a new page of my life. These two years of Mphil studies have been a big challenge for me. Fortunately, I was never alone through all the ups and downs. It would have never been possible to complete this thesis without the help of the following people, whom I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart. First, I owe my most heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Sidney Cheung, for his guidance and enormous patience. He has been a truly supportive and thoughtful teacher. He gave me motivation when I was lost, brightened many dark days during my fieldwork with good food in Guangzhou, and taught me valuable lessons during my thesis writing progress. Furthermore, I would like to express my thankfulness to my thesis committee members, Prof. Tracey Lie-Dan Lu and Prof. Joseph Bosco, for their insightful suggestions and comments. Here, I also wish to thank Prof. Gordon Mathews for giving me the opportunity to TA in his classes on “Understanding Anthropology” and “Humans and Culture” and for guiding me to music improvising to reduce stress in the thesis writing days. Besides these individual faculty members, I would also like to thank the Anthropology Department at CUHK for the chance and financial support that enabled me to continue my exploration of anthropology. I have enjoyed my six year study at the Anthropology Department, and I am thankful to have supports from my dearest classmates, namely, Gloria Tsang, Jieying Zhang, Jiting Luo, Justin Murgai, Leo Pang, Linessa Lin, Philipp Demgenski, Tracy Chan, and Vivian Chan. I also would like to extend my thankfulness to my best language partner: Abigail Cheung for her constant support and her patience to proofread my whole thesis for countless times. Moreover, I am indebted to all my informants in Guangzhou, including amateur group members, professional musicians who play in hotels and tea houses, national performers, and other individuals who I have met during my research. They were willing to spend their valuable time with me to explain their world to an outsider like me, and they helped me in different ways to make me feel home in Guangzhou, for instance, those who found me a place to stay, those who played music with me, those who shared food with me, and those who invited me to sport games just to give me a chance to relax. I had the most enjoyable moment in Guangzhou. iii Finally, I have to express my deepest gratefulness to my family members. In particular, I have to thank my father and mother for providing me with years of encouragement, understanding, and nurturing, also for the home-made soups that gave me energy. I am thankful that they have continued to respect my decision to study anthropology for so many years, despite their not knowing what it is actually about. Lastly, my gratitude goes to Konstantin Kinast who has always been there giving me emotional support and comfort, who has proofread my thesis again and again, and who has been an inspiration to me academically and personally. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract…………………………………………………………………………….....i 摘要..............................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements…...……………………………………………………………..iii Table of Contents..........................................................................................................v List of Figures and Tables..........................................................................................vii Chapter One: Introduction……………………………………………………………1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..1 Contribution…………………………………………………………………….4 Defining Music Community……………………………………………………6 Literature Review………………………………………………………………8 The Ethnomusicological Perspective…………………………………………8 The Socio-cultural Perspective……………………………………………...10 The Heritage Perspective……………………………………………………13 Methodology…………………………………………………………………..15 Participant Observation……………………………………………………..17 Interviews……………………………………………………………………19 Thesis Structure……………………………………………………………….20 The Romanization of Chinese Wordings……………………………………...21 Chapter Two: History of Cantonese Opera and its Music Community….………….22 Tracing the Roots of Cantonese Opera………………………………………..22 Before the 1900s…………………………………………………………….24 From the 1900s to the 1960s………………………………………………...25 From the 1960s to the 1980s………………………………………………...25 From the 1980s until the Present………...………………………………….26 Background of the Cantonese Opera Music Community……………………..29 Differentiating between Yueju, Yuequ and Yuele……………………………..33 The Music Community in Guangzhou………………………………………..35 Chapter Three: The Amaterus – The “Happy” Ones?................................................38 General Description…………………………………………………………...38 Primary Informants……..…………………………………………………..39 The Sunshine Cantonese Opera Troupe…………………………………….40 The District Workers’ Association Cantonese Opera Troupe………………41 The Evergreen Cantonese Opera Troupe…………………………………...43 What is “Sifoguhk”?...........................................................................................44 Hierarchies between Amateurs………………………………………………..46 The Status of Sifu……………………………………………………………47 The Musicians’ List…………………………………………………………48 The Amateur Community as a Whole………………………………………...50 The Invasion of Capitalism………………………………………………….51 The “Common Enemy”……………………………………………………...53 Summary: Are they truly the “happy ones”?.....................................................56 v Chapter Four: The Professional Musicians – The Dream Chasers……………….…58 General Description……………………………………………………….…..58 “The Cantonese Opera Music Boulevard”……………………………….…58 Primary Informants……………………..…………………………………...60 The New World Hotel…………………………………………………….…61 The City Grand Hotel…………………………………………………….….62 Tensions within the Community……………………………………………....63 Competition between Tea Houses…………………………………………..64 Relationship between Musicians, Singers and the Audience………………..67 The Professional Music Community as a Whole……………………………..70 The Rural-City Melting Pot…………………………………………………71 The Changing Market Demand……………………………………………...73 Summary: What is the Shared Dream?..............................................................76 Chapter Five: The National Experts – The Heritage Preservers…………………….78 General Description…………………………………………………………...78 The State’s Theatres…………………………………………………………79 Primary Informants…………..……………………………………………...82 The Guangzhou City Cantonese Opera Troupe…………….……………….83 The Cantonese Music and Folk Art Troupe…………………………….…...84 Categorizing Musicians……………………………………………………….85 The Yueju and Yuequ Distinction……………………………………………86 The National Ranking System………………………………………………88 The Power of the State………………………………………………………...91 The Institutionalization of Folk Art…………………………………………92 The Nationalization of Local Art Form……………………..………………94 Summary: The Heritage Preservers…………………………………………...97 Chapter Six: From Art-form to Uni-form…………………………………………...99 Introduction……………………………………………………………………99 The Composition of the Community………………………………………...101 The Characteristics of the Community………………………………………106 Segregation within the Community………………………………………….110 Summary……………………………………………………………………..115 Chapter Seven: Conclusion………………………………………………………...118
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