Errentai

Errentai spans northern Shaanxi, northern Shanxi and western Inner Mongolia, its flute and sihu carrying Zou Xikou

Related

QupaiDiziBanqiang Form

Time and place

Errentai belongs to Yulin and Fugu in northern Shaanxi, Hequ and Baode in northern Shanxi, and Hohhot and Baotou in western Inner Mongolia. Under the Tongzhi and Guangxu reigns local seated song gained yangge movement and became a costumed small play. The Zhangjiakou strand is called the eastern road, the Baotou strand the western.

What happened

It began as dazuo qiang, a few singers seated around mei flute, sihu and yangqin, performing long narratives such as Zou Xikou. Whip, fan, handkerchief and simple movement followed, with a clown and a maiden singing and dancing in turn. Zou Xikou tells of a man leaving for the frontier in a famine year and parting from his wife, a direct record of migration in the region; Da Yingtao, Gua Hongdeng and Wu Ge Fangyang are teasing and festive pieces.

Musical features

The singing is qupai form, one tune fixed to one piece rather than varied by ban. Melodies are largely pentatonic with wide swings; high notes are flipped into falsetto, low notes planted firmly, making a high-open, low-settle contrast. The mei, a transverse flute, leads, with sihu, yangqin and four-tile clappers for a light band. Words are in Jin-Shaan dialect, full of filler syllables, phrases often ending in flung-out cries.

What to listen for

Begin with Shaanxi Zou Xikou, hearing how four-line stanzas push the story and where the lament falls. Da Yingtao is light, with the maiden's phrase ends flicking upward. Gua Hongdeng is festive, all high openings and heavy accents. Wu Ge Fangyang shows the same tune stretching between narrative and lyric. These are folk songs, not stage recordings.

Common misunderstandings

Errentai is often mistaken for another name for errenzhuan, or for mere antiphonal folk song. It has role types, movement and complete small plays, singing a set of tunes from the Shaanxi-Shanxi-Inner Mongolia border; errenzhuan belongs to the northeast with different tunes and speech. It is also not the Mongolian manhan diao.

Sources

• 《中国音乐词典》编辑部编，中国音乐词典（人民音乐出版社）— 曲目与流行地核对，未引用
• 《中国戏曲音乐集成》编辑委员会编，中国戏曲音乐集成（中国 ISBN 中心）— 唱腔与伴奏核对，未引用

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.