Meihu

Meihu is a qupai-form opera of the Guanzhong plain, led by sanxian, its singing close to storytelling

Related

QupaiSanxianBanqiang Form

Time and place

Meihu belongs to the Guanzhong plain of Shaanxi and has spread to southern Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. It grew from seated quzi singing around Mei county and Hu county, taking to costume in the mid-Qing, hence the name quzi opera; folk writing also renders it mihu.

What happened

Guanzhong had a habit of singing quzi, three or five people seated, a sanxian striking up. The pieces were qupai such as Cai Hua and Xiu Hebao. When it became theatre, characters and plots entered, but qupai linking stayed the frame. In the 1940s the Shaan-Gan-Ning border region used it for modern short plays like Twelve Sickles and Husband and Wife Learn to Read; Liang Qiuyan in the 1950s carried meihu beyond Guanzhong. It long shared stages with Qinqiang while keeping a separate vocal system.

Musical features

The singing is qupai form, divided into large and small tune groups, with yuediao, gangdiao, wugeng, yinniu si, manjiang hong, caihua, xiqiuqian, yichuanling and kuhuangtian in constant use. A scene strings several qupai, changing tune as the mood changes, rather than stretching ban forms as Qinqiang does. Sanxian leads, with banhu, erhu, flute and a small bell. Speech is Guanzhong dialect, syllables level, melody mostly stepwise, few wide leaps at phrase ends.

What to listen for

Begin with Shaanxi Chang shang liang ge quzi jie xinjiao, a song about the pleasure of singing quzi; hear the pauses and breaths where tunes join. Then Cai Hua and Xiu Hebao, tunes with variants everywhere, noting the pentatonic frame and paired phrases. All three are folk songs, not meihu arias.

Common misunderstandings

Meihu is often called another name for Qinqiang, or assumed to be unmounted storytelling. Meihu is qupai form and Qinqiang banqiang form; they shared stages for generations with different singing. Meihu was costumed theatre by the Qing and has full-length plays, not only modern shorts.

Sources

• 《中国音乐词典》编辑部编，中国音乐词典（人民音乐出版社）— 剧种与曲牌条目核对，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）— 唱腔与主奏核对，未引用

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