Xi’an Drum Music 西安鼓樂

Men with round collar robes and futou on their heads and ladies with Tang-style dresses and high hair buns are playing Xian Drum Music with traditional drum， flute and other instruments. Watched afar， its like a wall painting from the Tang dynasty; if you listen closely， its like heavenly music that brings people back to Tangs capital， Changan.

Xian Drum Music originated in the Tang dynasty. Initially， it was played only for royal gatherings， but later on became popular among common people. Xian Drum Music is a typical representative of traditional Chinese instrumental music; in 2009， it was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

What kind of instruments can produce such graceful and heavenly music？ Xian Drum Music is a grand ensemble integrating traditional Chinese wind， percussion and string instruments， and it has been acclaimed as “symphony from ancient China”. Its history is even longer than western symphony which was formed and developed in the 18th century.

Different from the music notation used by western symphony， now Xian Drum Music adopts a Song dynasty music notation method. Meanwhile， it inherits over 1，000 qupai， or labeled melodies of various forms， from the Tang and Song dynasties. In the performance of Xian Drum Music， there is neither the score nor the conductor. All performers must keep all the tunes in mind.

穿著圓領(lǐng)長袍、頭戴幞頭的男子和穿著唐裝、梳著高發(fā)髻的女子正在用傳統(tǒng)的鼓、笛和其他樂器演奏西安鼓樂。從遠(yuǎn)處看，演奏的畫面就像一幅唐代的壁畫；但如果你走近聽，演奏的鼓樂猶如天籟，把人們帶回唐朝的首都長安。

西安鼓樂起源于唐朝。起初，它只在宮廷宴會上演奏，但后來在民間流行起來。西安鼓樂是中國傳統(tǒng)器樂的典型代表。2009年，它被列入聯(lián)合國教科文組織非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)代表名錄。

什么樣的樂器能奏出如此優(yōu)美的音樂？西安鼓樂是集中國傳統(tǒng)吹管樂器、打擊樂器和拉弦樂器于一體的大合奏，被譽(yù)為“中國古代的交響樂”。它的歷史甚至比18世紀(jì)形成和發(fā)展的西方交響樂還要悠久。

與西方交響樂使用的音樂記譜法不同，現(xiàn)今的西安鼓樂采用的是宋代的記譜法。同時，它繼承了唐宋時期的1000多個曲牌，即各種形式的譜曲。在西安鼓樂的演奏中，既沒有樂譜，也沒有指揮。所有演奏者必須牢記所有的曲子。

Xian Drum Music has been played for over a thousand years， which wont be possible without inheritance and innovation by generations of inheritors. For example， besides performing the traditional art， the Ancient Chinese Music Orchestra of Xian International University has been innovating. War Song of Kings， a theme song for an online game， is a masterpiece of their innovation. In it， musicians include not only representative instruments used in Xian Drum Music， but also other modern music instruments. In such a way， the orchestra has brought to the audience a vivid mixture of ancient and modern music with the Tang dynasty features.

Also in Dongcang Drum Music Society of Xians theme park Tang Paradise， musicians have chosen live-streaming. Their live videos have attracted more and more audiences from China and abroad， enabling them to know more about Xian Drum Music. As more and more people fall in love with the “symphony from ancient China”， this ancient art form is now injected with new vitality.

西安鼓樂有一千多年的歷史，正是因為一代代傳承人的傳承和創(chuàng)新，它才能延續(xù)至今。比如，西安外事學(xué)院古樂團(tuán)除了演奏西安鼓樂，還一直在對其進(jìn)行創(chuàng)新。《王者戰(zhàn)歌》作為一款網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲的主題曲，是他們創(chuàng)新的代表作。在這首曲子中，音樂家們不僅使用了西安鼓樂中的代表性樂器，還加入了其他現(xiàn)代樂器。通過這種演繹形式，古樂團(tuán)給觀眾帶來了具有唐代特色的古代和現(xiàn)代音樂相融合的視聽盛宴。

同樣，在入駐西安主題公園大唐芙蓉園的東倉鼓樂社里，音樂家們選擇現(xiàn)場直播的方式宣傳西安鼓樂。他們的直播視頻吸引了越來越多的中外觀眾，讓觀眾能夠更多地了解西安鼓樂。隨著越來越多的人愛上“中國古代的交響樂”，這種古老的藝術(shù)形式正在融入新的活力。

Word Bank

initially /?'n???li/ adv. 開始；最初

royal /'r???l/ adj. 皇家的；王室的

integrate /'?nt?ɡre?t/ v. （使）合并，成為一體

acclaim /?'kle?m/ v. 稱譽(yù)某人 / 事物（為……）

The work was acclaimed as a masterpiece.

inherit /?n'her?t/ v. 繼承（金錢、財產(chǎn)等）

She inherited a fortune from her father.

inject /?n'd?ekt/ v. （給……）添加，增加（某品質(zhì)）