A Communication

3 A Communication A TALK WITH MEMBERS OF THE PEKING VARIETY SHOW TROUPE On July 2, 1973, five members of the above troupe met with me in Peking for two hours to discuss their work. Those present included a leading cadre, An Shu-tseng, the leader of the troupe, Kuan Hsueh-tseng, a Peking drumsong performer now with the Arts Academy, Liang Hsiao-lou, and two young accompanists who also work on the creation of new melodies, Liu Yung-ning and Pau Ch'eng-chieh. The 200+ member troupe has two sectors. One sector works exclusively on adapting various ballad narratives for use in operas. The other sector, about 70-80 persons, is a performing troupe. Their acts presently· include: ::f,-ttJ Jci,. j ~ t ~ .t,. iiiwJ :K-iz. !fJt . ~ t »,.i:. :JI; :r. .tlf tfej•~ ;$.# tJl], :ta , , -~ ~ . ill t ·tk t . The troupe is actively working to create new pieces which reflect the life of the workers and peasants in today 's society. They make visits to the locale where an event took place which they wish to put into a ballad, for example, and ask the opinions of persons connected with the incident. While the piece is being developed, they also ask the opinions of the audiences for whom they perform, and often make changes in accordance with the ideas expressed. Although the most basic change has been one of content, there have also been changes in form. Attempts are being made to enrich the accompaniment and to expand the acceptable linguistic forms while still keeping the unique qualities which make each genre different. Apprentice performers, who used to train within the troupe, now go to the Arts Academy. This is a change which has occurred as a result of the Cultural Revolution. The first class of ballad performers entered in 1971; the usual course is three years. Musicians are also receiving academic training. For example, Liu Yung-ning was sent to the troupe from university, and Pau Ch'eng-chieh, who joined the troupe at age 15, had later been sent to university by the troupe. Both now work both as accompanists and as composers. Writing of texts is sometimes done by the performers themselves (Kuan Hsueh-tseng, a Peking ch'in-shu performer, writes at least the drafts of all his pieces), and sometimes by a special group of ten-odd writers. r 4 Our talk was warm and friendly, and often very specific: there is sp.ace here only for a summary. On my part, I tried to make it clear that there is a growing interest in .9.2!:rr in North America, but that we were very much handicapped by lack of material, particularly when studying present developments . I mentioned the existence of CHINOPERL, and also suggested that a tour by the troupe would be of great encouragement to our students of Chinese language, and would be an effective way to interest them in the society China is now building. This suggestion was warmly received by all five members of the delegation, although realizing such a tour will depend on how cultural exchanges between our nations develop. What I personally would like to see would be a serious tour, where cooperating universities would agree to l) set aside classtime ahead for the study of texts of the pieces to be performed and 2) take responsibility for outreach to secondary schools. We should also 3) consider ways of showing the troupe some aspects of our own musical life. One reason for this brief report is to raise the question "Would CHINOPERL consider it appropriate to take the initiative in working for such a tour to take place?'' The members of the troupe suggested that another time I might visit the Arts Academy, and they also said that research in earlier forms of balladry is now being undertaken in the universities. Every group which returns from China brings some news, however scrappy, of experimentation which is taking place everywhere. Although delegations with specialized interests are difficult for the Chinese to accommodate, and this would be particularly true of a delegation interested in the performing arts since so many troupes tour, we might consider if it...