Historic recording of Jiangnan sizhu 江南丝竹 music from Shanghai, China: "Sihe Ruyi"《四合如意》

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A historic recording of "Sihe Ruyi"《四合如意》(Four Together, As You Please), one of the Eight Great Pieces (Chinese: Ba Da Qu, 八大曲) from the tradition of Jiangnan sizhu. As is also very often the case for Jiangnan sizhu pieces in the modern day, the key is D diao (D调).

Jiangnan sizhu (江南丝竹, literally "silk and bamboo [music] from the Jiangnan [region]") is a form of traditional ensemble music for string instruments, bamboo flutes, and percussion from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin, including Shanghai and parts of the adjacent provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Originating in the Qing Dynasty, such music was traditionally performed for wedding processions, with the musicians' instruments being adorned with elaborate and fanciful decorations.

The performing group is credited as the "Meiyu Group" (Chinese: Meiyu Ban, 美玉班), indicating that they were members of the Su tan (Suzhou tanhuang) troupe directed by the influential early 20th-century Shanghai-based performer and theater director Wang Meiyu (王美玉; born Zhou Meiyu 周美玉 in Wuxi, Jiangsu, 1902; d. Shanghai, 1963 or 1964). Although the names of the individual performers are, unfortunately, unknown, they were probably based in Shanghai, China.

The instruments used in this recording (each of which takes a brief solo starting at 06:32) include:
● Dizi (笛子, bamboo transverse flute with buzzing membrane)
● Sheng (笙, 17-pipe free-reed mouth organ)
● Two erhu (二胡, 2-stringed vertical fiddle with snakeskin-covered soundbox)
● Sanxian (三弦, fretless 3-stringed long-necked plucked lute with snakeskin-covered soundbox)
● Guban (鼓板, hardwood clapper and small drum, both played by a single player)

Probably recorded in Shanghai and released on 78-rpm record by Beka Records (蓓开唱片) c. 1928 or 1929, where it appears as a kai chang qu (开场曲), an instrumental piece used to open a performance of Suzhou tanhuang (苏州滩簧 or 苏州摊簧), called Su tan (苏滩 or 苏摊) for short, and called Suju (苏剧) today, a form of local opera (Chinese: difang xiqu, 地方戏曲) or narrative singing (Chinese: shuochang, 说唱) that still enjoyed wide popularity in Shanghai and the surrounding Jiangnan region in the 1920s and 1930s, during the Republic period.

In 2006 the tradition of Jiangnan sizhu, centering on Jiangsu province and the Shanghai municipality, was included in the First Batch of 518 traditions inscribed in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China (第一批国家级非物质文化遗产名录) by China's Ministry of Culture (中华人民共和国文化部, known since March 2018 as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 中华人民共和国文化和旅游部). The sub-agencies responsible for maintaining these lists, both under the aegis of the aforementioned ministry, are the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage (文化部非物质文化遗产司) and the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center (中国非物质文化遗产保护中心, CICHPC).

Additionally, the tradition of Jiangnan sizhu was subsequently included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage lists for the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as well as the Shanghai municipality.

Note that the dizi used in this performance, due to having equally spaced finger holes (as was typical for Chinese flutes prior to the mid-20th century), has a tuning that is close to 7-tone equal temperament, rather than the Western-influenced modern standard of 12-tone equal temperament. Similarly, the erhu does not play F-sharp as a 400-cent major third above D, but something closer to 343 cents above D, following the aforementioned 7-tone equal temperament standard.

Thanks to Mr. Patrick Wong for his kind assistance in improving the audio quality of this recording.

Bibliography:
● Witzleben, J. Lawrence. _"Silk and Bamboo" Music in Shanghai: The Jiangnan Sizhu Instrumental Ensemble Tradition_. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1995.

【苏韵留芳】苏滩·开场曲《四合如意》美玉班（蓓开）

More information:
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%9B%9B%E5%90%88%E5%A6%82%E6%84%8F/50325476
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%8E%8B%E7%BE%8E%E7%8E%89/56508
https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv16994340

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