Haimen folk song, as the name suggests, refers to the folk song popular in Haimen area in Jiangsu Province. The pristine and natural language is abundant in vivid images, wit and humor. The music is pure, sweet and melodious. Taking nature as the stage, the singer interacts with the river, sea and weald through his songs. Since the folk song has been passed down for hundreds of years, Haimen has been praised as "Land of Folk Songs". Haimen folk song is divided into two schools. The first is prevailing in the sand of south Haimen of Jiangsu Province, while the second refers to Tongdong folk song and work chant which are popular in northeast Haimen of Jiangsu. Haimen folk song that we habitually talk about mainly refers to the first school.
Haimen folk song roughly breaks down into two categories. One is impromptu folk song, casually created and sung by laboring people when they are at or off work. The lyric is composed of four, six or eight lines, mostly reflecting labor and romantic love. The other category refers to the narrative folk song, the lyric of which comprises tens or even hundreds of lines. There is a complete plot, vivid characters and abundant emotions. Musically, Haimen folk song focuses on Folk-song Tune and Duihua Tune (antiphonal singing, guessing flowers), with a large number of popular tunes included as well. In terms of the performance form, Haimen folk song is mainly divided into solo and antiphonal singing between the male and female. Yaochuanlang (the boatman) and Hongniangzi (literally, a red maid) are representatives of traditional folk songs.
Originally, the major aria was the Folk-song Tune. Then the Folk-song and Duihua Tunes became the basic tunes, with yu and zhi contrasting each other (yu and zhi, notes of the ancient Chinese five-tone scale, respectively corresponding to 6 and 5 in numbered musical notation). Afterwards, on the basis of the Folk-song and Duihua Tunes, rich and complex rhythms have been derived. By means of multiple techniques of variation, tunes are handled in accented beats and interspersed with changes. In the meantime, the folk song also draws on extensively the successful experience of other genres of plays. In particular, by learning the fluent tunes, as well as the beautiful and lyric techniques of creation from the opera, the folk song has engendered a new structure of accented beats. Here are some representatives of the new folk song, such as Mianxiang (literally a village of cotton) People in Memory of Premier Zhou Enlai, Jianghai (literally the river and sea) Antiphonal Singing and Folk Songs in Praise of the Hometown.
