What distinguishes wuyin dagu from other dagu schools lies in the wuyin, which refers to the five instruments and five basic fixed tunes used in this dagu.
The five instruments are the sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument), which is used in almost all kinds of dagu; the sihu, a bowed instrument similar to erhu but with four strings instead of two; the waqin, a bowed instrument that developed from the zheng, a traditional plucked instrument; the daqin, a kind of small dulcimer; and the drum.
The five basic fixed tunes of wuyin dagu are the laoqiangdiao, fengdiao, manban, jinban and mankou meihua. The laoqiang-diao features a generally descending slow melody, which is good at describing exquisite psychological movements. The fengdiao is usually used at the beginning of a work to introduce the main situations. The manban and jinban are two patterns of rhythmic speaking. The jinban is faster than the manban and is good for describing scenes of war. The mankou meihua contains the most changes and thus is the most expressive and difficult to perform.
Wuyin dagu singers adapt different tunes and voices to express the different moods of the characters, such as joy, anger and sadness. However, like other forms of shuochang performance, the performer only sings and narrates the stories, never judging the characters and always adopting a kind of detached air. The listeners are left to make up their own minds.
(China Daily January 13, 2003)
