The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language by Francesca R. Sborgi Lawson

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language by Francesca R. Sborgi Lawson Yu Hui (bio) The Narrative Arts of Tianjin: Between Music and Language. Francesca R. Sborgi Lawson. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2010. SOAS Musicology Series. xiii + 198 pp., audio CD, photos, figures, music examples, appendices, glossary, bibliography, index. ISBN 978-1-4094-0588-7 (hardcover), $149.00. Originating in the Warring States period and thriving during the Tang dynasty, narrative art has always been an important folk musical genre in Chinese society with both entertaining and educational functions long before modern electronic entertainment devices became widely available. The Han Chinese subcultures in different geographical areas also cultivated their own regional narrative-art genres throughout history. The Tianjin metropolitan area in northern China is particularly well known for its several narrative-art genres of the local style. Lawson chooses a unique perspective to look into the commonly shared musical, historical, and cultural background of multiple narrative genres in a single geographical area. As the first published monograph of this approach in both English and Chinese ethnomusicological literature, the book provides detailed description and analysis of the musical structures, performance forms, historical development, and social and cultural background of four out of the ten most important popular narrative genres in Tianjin: shidiao, jinyun dagu, kuaibarshu, and xiang sheng. The author writes that "this book is not meant to be an exhaustive study of the narrative arts of Tianjin. Rather, it is an exploration into the ways in which the manner of performance influences and is influenced by the kinds of information that may be communicated during the course of performance" (4). However, the relationship between music and language is still the emphasis in her research. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 introduces the background of the research in the following chapters: "Introduction," "Prologue," "Teahouses and Marketplaces," "Narrative Arts before 1949," "The Iron Rice Bowl: Shuochang Becomes Quyi after 1949," "Social Relationships," and "Language-Music Relationships." These chapters not only give background on the history, culture, social life, and language matters of Shuochang narrative arts but also the author's personal fieldwork experience interacting with the local audiences and her consultants during her several trips in Tianjin in the 1980s. Part 2 is the main focus of this research. It introduces the history, performers, performances, language, and music of four narrative genres in four sections ("Act") and a conclusion. Each "Act" discusses one narrative art with a subtitle indicating the relationships between the performance aspects of chang (singing) and shuo (speech) in each genre: "Tianjin Popular Tunes (Tianjin Shidiao) Chang over Shuo," "Beijing Drumsong (Jingyun Dagu) Chang [End Page 136] vis-à-vis Shuo," "Fast Clappertales (Kuaibarshu) Shuo vis-à-vis Chang," and "Comic Routines (Xiangsheng) Shuo over Chang." The subtitles are well chosen, covering four major types of combination of the elements of shuo and chang in these narrative genres. Part 3 comprises appendices with music scores and the related Chinese-language source referenced in the book, such as speech tones, libretti, Chinese text, and characters. Those are important references for anyone who is interested in an in-depth exploration of the narrative-art genres introduced in this book. An audio CD of the selected music examples transcribed in the appendices is included with the book. Among ethnomusicological monographs on traditional Chinese musical arts published in recent decades, this book has several distinct features. First, by presenting the common background shared by multiple narrative-art traditions in a single geographical area, Lawson helps readers understand the general social, cultural, and historical background of all of these genres. The juxtaposition of the commonalities and distinctions of each genre helps readers better understand and differentiate the characteristics of each. Second, the author integrates her personal experiences in her field trips with ethnomusicological descriptions and analysis, creating an unusual writing style so the readers are immersed into the musical scene easily. Notably, the author writes in greater detail about the phenomenon of social networks (guanxi) and her personal interactions with the local people during field trips, which makes the book itself a narrative story about her research process. Third, Lawson paid meticulous attention to Chinese pronunciations in the romanization of...